"Tiger 131: The mysterious British reports" Topic

"Tiger 131 is the most famous tank in the world: the first of its type recovered to Britain; the most studied and photographed tank in Allied intelligence; and the only running Tiger in the world today.

The British reports have always been puzzling: their numbering and dating suggest that some reports are missing or were never completed; some reports contradict others; some are not dated at all; beautiful drawings and paintings were created, but appear without captions. Now, after a survey of all surviving reports, from Britain to North America, their original condition can be revealed.[1] The implications for Allied intelligence are not pretty…."
From here
link

Armand

The overall conclusion was that it was treated as a trophy and there was little interest in a detailed analysis of the design. I suspect that, by then, there were more than enough in Russian hands for such, if indeed it might have influenced Allied tank design in anyway. They knew they needed 17pdrs in Achilles TDs and Fireflies.

Of course there are the rival claims as to who knocked it out…as is so often the case. I guess what did strike me was that you can immobilise or at least inactivate a tank without ever piercing its armour!

Technically, there was no interest. The Americans had decided to fight the war with the Sherman and that was the primary source of tank replenishment for the British. The British took 17,000 Shermans on lend lease – they built 3000 Cromwells and 5000 Churchills in the same period.

Like the Americans, the British had no interest in paying the financial cost of re-tooling for the mass production of tanks they thought they could see the war out with, or the disruption of production going from one design to another. For the British government, as with most things, it simply came down to money.

I guess the people working on the report knew the deaf ears bad news would fall on, so who can blame them for 'going through the motions' at a leisurely pace.

Thanks!

At last… the 131 give a good fight!…

Armand

Theres also the factor that, right or wrong, the US and British didn't see their own tanks as being the preferred way of taking on German tanks or German tanks as the main threat to all those Shermans, Cromwells and Churchills.

That said, the British were trying to swap Cromwell production to Comet as fast as possible (with Centurion to follow on) but 'as fast as possible' was 6 months too late for D-Day.

That said, the British were trying to swap Cromwell production to Comet as fast as possible (with Centurion to follow on) but 'as fast as possible' was 6 months too late for D-Day.

Which brings up the question: How good was the Comet? Was it a match (on the battlefield) for the Panther?

I'd guess they would be fairly even but I don't think it ever happened in reality.

I read in accounts of 11th Armoured in the closing stages of the war, that they felt much more confident having swapped their Shermans and Cromwells for the better armoured Comets and this led them to use their tanks much more aggressively.