on april 24th 1943 john oscroft was
ordered to take and hold an enemy
position identified as .174 alongside
the second battalion sherwood foresters
it would be the young man's first time
seeing action and he was feeling anxious
and uneasy
still oscroft found some relief in
knowing his battalion would be supported
by nine friendly tanks but as the brutal
battle raged on the tanks were nowhere
to be seen
fighting valiantly and after severe
casualties the british soldiers captured
the enemy position on top of the hill
but soon spotted two dreaded tiger ones
the newest german tanks were a mighty
and devastating weapon a remarkable
achievement of german engineering and
one of the most technologically advanced
armored vehicles in the entire global
conflict
as the tanks overwhelmed their position
the soldiers dropped the floor to take
cover
tiger 131 was quickly approaching and
oscroft suddenly took his piat anti-tank
weapon and aimed it
with no reinforcements on site it was
their last chance at survival
a powerful new tank
in 1941 as the third reich executed
operation barbarossa in a swift attempt
to conquer the soviet union german
troops were shocked to learn that the
soviets had many more t-34 medium and
kb1 heavy tanks than expected
the soviet tanks were mostly impervious
to tank and anti-tank guns and according
to henshaw designer irvine otters quote
there was great consternation when it
was discovered that the soviet tanks
were superior to anything available to
the here
the grave development would be a
significant obstacle if germany wanted
barbarossa to be successful and hitler
needed the new panzerkampfwagen-6 which
had been in development for almost four
years to be deployed as soon as possible
the war depended on it
henshall and zone had been developing
what would eventually become the tiger
as far back as january 1937 when the vaf
numbed requested them to develop a duch
buchwagen or breakthrough vehicle in the
30 to 33 ton range
initially just one prototype body was
created and it was never equipped with a
turret
the model borrowed striking resemblance
to the panzer 3 and at the same time its
turret was similar to the one on the
early pinezer 4c
still the prototype was deemed
inadequate and the project was postponed
when the design was revised in 1941 the
tiger's development was approached with
a completely different philosophy
compared to earlier german tanks its
predecessors balanced agility armor and
firepower to create outstanding and
versatile vehicles but they were usually
outgunned by their adversaries
something different was needed
taking tank design to the limit this
time german technologists went all out
taking the vehicle to the absolute
engineering limits at the time
while heavy the tiger was not slower
than its lighter counterparts but it
packed much more firepower than most
a great deal of the tigers carried load
stemmed from its four-inch thick armor
which made the vehicle much more
resistant to anti-tank armament
in comparison the soviet t-34 the tank
that had stunned the germans as they
advanced through russia and other soviet
states was fitted with 2.56 inch plates
the 56 caliber 8.8 centimeter kwk 36
main gun mounted on the tigers also
surpassed the firepower delivered by the
t-34 76.2 millimeter cannon or any other
allied tank
with a combination of a flat trajectory
from the high muzzle velocity and
precision from light's chomsialferno
tzf-9b site the tiger's main gun was
highly accurate and devastatingly lethal
the tank also needed a powerful engine
and an unparalleled suspension system to
carry such groundbreaking technology
thus its tail end held an engine
compartment flanked by two individual
rear compartments each containing a fuel
tank and radiator
the engine was developed exclusively for
the tiger by the maibak company of
berlin and under the technical
leadership of karl maibach
the engineer would produce the engines
for all the medium and heavy german
tanks of world war ii
the first tiger engine was a v12 water
cooled gasoline model with a capacity of
1 302 cubic inches and a power output of
650 brake horsepower
mybach hl 210 trm p45 was a remarkable
work of engineering that provided a
colossal amount of power considering its
size
in addition the suspension worked with
16 torsion bars with eight suspension
arms per side
the swing arms were leaving on one side
and trailing on the other to keep the
suspension system from taking too much
space
there were three road wheels on each arm
in the so-called shaft terafloric
overlapping an interleaved arrangement
comparable to that established on german
half-track military vehicles of the
pre-world war ii era
the tiger one would be the first
all-track german armored fighting
vehicle built in quantity to use such a
road wheel arrangement
still all the groundbreaking features
came at a hefty price and had over 50
tons deadweight the suspension gearboxes
and other such systems had evidently
reached their design limits
even more breakdowns would be frequent
without regular maintenance and the
engines also tended to overheat making
constant upkeep crucial
despite its limited flaws the tiger one
was an agile and fast behemoth when
initially deployed no allied tank could
even hope to penetrate the tiger's
incredibly thick armor or stand a chance
against its powerful 88 millimeter
cannon
as the tank made it to the eastern front
and then to africa it became almost
impossible to fight it in conventional
ways and it would take several allied
tanks to defeat just one of these german
brutes
an uphill battle
after two years stationed at home
awaiting a german invasion that never
came the british second battalion
sherwood foresters were eager to return
to the front lines
as luck would have it they were sent to
northern africa to assist in the final
stages of what would be known as the
tunisian campaign
most of the second battalion members
were veterans who had fought in france
at the outbreak of the war and had been
forced to withdraw at dunkirk
however the returning unit was bolstered
by a large batch of new recruits who had
yet to see any action
amid these inexperienced newcomers was
private john oscroft who felt anxious
about his incoming first combat
operation
he and the rest of the second battalion
were especially concerned to learn that
germany had deployed tiger ones in the
african theater
the sheer notion of fighting one of
these quasi-mythical machines was enough
to make the new recruits very nervous
for their first mission the sherwood
foresters were tasked with capturing an
enemy position on the outskirts of geria
alatak
the germans had taken control of a broad
hill dubbed 0.174 which provided a
considerable tactical advantage to the
faction controlling it
oscroft felt uneasy the position was
heavily defended and the germans had the
high ground to make things worse there
was always the possibility that they
might have tiger support
still the young recruit found solace in
knowing their attack would be supported
by nine churchill tanks which would be
an enormous advantage
however as the charge for .174 began the
churchill tanks were nowhere to be found
they had been delayed and the attack had
to proceed without them
the foresters fought a savage uphill
battle rushing several heavily defended
positions while suffering significant
casualties
still they made it to the top and
secured the hill without the support of
british armor
unfortunately the triumph was
short-lived and they watched in horror
as the ponzer company rushed their
position
among the tanks were at least two tigers
fighting a tiger
the german tanks soon overwhelmed the
hill forcing the foresters to
immediately drop and crawl to avoid the
tigers fire oscroft watched as the world
fell into chaos and disarray and the
british soldiers scrambled
the young private had been given the
privilege of carrying a piat and was
suddenly ordered to strike the incoming
tiger 131
oscroft then positioned himself as close
as he dared to the enemy juggernaut and
fired but the projectile struck the side
of the turret and bounced off leaving
the vehicle unharmed
the situation was getting more dire by
the minute and the foresters knew they
wouldn't be able to keep their position
for long
however out of nowhere the nine
churchill tanks suddenly appeared on the
battlefield and began firing at the
german tanks
tiger 131 immediately returned the fire
instantly destroying an allied tank
the allies then concentrated their
efforts on the 131 with two churchills
firing on it simultaneously
as the tanks were firing at each other a
group of soldiers remembered that they
had captured a 75 millimeter cannon from
the germans and used it to fire at the
german heavy tank but the attack was
mostly harmless before the tiger's
formidable armor
at that point something unexpected
happened
it's unclear if it came from the cannon
or the church around but a lucky
projectile encrusted itself on the
tiger's turret gear mechanism and
completely disabled it
the sudden malfunctions then fooled the
germans into believing that the allies
had much more firepower than they
actually possessed and the crew
immediately opened the hatch and fled in
panic
as the battle raged on the british
forces ultimately prevailed
furthermore it was the first time the
british had captured a tiger
major trophy
the captured tank soon became a
sensation but several experts and
military engineers examined it before it
was taken from the battlefield the
capture of a working tiger was so
important but even prime minister
winston churchill took a photo with the
vehicle during a visit to northern
africa
the tank would be studied and explored
minutely and the information gathered
would not only help the allies combat
other tigers but also fuel innovation in
tank design for the next decade
to this date tiger 131 remains the only
intact and working tiger one in the
world
for decades the capture of tiger 131 had
been credited to another battalion
fighting in a different battle in north
africa it would take a chance visit from
john oscroft's son to the british tank
museum for the world to discover the
true story
as dale oscroft read the information
displayed on the tiger 131 exhibit
during a visit in 2009 he realized the
details were remarkably similar to a
story his father told him
after careful research dale was able to
prove that his father and the foresters
had been the ones responsible for the
capture of the legendary tiger 131
finally unveiling the true story behind
the iconic feat
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