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Tiger 1


Jack

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Clive sent over these images that he took last week;

 

The late model Tiger 1 at Vimoutiers, Normandy.

 

Tiger1.jpg

 

 

At nearby Cintheaux, the exact place where the famous Panzer Ace, Michael

Wittman and his crew, outnumbered by 5 Shermans to one, met their grisly

end on the 8th August, 61 years ago.

 

 

wittman.jpg[/img]

 

 

You might as well have this one as well as it demonstrates the scale of the Tiger (bear in mind I'm 6'4")

 

 

Tiger2.jpg

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Hey, I was just there too. I went on July 21st, amongst other places. Here's my three pics of the Tiger. Not that visible in the pictures are several large cracks in the turret. The notice by the Tiger says it was abandoned, possibly after running out of fuel, and charges were detonated by its crew to destroy it. It is one of only two Tigers left in France.

 

tiger1.JPGtiger2.JPG

 

tiger3.JPG

 

The thousands of German vehicles abandoned at the Falaise pocket, at and around Montormel, provided a massive scrapping operation after the war. There were so many vehicles and armour to remove that the scrapping operation wasn't completed until the mid 1960's!!!!!

 

Steve

Edited by Jessie The Jeep
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  • 5 months later...
  • 1 year later...

It makes you wonder how many forgotten gems are hiding in French barns. Im trying to persuade my dearly beloved that we go for a holiday in France(shes not keen! :dunno:), but I can see me rooting around old barns! :-D

 

 

Good question Rick - does anyone believe that there are germs still out there to be found?

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In 2004 I bought a early Willys jeep and trailer from a farmer who just had a notice outside his drive entrance the Willys was the one with the step side body the trailer was all original combats knackered bar treads but straight lunnette for the princely sum of £3700.

Commander

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nothing to special really...

When the German army was retreat from the allies after Normandy He tank like many other tanks and vehicles simply ran out of fuel and as the German army was retreating for its life the crews just abandoned them where they were,some crews activating the self destruct devices and walking away.

 

As the allies advanced the tank being an obstruction was simply pushed off the edge of the road and left.

 

The tide of war passed and the tank slid slowly down the bank the vegetation grew around it forgotten by most people except for a chap called Alain Rodiux (sp) who spent his days post war collecting all sorts of bits and bobs off the battlefield not forgetting it was actually a slaughter ground for the German forces

 

I the early seventies i met a group of lads some i still know and we planned metal detecting trip to the Falaise area by rail and bicycleand uncovered all manner of items (lots of which were found by the roadsides)

Getting back to the Tiger, at this time it was still on the bank covered in vegetation and bramble and Alain showed us where it was.

I believe some time after that some local scrap boys were seen by locals preparing to cut it up but the locals brought the tank and Alain had it pulled up the bank and exhibited where it stands today, after giving it a quick respray.

 

Ashley

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one of my treasured memories was when i finally found the Trun scrapyard before it was cleared out.

 

This plot of land tucked behind the local infants school had all manner of German vehicle parts, vehicles and at least one `stack` of large caliber tank guns also near the center was a complete opel maultier the half tracked version with the doors still open the fence line which hid the yard from the road was basically a mixture of bramble and sections of vehicle (trucks) cabs usually being late war were made of compressed cardboard though they in still reasonably good shape.

Those were the days........

 

Ashley

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Good question Rick - does anyone believe that there are germs still out there to be found?

 

 

There were some pictures of a dismatled tank in a french barn in CMV a few years ago, they were asking what tank it was. I had a look at the pics and from the rear view of the turret it was obviously a Panther, probably ausf A I seem to remember. :schocked: The thought of getting on the next train to France was very tempting! :whistle:

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My understanding is that when it was all cleared out it was all bought by Saumur where it remains now. I guess some of it which was beyond redemption was scrapped, but all the useful and important stuff has been kept.

 

If you go to France looking for stuff you might be dissapointed as a lot of it has either gone or has been pulled inside for safe keeping. I remember as a 12 year old staying on a French farm and there were cars and trucks abandoned everywhere. Was not really interested i must say at the time and did not take any photos. I do have photos though of another french farm with 7 WW1 trucks parked up in sheds. They can still be found but you have to look. Also speaking French would be useful as would being friendly to big dogs.

 

Tim (too)

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Hi Joris,

as GWT says i expext most of the gear went to Saumur, but i know some of it went to the Falaise museum (in the old cheese factory behind the castle) as some Halftrack sections were stacked in a corner when i was there many years ago.

 

Ashley

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This is definately a must for armour fans,

when i last attended (approx 1990) it was still quite a small dislay on show. As far as i know every year in July (dont quote me) they have thier main annual display where they bring out all the running exhibits including the "German Heavies" which is a sight i would love to see :schocked:

 

Ashley

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Jack is definitely up for this sort of thing so maybe we should get our heads together at the end of the season and see what can be arranged.

 

 

Snapper is right, we need to have a look at doing this and end of the season would be a good time to have a sit down and work something out - 2008 would be good for me too.

 

What we need is Clive 'Stuart' Stevens to be promoted to HMVF event organiser :whistle:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Is that a genuine camo scheme or just something funky thought-up by our French friends? :dunno:

 

 

I have a book somewhere (I have a good idea but it hasn't come out of its hidy hole in the 20 years I have lived here) about German WW2 tank camouflage.

 

Several points (but obviously I am quoting at least 20 year old memory).

 

Originally all German tanks (of the period) came off the production line painted a very dark grey "Panzergrau".

 

When desert operations became a feature, they rolled off the production line in Desert Sand.

 

ISTR that by about late 1944 the heavies, i.e. Tiger and Panther were supposed to start out Panzergrau. However, some, maybe many, maybe even most, continued to come out Sand. Even though the Tiger II never served in the desert, we (not me personally, far too young) still saw examples in Sand.

 

ISTR that mediums (ie by this time the late model Mark 4 Hs and Js were supposed to come out Sand, but again some, many or most continued to come out Panzergrau.

 

During winter months, the wintry monochrome effect of Panzergrau was favoured over Sand, epecially with the addition of whitewash applied over the top.

 

Units had tins of paint in Sand, a sort of Olive Drab and a Red-brown to apply their own cam as conditions and preference allowed over the base coat. Since Panzergrau did a good job of turning the tank into an instant shadow anyway, applying cam paint was more common and creative on top of Sand.

 

Understand that I have never owned one of these vehicles, however much I would love to, but from my early teens I have loved them and for many years I built scale models. It was this interest that led me to join the Royal Armoured Corps. For this reason I have had plenty of practice studying and painting this schemes (being in recce also encouraged me to learn more than most about camouflage).

 

The book I mentioned describes dozens or scores of camouflage schemes supported by photos of the real thing. On a Sand base, the simplest scheme was thick, rough green and brown stripes over the Sand to create a three-way colour scheme otherwise not unlike the green / black used by the RAC throughout the cold War.

 

Some that spring to mind:

 

a Panther, originally Sand, painted as described above parked under a tree in bright sunlight. the effect of light and shadow caused by the sun shining through the leaves was so startling that many crews actually painted Sand spots over the dark colours and dark spots (green or brown) over the sand, so that the tank would disappear into complicated shadow even when it was in the open;

 

a King Tiger. originally Sand, aptly painted with red-brown tiger stripes;

 

(I think) a Panther, originally Panzergrau, with two-way Sand stripes creating dark square spots in the style of a giraffe.

 

Off the top of my head, those are the three that spring to mind. I almost feel the urge to grub around in the glory hole and dig out and revisit the book.

 

The original question was,

Is that a genuine camo scheme or just something funky thought-up by our French friends?

 

I think you'll agree the answer. from what I have said, is, Yes. It could be either. However, if I had my arm twisted to make a decision, I'd plump for "just something funky thought-up by our French friends"

 

I have never seen a camouflage pattern like it before, but it doesn't mean it never existed. From what I understand, the tank was in a poor state when it was recovered and I'll bet recording the original colour scheme was never high on anybody's list of priorities. IMO, I say again, it's a made-up colour scheme. It's far too funky for super-cool elite heavy tank crews. Especially since the Schwererpanzerabteilungen were Waffen-SS troops. But don't quote me.

 

;o)

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As i understand it .....at the very onset German Army (and Navy) vehicles were as mentioned painted dark grey (panzergrau) and vehicles of the Luftwaffe a blue grey colour.

 

When the forces began to expand whitemarkings were used on wheeled (halftrack) vehicles (on the mudguards ) to aid the visability of the vehicles at night to others.

 

All the vehicles sent to N.Africa were also initialy painted Panzergrau, though special clothing, personal equiptment etc was designed and issed to all troops the continental patterns and colours were still worn by those who chose to.

 

A yellow paint (Ordanance Tan RAL 800) superceded the panzergrau some time in 1943, meaning that all vehicles fresh from the factory were sprayed/painted this colour, however this colour was also supplied to the Afrikakorps befor this time and vehicles weapons helmets were sprayed at local/unit level.

 

To aid concealment / camoflauge ,ocres of red and green were also issued to the desert then to the Mediteranean troops. These three colours formed the basis of German camoflauge schemes untill the end of the war (excluding winter warfare) from the basic yellow through to the complex butterfly camos seen in northern Fance etc.

 

Just a brief overview :-)

 

Ashley

 

 

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