Crews love their Tigers I! 24 images you may not have seen before

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Shared by Hannes Trautloft (

Lieutenant) June 23, 2016

The early model Tiger I was a powerful beast designed specifically to deal with the shockingly good armor that was being fielded by the Soviets on the Eastern Front. Pound for pound the Tiger was an ungodly beast that could take on any tank it came across with extreme confidence. The common belief was that it would take ten Shermans to take out a Tiger, and nine wouldn't be making it home. The 88mm flak could engage enemy tanks at greater ranges than its foes could respond from with high accuracy and damage potential. It was tough, with armor that was very difficult to penetrate. Things only got worse when the Tiger II hit the field in '44.

Unfortunately for the Tiger, it was severely over-engineered. While a working Tiger was the most terrifying piece of armor in combat, the extremely complicated construction of these beasts result in their being very prone to breaking down, very difficult to repair and maintain, and very time consuming to construct. Only a little over 2,000 Tigers of all types were produced during the war and many of these were lost when they broke down and had to be abandoned in the face of advancing Russian troops.

Pound for pound this was the deadliest tank of the war, James Hinton says.

Tiger I Tank of the schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 is painted with tiger shark’s teeth on the muzzle brake, summer 1943.

German tank commander Michael Wittmann (center) and his crew with their Tiger I tank. Wittmann is credited with destroying 138 tanks and 132 anti-tank guns during the war. (Eastern Front 1-18-44)