- 7/6/2025
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00:00More than any other tank of World War II, the German Tiger tank, with its almost impenetrable
00:27armour and highly accurate 88mm gun, instilled fear in the hearts of Allied soldiers.
00:33It killed two of my crew, and I was literally blown out of the top.
00:45Outnumbered in nearly every battle, the highly trained and courageous Tiger crews were the
00:49elite of Germany's crack panzer troops.
00:54It was a great thing to be in a Tiger, and of course we felt superior.
01:01Using archive film and colour re-enactments, Battle Stations enters the world of one of
01:06the finest armoured vehicles in the history of tank warfare, the Tiger tank.
01:20In 1916, the British Army was the first to introduce tanks on the battlefield.
01:24At the time, Germany showed little or no interest in the revolutionary new tank.
01:36After their defeat in World War I, however, many German officers became convinced that when
01:41Germany rose again, the tank would play a major role.
01:49The Treaty of Versailles had banned all armament production in post-war Germany.
01:53Early development of German tanks during the 1920s and 30s had to be carried out in secret.
02:00But once Hitler and the Nazis came to power, all pretense of secrecy was thrown aside.
02:08Germany had built its army into a mighty fighting machine that would conquer almost the entire continent of Europe.
02:16Large tank formations, known as panzer divisions, were to be its main striking force.
02:27General Heinz Guderian, one of the leading strategists in the German army, created Germany's panzer divisions.
02:34His ideas on the deployment and use of tanks in modern warfare, earned him the title, Father of the Panzers.
02:41Heinz Guderian studied armoured warfare between World War I and World War II,
02:46and was able to take rather nebulous ideas and condense them down into a formal doctrine.
02:57Armies operate on doctrine, and Guderian is the father of armoured warfare doctrine.
03:08During this period, the acknowledged leader in the principles of mechanization was British tank pioneer Major General John Fuller.
03:18Fuller was an eccentric genius whose ideas on tanks and mechanization earned him an international reputation, particularly in Germany.
03:25My father's role model was Fuller. He also studied other people's ideas on tanks.
03:32But the British already had, at the beginning of the 1920s, a tank brigade, which we based our army's panzer divisions on.
03:43So it was the British who were his main role model.
03:48The Englander were his main role model.
03:51The Englander were his main role model.
03:54Ironically, Major General Fuller's ideas were never adopted by either the British, French or the Americans,
04:00who all believed in the supremacy of infantry and artillery rather than the tank.
04:05General Guderian, however, clearly appreciated the decisive role that armoured divisions would play in future conflicts.
04:16He saw tanks as providing crucial mobility in an attack.
04:20He developed the use of tanks as the main weapon in a division.
04:29Not like the French, he spread their tanks over several divisions instead of concentrating them in one key point.
04:36With this concept of key point concentration in panzer divisions, we entered the war and had our success.
04:52Hitler's panzer divisions were put to the test in 1939, when they spearheaded the German invasion of Poland.
04:59Enemy resistance collapsed within six weeks.
05:04Then the following year, the Germans turned west to attack the British and French.
05:09The superior tactics of the panzers just sliced through the enemy lines with almost laughable ease,
05:15despite the fact that the Allies had more tanks.
05:29In June 1941, Hitler again unleashed his panzers, this time on the Soviet Union.
05:39Within weeks, the Red Army was pushed back to the gates of Moscow.
05:48The victorious panzer divisions seemed indestructible.
05:52They considered their tanks superior to anything the enemy could produce.
05:55But in the autumn of 1941, the Germans were taken by complete surprise when the Russians deployed a new tank.
06:02Developed in great secrecy, the Russian T-34 outgunned and outperformed the German panzers.
06:09Soon the T-34 appeared.
06:15And that was an amazing surprise for us, because we didn't know that this vehicle existed.
06:21The T-34 turned out to be an equal opponent indeed.
06:28And we struggled quite a bit against it.
06:32The first appearance of the T-34 had not only inflicted severe losses on the German tanks,
06:41it deeply shocked the high command.
06:43They knew that once the T-34 went into mass production, defeat would be a very real possibility.
06:55Hitler was furious at this setback.
06:58He ordered his designers to build a bigger and better tank that would level the playing field.
07:02Hitler became personally involved in setting out the specifications, which included a high velocity gun, thick armor, at a top speed of 30 miles an hour.
07:12Early prototypes of this new tank, designated the Panzer Mark VI, were quickly built by established German companies.
07:22Mann, Daimler-Benz, Henschel and Porsche.
07:26By 1942, only two front runners were left in the race, Porsche and Henschel.
07:31Both companies prepared a demonstration of their tanks on Hitler's birthday, April the 20th.
07:43Dr. Ferdinand Gorscher was a personal friend of the Führer.
07:47So it was annoying for both of them to discover the Henschel design was clearly better.
07:51Of the three basic characteristics of any tank, firepower, armor and mobility, the German designers favored firepower.
08:08So in response to Hitler's directive, Henschel decided upon a turret and an 88mm gun designed by Krupp, the German steel manufacturers.
08:16Two months later, the new super tank was finally ready for combat trials.
08:23To match its performance, it was named the Tiger.
08:28At 56 tons, the Tiger was nearly 20 tons heavier than its nearest rival.
08:34Yet despite its size, it had to be able to cross difficult terrain and negotiate obstacles better than any Allied tank.
08:46And of Hitler was in love with the Tiger tank.
08:51It was big and it was powerful and it fit the ideal of the Nazi Superman.
08:59So this vehicle epitomized the German army and Germany in that it was big and it was powerful.
09:05In late 1942, frontline units received their new wonder weapon, equipped with the most lethal tank gun in existence, the 88mm.
09:20It would not take long to discover if the Tiger proved to be the battle winning tank that Hitler badly wanted.
09:26The incredible triumphs of the German army during the first three years of war had shown the Panzer divisions to be Hitler's best shock troops.
09:39The Panzer spirit of determination, cunning and cool-bloodedness had ensured rapid victory on the battlefield.
10:01Panzer generals such as Erwin Rommel and Heinz Guderian had become legendary figures.
10:06Along with the fighter pilot, the Panzer trooper in his dashing black uniform and Death's Head badges was Germany's new superhero.
10:16Alfred Rubel was eager to join the Panzers when war broke out in 1939.
10:25The Panzers were seen as elite troops in the army, which was expressed simply through our black uniform.
10:34We were certainly proud. We were young men after all.
10:43When the Tiger tank was first introduced in 1942, under the best crews were selected.
10:49They were the elite of the elite.
10:51Crews for the Tiger were recruited exclusively from experienced soldiers who had already served in other tank units during the war.
11:05Our training commenced with theory in the lecture hall, followed soon afterwards with practical on the actual machine.
11:13So a good machine should be cleaned, cleaned, cleaned, cleaned.
11:19So, behandle them like their eyes.
11:23Instructors explained the Tiger's advanced technology, using pamphlets about the care and maintenance each trooper was expected to carry out.
11:30The five-man crew trained together, familiarizing themselves with the tank until they understood every aspect of their new weapon.
11:43They particularly welcomed the superior protection the Tiger offered its crews.
11:50With nearly four inches of frontal and over three inches of side and rear armor, it was the world's most heavily armored tank.
11:57My first impression? I was disappointed. It was a dinosaur, not an elegant vehicle as I had imagined.
12:08I expected it to be like the T-34.
12:11However, when we got to know and learn how to apply its power, it became the superior tank on any battlefield to the end of the war.
12:20German tank designers were always searching for a bigger and better gun capable of dealing with enemy tanks.
12:36The 88mm gun was superior to any other gun at that time.
12:42So was the technology for targeting the gun, with the turret turning mechanism.
12:47The gunner stood with his foot on two rockers.
12:52If he pressed his foot forwards, the turret would turn to the right.
12:56If he pressed it backward, he turned to the left.
13:02In training, gunners and loaders were timed with a stopwatch, and only passed if they completed their tasks within the set number of seconds.
13:11Some of the top crews were even trained by Luftwaffe instructors, experts on the 88mm gun.
13:23The radio operator sat next to the driver, and manned the forward machine gun located in a ball mounting, on the off side of the front armor plate.
13:31The machine guns were used primarily to fight off enemy infantry, and anti-tank guns that were very close, keeping their crews heads down.
13:45Tiger tank drivers were selected with great care.
13:50You need a certain degree of ambition to drive the thing, a certain level of technical understanding, and some intelligence.
14:06Some people were afraid and claustrophobic in the tank, but you couldn't have that.
14:11The driver had to be calm, which had a positive effect on the rest of the crew.
14:18The Tiger had eight forward and four reverse gears, but its huge weight made steering difficult, so Henschel developed power steering.
14:26And for the first time, a steering wheel, instead of levers, was used to maneuver a tank.
14:29Because of the power steering, you could basically steer the Tiger with one finger, and the half-automatic gear shift was also much better than any other tank that we had.
14:42The initial role for the heavy Tiger tank was to be the iron fist of the panzer divisions, punching a hole in the enemy lines.
14:50A panzer division, the cornerstone of German strategy, usually consisted of a panzer regiment, about 200 tanks, divided into three battalions.
15:05Each division had two panzer grenadier regiments, highly trained infantry, to support the tanks.
15:11In addition, there were artillery, engineers, anti-aircraft guns, and numerous support troops.
15:21The total number of men varied from ten to fifteen thousand, depending on the campaign.
15:28Tiger tanks were usually grouped into heavy companies, and attached to divisions.
15:36Each fighting company had fourteen Tigers.
15:39And then, in each company, we had vehicles for maintenance troops, company vehicles for logistics, fuel provisions, ammunition supply, food, and so on.
15:54Fuel is the lifeblood of tanks.
15:57And with the Tiger consuming two and a half gallons per mile, the all-important fuel trucks were never far away.
16:03The Tiger is an engineering marvel.
16:08The vulnerability, though, is not the tank. It's everything that goes with it.
16:13It's the ammunition truck. It's the fuel browser that goes along with this.
16:20You attack that, the tank is useless.
16:22Tiger units often included light and medium tanks, such as the Mark 3s and 4s.
16:27These tanks were needed to perform numerous duties for which the Tiger was not suited, like scouting and escort duties.
16:36This left the Tiger to do what it did best, destroying the enemy at long range.
16:41The Tiger tank, with its highly trained crews, soon became a legend.
16:47Its sheer size and appearance, together with its large deadly gun, was about to make the Tiger a battle winner.
16:55The first Tiger tanks, with their highly trained crews, made their debut in action on the Russian front in late 1942.
17:14The well-trained Panzer divisions found Russia to be ideal tank country.
17:22However, the logistics of maneuvering large formations across the great distances of the Russian plains or steppe,
17:29meant crews were often confined to their tanks for long periods, sometimes even days.
17:34Our tank wasn't only a combat weapon, accommodation and means of transport.
17:44It was our home, and accordingly the tank was maintained and cared for.
17:49Tiger crews especially benefited from the tank's large interior.
17:54In the Tiger, the driver and radio operator in particular, had a lot of space for themselves.
18:01There were comfortable seats, and I was able to stretch out if I wanted to sleep.
18:08The driver could do the same. Other tanks just couldn't compare.
18:16When in action, Tigers had the advantage of being able to engage and destroy enemy tanks, like the T-34, at long range.
18:24We could now hit targets from a distance we had only dreamt of before.
18:32The tank commander would announce the target, and the gunner would choose for himself when to open fire.
18:41Only bad commanders interfered with the gunner until he actually opened fire.
18:46An encounter with a Tiger on the battlefield was a daunting prospect for the Russian T-34 crews.
18:56You did get a little shiver when you met a Tiger tank.
19:02Not only because it was so powerful, but because we were young, and this tank was frightening.
19:07It was more powerful than the T-34.
19:17Our 76-millimeter guns could only fire at a distance of 500 meters.
19:25But a Tiger could shoot from a distance of one kilometer without missing.
19:31So this made it very hard for us.
19:34Even if the T-34s got close enough, the Tiger's armor proved very effective.
19:43In my first battle in a Tiger, we were exposed on the Russian steppe and took so many hits, but to no effect.
19:51I developed such a sense of security at the time, and thought, with this vehicle, nothing can happen to me at all.
20:06We felt quite safe in our tank, although it wasn't a life insurance.
20:11I was wounded five times despite the Tiger.
20:14But we could withstand an attack much better now.
20:16We had tanks that were hit 30 times by Russian guns, and still in working order.
20:25In one six-hour engagement, a Tiger was hit 227 times.
20:31Despite having its wheels, tracks, and transmission damaged, it managed to crawl a further 40 miles across country.
20:38Tigers worked in conjunction with infantry and artillery, each element supporting the other.
20:51Panzer Grenadier machine gun teams were deployed on the flanks, up to 50 yards from the tank, in case of enemy infantry attacks.
20:58Tiger commanders had excellent radio communications with their crews.
21:12I know from my own experience, that you never looked out with the headphones on both ears, but always kept one ear free.
21:25If you don't hear what's happening outside, then you are exposed to enemy attack without being able to react appropriately.
21:36It is most important for the commander to have an overview of the battlefield.
21:42With a well-trained crew, the Tiger commander concentrated on searching for targets, always preferring to keep his hatch open.
21:56I had to have my head outside of the turret, so that I could oversee everything.
22:02If there was an anti-tank gun firing, you could then sense what was going on.
22:06If the hatch was closed, then you would only have a limited view.
22:12Tiger Ace, Otto Karius, seen here wearing the Knight's Cross for bravery, is credited with destroying over 100 Allied tanks.
22:21A dangerous, yet essential tactic for a commander, was to make a reconnaissance on foot.
22:30From ground level, he would gain a more realistic picture of where tactically to place the heavy Tiger.
22:35On one occasion, Karius, observing enemy tanks from a Panzergrenadier trench, was caught in a surprise infantry assault.
22:45The Russian machine gun fire was very heavy, and I was shot through the thigh, and I was unable to run back through the trench.
22:54Karius sent his orderly back for help as the Russian infantry reached his trench.
23:03I got a bullet in my arm, and another through my back.
23:07I could hear my own tanks coming, but the Russian officer was nervous.
23:13He could see I was a highly decorated commander, and saw my maps, and wanted to take me alive.
23:18But he realized it was too late for that, and shot me again, which went through my neck.
23:26And then my tanks arrived.
23:27Although Otto Karius sustained five serious wounds, he recovered, and returned to the battlefront nine months later.
23:41The SS Panzer Divisions were also equipped with Tiger tanks.
23:46Although not strictly part of the army, the Waffen SS were elite troops, politically indoctrinated into the Nazi cause.
23:54Their reputation for bravery, as well as brutality, made the SS Panzer Regiments amongst the most feared of all German troops.
24:10In June 1944, two battle-hardened SS Panzer Divisions, armed with Tiger tanks, were ordered from the Russian Front to France,
24:19where the long-awaited Second Front had begun.
24:21Their mission? To destroy the Anglo-American forces in Normandy.
24:30For months, the Germans had been expecting an Allied invasion of France.
24:34What they didn't know was exactly when and where it would come.
24:38Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, commander of the anti-invasion forces, had strengthened the coastal defenses.
24:44But the use of the Panzer Divisions, armed with the superior Tiger tank, had been a point of contention between the top commanders.
24:53Field Marshal von Rönstedt, the supreme commander in the west, had clearly laid down the role of the Panzer Divisions in the defense of France.
25:03The main force would be kept well back from the coast, and used to plug any gaps once the exact location of the invasion was known.
25:14But Rommel's ideas were different. He argued the Panzers must be kept as near to the beaches as possible, so an Allied landing could be repulsed immediately.
25:26Hitler intervened in the argument, and reserved the right to deploy the Panzers himself.
25:35Unfortunately for Rommel, the Panzers were not used to repulse the Allied landings.
25:40Incredibly, Hitler was unavailable to order their use. By the time they eventually did arrive, they were too late.
25:46The Allied beachhead was already established. The two SS Panzer Divisions transferred from the Russian Front, however, went into action, immediately deploying their Tiger tanks against the Allies.
25:59It was a terrifying experience for those that met them, because they could knock our tanks out at a thousand yards, whereas we couldn't even knock them out at 200 yards if we met them head on.
26:19The destructive capability of the Tiger tank on the battlefield became legendary, and Allied soldiers soon coined the term Tiger-phobia.
26:33General Montgomery actually banned British combat reports that recorded the prowess of Tiger tanks, on the grounds they undermined morale.
26:41Ironically, despite the perception by Allied troops that the SS Panzers fielded hundreds of Tigers, only 90 actually fought in Normandy.
26:54But the damage they inflicted on the Allies confirmed the reputation of the Tiger.
26:58The most impressive exploit achieved by a Tiger unit in Normandy took place on the 13th of June, 1944, seven days after D-Day.
27:14That morning, several British tanks were advancing out of the French town of Villa-Bocage.
27:20The long, narrow road forced them to travel in single file with their headquarter vehicles in the centre.
27:25Unknown to the British, a group of five Tiger tanks, under the command of SS Lieutenant Michael Whitman, were hiding nearby.
27:38Whitman was a battle-hardened Tiger ace, who had destroyed 117 enemy tanks on the Russian front to win his Knight's Cross.
27:46Dispersing his other tanks to different strategic points, Whitman's Tiger entered the town.
27:58Catching the British by surprise, he destroyed three tanks before manoeuvring his Tiger into a position to attack the British column from the rear.
28:06And then, through the smoke, suddenly emerged this huge tank. It moved the gun very slightly and fired.
28:16It was a crash, and the shell went through the front of the tank. Between my legs, I could feel a tingling each side, so I know it must have gone between my legs, and landed up in the engine.
28:29So there was a sheet of flame came over the tank, so I shouted bailout to the crew, because it wouldn't be very long before the ammunition exploded.
28:41Within two minutes, Whitman's tank had left 13 British vehicles burning in the road.
28:47Menacingly, the Tiger now headed towards the tank commanded by Captain Pat Dias.
28:56I fired at a Tiger at 100 yards, and the shot just bounced off, which is a bit disheartening.
29:08Dias managed to reverse his tank into a garden out of sight, as Whitman passed by.
29:13He then decided to ambush Whitman from behind, but before he could fire, the Tiger had turned.
29:20We met head-on, which was not good news.
29:24And I fired at him twice, unless before they bounced off.
29:30And he then fired at me once, which did not bounce off.
29:35It killed two of my crew, and I was literally blown out of the top.
29:40Eight more SS Tigers reinforced Whitman, and the battle raged.
29:51Finally, his Tiger was knocked out, but he escaped, leaving Villa Bocage a scene of death and destruction.
29:57Despite losing four Tigers, Whitman had destroyed 47 Allied vehicles and inflicted 257 casualties.
30:10Pat Dias' heroic attempt to stop Whitman's Tiger had left him wounded and nearly blind.
30:16Luckily, the doctor who treated him at the first aid station was an eye specialist.
30:25He put a great big magnet over my eyes and brrrr, brrrr, and out jumped all the little bits of steel.
30:32And he said, if those had stayed in for 24 hours, you would have been blind for life.
30:40The encounter at Villa Bocage had demonstrated, despite overwhelming odds,
30:45how lethal a well-commanded Tiger could be in close-quarter combat.
30:53Whitman himself, I could not but admire him.
30:56He was tough, he was bold and ruthless.
31:02A fine example of a German tank man.
31:06Eight weeks after Villa Bocage,
31:09Michael Whitman was killed when his Tiger was ambushed by a British tank.
31:16Although the initial D-Day landings had been a success,
31:20fanatical German resistance had stopped the Allied advance.
31:23The Tiger was proving itself very effective in defence.
31:30Its long-range gun and thick armour proved unforgiving.
31:36The Tiger was best avoided, really.
31:40It couldn't really do anything against them.
31:42It felt quite powerless.
31:44It was like a nightmare, you know,
31:46when things get a little bit nasty and a little bit nastier and a little bit nastier,
31:49and then, my God, it is a Tiger!
31:50and called on the radio and said,
31:53there's a Tiger, given that reference,
31:55and then the RAF would come very quickly into the typhoons and rocket it.
31:59On July the 18th, 1944, Operation Goodwood was launched as the first phase of the Allied breakout in Normandy.
32:13The plan was to blast a path with heavy bombers to allow three Allied armoured divisions to push forward.
32:201,500 bombers of the Royal Air Force staged the biggest air raid of the war against German tank positions.
32:31Lieutenant Richard von Rosen and his Tiger crew were waiting in well-entrenched positions when they heard the RAF Pathfinder planes overhead.
32:41They flew over us and continued dropping these flares.
32:49Then I knew it was going to get ugly.
32:52Although, what was going to happen at that stage, I couldn't even imagine.
32:55I saw the tank next to me, meters away.
32:58I saw the tank next to me, meters away.
33:01It was burning severely.
33:14It had been sliced open like a sardine can,
33:19hit right behind the wall.
33:22I saw the tank next to me, meters away.
33:24It was burning severely.
33:26It had been sliced open like a sardine can, hit right through.
33:39Our courage was somewhat diminished.
33:43We'd never seen anything like it.
33:45You have to imagine what we experienced in our tank
33:49during these two and a half hours of carpet bombing.
33:52It was hell.
33:56By late August, all German resistance in Normandy collapsed.
34:02The German 7th Army lost a quarter of a million men
34:06and thousands of tons of material.
34:11Despite its success, the landscape of Normandy
34:15had not allowed the Tiger tanks to be used to their full potential.
34:18The Tiger probably made a difference on the Eastern Front,
34:22where the Germans faced a target-rich environment.
34:26And it's good tank country.
34:28When you get it into an area where it's closed,
34:32like a city or a lot of places in Western Europe,
34:37where the terrain is closed down and you can't see 2,000 meters,
34:40it loses a lot of effectiveness in that it doesn't have the fields of fire that it would have in Russia.
34:48Despite his empire collapsing around him,
34:52Adolf Hitler still pursued his dream of a bigger and better tank.
34:56Incredibly, at this late stage in the war,
34:59the Third Reich found the resources to produce the even more powerful King Tiger.
35:03Hitler would use this supertank in a daring last-minute gamble to turn the tide of the war.
35:19By late 1944, the German armies were in retreat on all fronts.
35:24But Hitler believed that the new King Tiger tank
35:28would give his panzer divisions the winning edge on the battlefield.
35:33Five years of war had seen his panzers sustain enormous losses in material,
35:39which even the efficient German armaments industry found difficult to replace.
35:44Once the United States and the Soviet Union had entered the war,
35:51German tank production could not compete.
35:54The Americans alone produced four times as many tanks as Germany.
35:58The Soviet Union produced more than 40,000 T-34s during the course of the war.
36:10But Hitler was obsessed with super-heavy tanks.
36:14He believed that superior weapons were the key to victory.
36:18They were, however, expensive.
36:20A Tiger tank took 300,000 man-hours to build,
36:26at a cost of 800,000 Reichmarks,
36:29the same as three fighter planes.
36:34To solve their manpower problems,
36:36the Nazis staffed their factories with enforced labour.
36:38This actually hampered German mass production as it took far longer
36:42to build the sophisticated Tiger tank,
36:45with many needless man-hours being wasted.
36:48Whereas the American Sherman and the Russian T-34 tanks
36:51were far more suited to mass production by relatively unskilled workers.
36:55The new King Tiger was introduced onto the battlefield in late 1944.
37:05At 70 tons, it would be the largest tank in service during World War II.
37:11Its long-barrelled gun could deal with any tank with apparent ease.
37:14Panzer commander Richard von Rosen is seen here inspecting his battle group of King Tigers.
37:26The King Tiger had a similar shape to the T-34.
37:31It had sloping armour, not the square shape of the Tiger I.
37:38In the west, the enemy tanks didn't give us a headache,
37:42neither the Sherman or the bigger version, the Firefly,
37:48with its bigger gun.
37:51None of this was a problem for us.
37:56The Ardennes counteroffensive, known as the Battle of the Bulge,
38:00began on the 16th of December, 1944.
38:03It is the one battle of the war most closely linked with the King Tiger tank.
38:07Hitler ordered 10 panzer and 14 infantry divisions to break through the Ardennes forest in Belgium,
38:16seize the port of Antwerp, and sever the Allied supply line to their northern armies.
38:20One King Tiger battalion was placed in an SS battle group, spearheading the advance.
38:28Using the poor weather to their advantage, the German troops completely surprised the Americans,
38:34throwing them back in disarray within the first few days.
38:36A German breakthrough looked imminent.
38:44Although the Germans only deployed about 150 King Tigers,
38:49their reputation completely outweighed the impact of their numbers.
38:52Initially, during the Battle of the Bulge, when the King Tiger was used against American troops,
39:01it panicked them.
39:03They'd never seen anything that big.
39:05So they were caught completely by surprise.
39:08Here they are, supposed to be in a quiet front, and the next thing you know,
39:11they have this monstrous, huge King Tiger rolling down on top of them.
39:16And it shocked them.
39:18It was hard to recover from this initial panic.
39:21But the Germans soon discovered they had made a tactical blunder in using King Tigers,
39:27despite its lethal killing power, to spearhead the offensive.
39:32Because of its size, the King Tiger was not suited to rapid maneuvering through the narrow roads of the hilly
39:38and heavily wooded terrain of the Ardennes.
39:40They're operating in mud and slush, snow, and because it was so huge,
39:52the German engineers would have to build special bridges for it
39:56and raft these things across.
39:59The attack bogged down.
40:01When the SS tank crews ran out of fuel and ammunition,
40:05they were forced to fight their way out on foot,
40:07after first destroying their own King Tigers rather than see them captured.
40:12The desperate nature of the fighting experienced in the Ardennes counter-offensive
40:17became evident in one incident when 77 unarmed American prisoners
40:22were brutally massacred by the SS near Malmedy.
40:25After the war, 80 former SS soldiers were prosecuted for murder.
40:45The Germans sought to maintain the initiative by redeploying their remaining King Tigers to the town of Bastogne,
40:51which had been surrounded earlier in the offensive.
40:56But here, determined American resistance prevented Bastogne from falling.
41:01A hard battle was fought for this strategic position,
41:05but even the King Tigers could not turn the tide.
41:07As the weather improved, Allied air superiority decimated the German armour, including the precious King Tigers.
41:21With the defeat of Hitler's Ardennes gamble, the last great Tiger action in the West had been fought.
41:27and lost.
41:34Germany's defeat was now just weeks away.
41:38The few Tigers remaining in Hitler's diminishing arsenal were used mainly on the Eastern Front.
41:43The war was lost. Everybody knew that.
41:48We only wanted to keep the Russians as far away as possible from the German border.
41:52That was our motivation.
41:54During the final two years of the war, the Panzer troops had fought with distinction
41:59through the great battles on both East and West fronts.
42:02Their skill and discipline in defence, often against overwhelming odds, had pushed the Allies to the limit.
42:08People tend to underestimate how good the Germans were, and they also thereby underestimate how good we were.
42:17Throughout its operational life, the Tiger tank was rushed to every crisis,
42:22and its crews fought on every front.
42:25Its performance in battle became legendary.
42:30I wouldn't have wanted to go into battle in any other tank but the Tiger,
42:35because it was superior in every aspect to every other tank we had.
42:42The Tiger was, for me, the best tank that existed.
42:47It had its flaws, which you got to know, but you could live with that.
42:52Life in a Tiger crew commanding a Tiger company was, for me, the highlight of my time as a soldier.
43:00The Germans were unable to produce such an advanced weapon in the numbers needed to save the Third Reich.
43:10Yet even with the defeat of Nazi Germany, the reputation of the Tiger endures.
43:17During World War II, the Tiger tank is absolutely superior to the American Info-Sherman or the Russian T-34.
43:22But in the end, they only made 1,300 of them, and overall, that's a drop in the bucket.
43:29But, having said that, the tank's going to go down in military history as one of the great tanks of all time.
43:34.
43:36.
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