Author Topic: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger  (Read 1041 times)

Offline Greebo

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S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« on: March 25, 2015, 09:04:13 AM »
Thanks to Lyric1 for finding me the info for this skin.

In August 1944 the German army began an offensive to reduce a Soviet bridgehead over the Vistula river in Poland. As part of the spearhead of this attack they assigned S. Pz. Abt 501's King Tiger tanks. Although the King Tiger had been used against the Western Allies, this was to be its first use against the Soviets.

This offensive turned out to be a disastrous debut for the new tank. The terrain was too soft and uneven for the 68 ton monster and the tanks were delivered just a few days before the offensive. So their crews had little training and only two of three battalions had received their vehicles anyway. Not only that but the Germans advanced with little or no reconnaissance so were frequently ambushed by the Soviets. By August 11th the attack had reached the village of Ogledow, but as eleven S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tigers struggled their way uphill out of the village they were ambushed by two T34/85's disguised as haystacks. The tank of Guards Junior Lieutenant Oskin quickly took out three King Tigers from the side and the rest retreated back to the village. That night a Soviet attack on Ogledow with tanks and infantry caused the Germans to flee in panic leaving behind much of their equipment including three operational King Tigers. One of these was tank 502, the subject of this skin.

As the Soviets counter attacked over the next few days they successfully employed their heavy JS-2 tank to counter the King Tiger and the Germans were forced to abandon their attempt eliminate the bridgehead.

Tank 502 was a command vehicle equipped with longer range radio. It had a hastily applied camo scheme with the numbers applied by hand rather than using a stencil. The Soviet troops found it fully equipped with ammo and fuel and with the operator's manual inside. This tank was used for running trials while the others were dismantled and used as test targets.

« Last Edit: March 25, 2015, 09:08:29 AM by Greebo »

Offline Dragon Tamer

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2015, 11:58:43 AM »
That picture's not accurate, he's not sitting on concrete!   :old:

Very nice work as usual Greebo.  :aok

Online Devil 505

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2015, 01:11:40 PM »
Very nice. Nice subtle zimmerit effect.
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Offline lyric1

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #3 on: March 25, 2015, 03:10:47 PM »
 :aok

Offline Nefarious

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2015, 04:27:38 PM »
Very nice!
There must also be a flyable computer available for Nefarious to do FSO. So he doesn't keep talking about it for eight and a half hours on Friday night!

Offline Karnak

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2015, 08:24:59 AM »
Nice work by Junior Lieutenant Oskin.
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Offline Scherf

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Re: S. Pz. Abt 501 King Tiger
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2015, 02:53:28 AM »
Beautiful.
... missions were to be met by the commitment of alerted swarms of fighters, composed of Me 109's and Fw 190's, that were strategically based to protect industrial installations. The inferior capabilities of these fighters against the Mosquitoes made this a hopeless and uneconomical effort. 1.JD KTB