Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf E (Early production), ‘Tiger 131’
Built at the Henschel tank works in Kassel during February 1943, Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf E ‘Tiger 131’ was destined to be one of only a small number of Tiger tanks sent by Hitler to bolster the increasingly desperate situation in North Africa, reinforcing the famous Afrika Korps. Assigned to the 504th Heavy Tank Battalion, she was transported from the factory by rail to the port town of Trapani in German occupied Sicily, before being shipped across the Mediterranean Sea to Tunis by barge, three tanks at a time. Once in Tunisia, the Tiger was prepared for immediate combat operations and as it was destined to be the commanders tank of the 3rd platoon, was adorned with the red turret number 131.
Joining up with what few existing Tigers remained in the area, the tank went into action against British forces in April 1943, where she would be facing the Churchill tanks of the 48th RTR and determined ground forces, which at that time were very much in the ascendancy. Although the 88mm main gun of the Tiger was capable of destroying a Churchill at ranges well beyond the British tank’s ability to return fire effectively, this advantage was negated by the hilly terrain in which they would be fighting. The Tigers would therefore usually be deployed with several smaller Panzer IV tanks and additional supporting infantry units, vital in providing close protection for these battlefield monsters. Unfortunately for the men of the Afrika Korps, it was all a case of too little, too late.
Facing overwhelming odds in Tunisia, the newly arrived Tiger tanks of Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504 travelled around 400km from their disembarkation port of Tunis to first face the British in actions around Djebel Djaffa, however, this would be a period of intense fighting and combat accounts are a little sketchy. What happened to Tiger 131 next is still shrouded in mystery and the subject of continued military research. Whilst engaged in fighting with troops of the 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters at Point 174 Gueriat el Atach on 24th April 1943, Tiger 131 was hit multiple times by small arms fire, but significantly, also by an anti-tank shell from a gun captured by the British only minutes earlier and turned against its former owners.
The round glanced off the gun mantlet and struck the turret ring, jamming the turret and probably injuring the crew in the process. Shaken up and probably fearful of coming under further attack, the crew quickly abandoned the tank and ran towards German lines, leaving their almost pristine new Tiger I in the middle of the active battlefield. The Foresters attempted to hold on to their unexpected prize in the face of numerous enemy counterattacks, but it would be several days before the area could be secured and British tank recovery crews could safely enter the area and recover the tank. Tiger 131 was the first German Tiger tank to be captured intact by Allied forces during the Second World War and in the years which followed, would go on to be regarded as the most famous individual tank in the world.
