Tiger Tank 131 (Special ep)

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this episode and its opponent the sherman firefly the last working tiger tank in the world World War two not many weapons vehicles or aircraft of the World War 2 era have gained the iconic status that the tiger tank did it has a reputation that stands to this day just to see one of these beasts standing in a museum display is an experience however there is one that can be seen in action it's the last working tiger tank in the world Tiger 131 of the tank museum and bobbington England the baptism of fire for the tiger tank was in autumn of 1942 on the Eastern Front when a platoon of four Tigers were sent to the Leningrad front in December of the same year the Tigers were sent to the North African Front in Tunisia where the Germans were trying to stop the Allied offensive this was where Tiger 131 was deployed the Tiger 131 came down the assembly line at the Henschel Factory in Kassel in February 1943 was painted in new Google but dark yellow and was assigned the serial number to five zero one to two along with the other tiger tanks 131 was mounted on a railway carriage and transported to the port of Trapani Sicily over there they embarked on Seibel ferries a motorised raft used by the Germans for transport the final destination was Tunis North Africa once the tanks arrived in Tunis in mid-march they had their narrow tracks mounted for transport by railway removed and replaced with wider ones intended for use on the soft terrain of the desert parts that were disassembled for easier transport were then reassembled the now ready for battle tanks were then deployed to the 504 'the heavy tank battalion of the fifth panzer army Tiger 131 was deployed to the first company third Platoon as the first tank of the platoon commander hence its 1-3-1 designation which was painted red on both sides of the turret the first task for Tiger tank 131 and its first company is to reinforce the German positions at this Fox McNally area by now the Tunisian campaign was in its final stage British and American troops were advancing towards the city of Tunis the last stronghold of the axis in Africa on April 21st in order to withhold the advance of the British Army the Germans launched Operation lilac blossom the aim of the operation was to counter-attack the British advancing from the region around the hill called jebel jaffa tank 131 was just one of the tanks that participated in the operation in what was to be a decisive battle for Tiger 131 the war ended right there and then during the last German defence before the Tunisian capital almost completely intact and would end up in British hands there's a small shroud of mystery on how this happened as for 75 years it was believed that the tank was captured on the slopes of Jebel Jaffa while it actually happened 10 miles northeast of there on a smaller health known as 0.174 also known as garrote l8r 0.174 came into the center of events after the british managed to defeat the Germans in the Battle of long stop hill on April 22nd and 23rd 1943 the British concentrated their attack on 0.174 and the nearby 0.156 west of the town of Majel baba after their attacks were repelled on April to May 3rd a new one commenced the following day note 174 was attacked by the second Sherwood Foresters 0.156 by the first came Shropshire light infantry both battalions were supported by a composite tank battalion under the command of the 142nd Royal armoured Corps the first Kings Shropshire light infantry were quicker to capture their objective but did it with heavy casualties the second foresters also had many casualties but with much more difficulty in seizing the table of 0.174 on the afternoon of April 24th foresters finally seize the crest will need to be attacked by German tanks in a hull down position from a distance of 300 yards the foresters bravely withheld the tigers intense shelling so then one of the tigers decided to leave its position and 4.17 for it with Tiger 131 once it arrived on the top of the hill panic broke out the tank was fired upon from all sides infantrymen were firing bursts from their small arms and projectiles from their anti-tank PS some of the foresters managed to capture a French 75 millimeter gun in standard firing on Tiger 131 finally the supporting Churchill tanks of the B squadron of the 48th Royal Tank Regiment and the ad hoc squadron of the 142 Royal armoured Corps opened fire from the neighboring Hill Point 151 in this raining hail of bullets and shells Tiger 131 suddenly stopped one of the shells hit the Tigers gun barrel and ricocheted into the turret rang and jammed the turret another shot that impacted the turret lifting lug disabling the guns elevation device then a final third shot had the loaders hatch deflecting shrapnel into the turret the crude the tiger probably wounded in panic stricken decided to evacuate the tank there was a doubt as to whether it was a shell from the French 75 millimeter gun or from the Churchill's 6 pounder gun that disabled the turret the latest research by experts from the tank museum at bobbington showed that it was most likely the shell from one of the Churchill's from 0.1 51 that stopped the tank even today impact damage from 57-millimeter shells and 303 bullets are evident on the tank the Foresters remained on point 174 for the next six days along with the captured Tiger 131 on may 7th the 104th army tank workshop arrived at Point 174 and recovered the tiger from the battlefield after it was repaired and put back into working order the tank was towed away to Tunis on May 24th which by that time was liberated by Allied troops the German Cross was removed shield of the first Army and the diabolo of the 21st army tank brigade were painted at the front of the hollow while in Tunisia it was displayed to King George the 6th and Prime Minister Winston Churchill who desired to see this beast of a tank the captured tiger tank 131 was a magnificent war trophy for the British who decided to transfer it to England the tank was driven to la galette Harbor and ferry to bizerta on August 3rd 1943 in bizerta the tank embarked on the SS Empire Candida and sailed to born from where it was transferred to Glasgow on board the SS Ocean strength it finally arrived in the UK on October 8th in the UK Tiger 131 started a new life before it was taken to the department of tank design and Chertsey Surrey he was displayed at the Horse Guards in London and even had a public display tour around the country the show however didn't last long as experts from the tank department laid their hands on it subjecting it to thorough examination the tank was stripped of the majority of the important parts such as its engine gearbox and many others it was in such a condition that it was ultimately put aside as by the end of the war an interest in further research was lost finally on September 25th 1951 the tank was handed over to the tank museum at Bovington over there Tiger 131 spent almost four decades at the Museum as a static display until a team of restorers decided to bring it back to life when a highly demanding project Tiger 131 was stripped to pieces with the majority of its original parts returned back in place after refurbishment some components such as wiring were replaced with modern versions while some had to be completely remanufactured it's breath of life was an in working order Mae bot HL 230 engine taken from another tiger tank to replace the original HL 210 engine that was scrapped by engineers at the department of tank design finally the tank was painted in a proper paint scheme with all the original German markings restored the end result is the greatest attraction of the tank museum the own fully operating tiger tank in the world on the now-famous Tiger days museum visitors have the opportunity to see in action one of the most famous tanks in history this episode was brought to you by world of tanks tank fest now you know the story of Tiger 131 watch the tank in action on the upcoming tankfest online stream link in the description below don't miss it and sign up and use the code fire away to get world of tanks and Mo's unlock tanks including the Tiger 131 link also in the description below you

Channel: Simple History

Views: 1,014,647

Rating: 4.9418597 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, educational, education, tiger tank, tiger 131, last working Tiger, Eastern Front, north africa, tunis, tunisia, North African Front, Dunkelgelb, 250122, Siebel Ferries, motorized raft, Port of Trapani, 504th Heavy Tank, german, bovington tank, musuem, Djebel Djaffa, Point 174, museum, British, Gueriat el Atach, Medjez el Bab, Sherwood Foresters, Shropshire Light Infantry, Longstop Hill, Royal Armored Corps, hull-down position, Foresters, churchill

Id: svir2ClIt_E

Length: 10min 47sec (647 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 25 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Khalil4life]

I have this really amazing idea that if I end up one day as a rich person, I would buy all those tanks that participated in the Tunisian theater and also buy those bombs that we still find to this day (and of course, make them not explode and safe to look at) and buy any piece of history that's related to this land and then build a big and really beautiful and great museum and place all the stuff there so people from all around the world can see the WWI and WWII Tunisian theaters.

But wait a minute, shouldn't that be our government's job ?