Why the Tiger Tank Terrified the Allies but Lost the War

On 13 June 1944 one Tiger company wrecked a British column at Villers-Bocage in under fifteen minutes. Eight weeks later its commander, Michael Wittmann, was dead, killed by a gun fitted into a Sherman. Ten reasons the Tiger terrified the Allies and lost anyway: the 88 mm gun, 100 mm of armour, the score and the legend, the British answer, and then the numbers, the cost, the breakdowns, the bombed factory and the fuel. And where the "five Shermans for one Tiger" rule really came from. Subscribe to Rivet & Iron for more WW1 and WW2 machines, and the men inside them. CHAPTERS 0:00 Villers-Bocage, 13 June 1944 0:57 Ten reasons 1:13 #10 The surprise: Tiger 131 1:57 #9 The gun 2:44 #8 The armour 3:27 #7 The score 4:18 #6 The legend: "five Shermans" 5:27 #5 The answer: the Firefly 6:20 #4 The numbers 7:05 #3 The cost 7:48 #2 It broke down 9:18 #1 The war around it 10:21 The verdict SOURCES Tiger I production (1,347, August 1942 to August 1944; 104 in April 1944), armour, weight, engine, range, governor, first actions, claims of 8,100 tanks for 1,725 Tigers lost (Askey), Tiger 131 (24 April 1943, Point 174; Tank Museum 2019), U.S. decision to keep the 75 mm gun (Zaloga): "Tiger I" and "Tiger 131", Wikipedia, and the sources they cite (Jentz; Tank Museum). Tiger II production (492), Henschel raids (22 September - 7 October 1944, 95% of floor area, an estimated 657 tanks lost), 503rd Battalion in Hungary, Ardennes, 103rd SS Battalion: "Tiger II", Wikipedia. 508th Heavy Panzer Battalion, 23-25 May 1944 (22 Tigers lost, one in combat): "508th Heavy Panzer Battalion", Wikipedia. Villers-Bocage and Wittmann's death (8 August 1944, Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil); Joe Ekins (1923-2012), 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry: "Michael Wittmann" and "Joe Ekins", Wikipedia (the credit for Wittmann's death is disputed). Sherman Firefly (2,100-2,200 built, about 342 delivered by 31 May 1944, one per troop): "Sherman Firefly", Wikipedia. M4 Sherman production (49,234): "M4 Sherman", Wikipedia. "Five Shermans" rule: Bruce Culver (1975), an "unofficial rule of thumb" about the Panther; Steven J. Zaloga on its lack of basis in the records. Archive film (U.S. government works, public domain): U.S. Army Signal Corps film of Tigers knocked out and captured (Italy 1944, near Düren 1945), Tunisian front newsreel (1943), "Vehicular Firing: M4 Medium Tank" (1943), "Crack That Tank" (1943), 2nd and 3rd Armored Division films (1944-45), "Conquest by Air" (U.S. Army Air Forces). Photos: Imperial War Museum and U.S. Army Signal Corps (public domain). CC credits: Tiger 131 at the Tank Museum, Bovington (CC BY-SA 4.0); Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-698-0038-04 (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). #WW2 #TigerTank #ShermanTank #MilitaryHistory