01/23/10

One other Königstiger from the Ardennes battles survives.  In July 1945 the American Army began to assist the Belgians in hauling away and disposing of the rusting tanks left in their villages and fields.  SS-Obersturmführer Dollinger’s Tiger 213 lay in the Werimont farm field where it was abandoned, still minus the front of its gun tube.  As the Americans began to haul 213 away, the proprietress of a local inn persuaded them to leave it in the town square in exchange for a bottle of cognac!  It stood near the town civic building for several years, and in 1951 the Belgian Army moved it to a better display area.  Over the years it has been restored under the direction of Gérard Grégoire, curator of La Gleize’s December 1944 Museum.  The amputated gun barrel posed a problem, until M. Grégoire discovered a complete Panther gun tube buried beneath a farmer’s hedge (it had probably been overlooked by the scrap dealers after the war).  M. Grégoire persuaded the farmer to sell the find for the bargain price of 1,000 Belgian francs, and 213 received a new gun by welding the Panther barrel to what remained of the original Tiger barrel and adding a relic muzzle brake from another Panther.  Tiger 213 remains in La Gleize today, the showpiece of Kampfgruppe Peiper relics.  (1)

Note:

(1) Gérard Grégoire, interview by author, La Gleize, Belgium, 21 June 1998; Benno Deckers, email to author, 3 May 2004, and interview by author, 15 June 2005.

The Americans first placed 213 at the edge of the town square, in front of the civic building.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

213's turret number remained visible even as the tank slowly rusted after the war.  According to Gérard Grégoire, who was a young man in La Gleize at the time, the turret number was black edged in white.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

Even in this faded photo, the "ambush" paint scheme can be seen on the glacis plate.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

In August 1951 the Belgian Army use tank recovery vehicles and a crane to place 213 onto a concrete pad for display in front of what would become the town museum.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

The tank had a new home, but there was still lots of restoration work to do.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

The restoration of 213 began with getting its gun tube back to full length.  Gérard Grégoire located a buried 75mm Panther barrel that could be used as shown in the drawn map above, and it was attached to the 88mm section of the Tiger's barrel using a sleeve as shown in the diagram by Benno Deckers.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

The tank received some cosmetic restored sheet metal sections for track mud guards and other small pieces, and a base coat of "panzer dark yellow" paint.  (December 1944 Museum, La Gleize)

213 on display.  (author's photo)

The frontal armor of 213 (in an earlier paint scheme).  The solid shot lodged at the junction of the armor plates is approximately 75mm, but was probably fired from close range by a US tank crew after the battle to "see what they could do."  None of the Shermans of TF McGeorge could have penetrated the Tiger's armor like this during the battle on 22 December.  (author's photo)

All text copyright 2005-2010 Gregory A. Walden. All rights reserved; material from this website may only be republished with the author’s permission.