World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
14 Feb 2011 07:00:54 PM

THE JAPAN'S PAPER TIGER:

Did you know...

The Tiger was tested by the Japanese army
but as the story goes, they were taken to the cleaners, and paid more, for their Tiger, than the German army would pay for their's.

The Japanese were impressed with it and planned to have it shipped to Japan, made even more plans, to have it built in Japan.
How they would have shipped it to Japan is the question, by submarine I don't think so
too big, as a kit still too big, by surface
been sunk, before reaching Japan.

Could Japanese industry even have the material needed to build it for the Imperial army, let alone the support needed to keep
Tigers in the field. Build it in Korea or
Manchoukuo, but they would have to ship all
necessary equipment needed, and factories built to even produce it.
Was it a long-range plan to produce the to Tiger to fight the Russians on the Asian mainland, we'll never know.

BANZI COULD HAVE BEENS:

The Tiger never got to Japan, it was presented as a gift from the Imperial army to the German army, and later lost during the Normandy invasion. In the end for the
Japanese, it was Sayounara to Big Kitty-San

2.  Bill says:
16 Feb 2011 05:02:05 PM

EVERYBODY WANTS A TIGER:

Besides the Japanese, who paid 645,000RMs
for a fully equipped Tiger w/ammo and radio,
out the door, the regular price was about 300,000RMs.
Who got the better deal, and what are Axis partners for, when it comes to the almighty Reichmark, its a different story.

HUNGARIAN RHAPSODY:

The Hungarians bought three Tigers in July 1944. They were shipped to Hungary PzBbt.503 or 509 were assigned to train the Hungarian crews, plus a small additional number of Tigers were also turned over to them.. Both my French and Austrain/Hungarian Ancestry come into play here.

ALL FOR ITALIA!

In May 1943 thirtysix Tigers were supplied to
Italy to form a new division to be named the "Mussolini" 1st Armored Division.
They saw little combat service due to the Italian surrender in September 1943.
The Tigers were confiscated and pressed into service with schwere Panzer Abteilungens.

3.  Bill says:
29 Jan 2017 09:37:46 AM

FINISHING TOUCH:

Tiger production started in 1942 with 25 per month, and peaked at 104 per month by 1944.

ON THE CLOCK:

Did you know it took factory workers 300,000 man hours to build one Tiger tank, with a price tag of 250,000 marks, without armament and radios would add to the final cost.
That's a lot of labor to build such a complex fighting machine, some would say that the Tiger was really over engineered for a 24/7 war.
The Tiger was a maintenance nightmare and crews had to maintain the vehicle in combat conditions.

BUILD A TIGER TODAY:

Building one WWII Tiger tank today, would cost $ 1,282,051 US Dollars...