hello Glen,
some time ago i did a lot of research for my Tiki project
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=10148
some useful info for you could be this (is a compilation of different sources), is about Tiki nº812, but if you plan to depict a similar period vehicle it would help:
• the 2 SS Das Reich Tiger I Regiment got serials 25047, 48, 49, 51, 53, 66, 67, 68, 71, 72, 73, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86, 88, 89, 92, 94, 95, 96, 101, 102, 103, 152, ( 3 between 185-200), 194, 201, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 219, 220, 223, 224, 225, 226, 230. “TIKI” is one of the 8 issued in January 1943; I would say 83-86, 88 or 92 which I have listed for them.
• 2 SS Das Reich Tiger I received prior to Kursk:
? December 1942 issued 2
? 250049
? 250076
? January 1943 issued 8 (“TIKI” one of them)
? 250077
? 250078
? 250083
? 250084
? 250085
? 250086
? 250088
? 250092
? April 1943 issued 5 that arrived on 13 May
? 250201
? 250213
? 250217
? 250219
? 250220
? May 1943 issued 1 that arrived on 13 May
? 250225
? 8./SS Panzer Regiment 2 "Das Reich" lost the following Tiger I prior to Kursk:
? 11 Feb 1943 1 Tiger I is immobilized by a mine and is captured by the Russians
? 1 Mar 1943 1 Tiger I is lost because of burning out from an internal fire
? This means that the unit had 14 Tiger I by at the start of action in Operation Zitadelle [Kursk]. This agrees with the data provided by Niklas Zetterling and Anders Frankson in their book “Kursk 1943, a Statistical Analysis”. In the battle for Kursk Das Reich lost 1 Tiger I in combat on 11 July 1943 which was apparently the tank of Hauptsturmführer Lorenz who was killed in the action. On 16 July the operation is terminated and Das Reich entrains in Ssossnowka on 24/25 July and detrains at Barwenkowo on 26 July. It was not until here that they received 9 Tiger I transferred from Leibstandarte’s 1./SS Panzer Regiment on 28 July 1943.
? Therefore the Kursk’s 8./SS Panzer Regiment 2 "Das Reich" Tiger I are 14 of the 16 chassis numbers listed above.
? This is a total of 16 Tiger I received by 13 May 1943. Now if you take these by chassis number and compare to when various production changes were made than you can arrive at the appropriate configuration. I will list each production change and then below it note the above chassis numbers that include the production change:
? Smoke candles on turret sides 3 per side
- all 16 had this
? Emergency hatch rather than pistol port on right side.
- all 16 had this
? Production designed stowage bin on rear of turret
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225 had this. The earlier batch of 10 (“TIKI” one of them) did not have this stowage box while fighting at Kharkov early in the year. They used various stowage boxes. It appears that by Kursk they all had been retrofitted with the production designed box. Here you need to look closely at the photos.
? Some rear deck changes have to be looked at:
? dropping the circular cap over the ventilation riser and replacing with a triangular shaped cover held by three bolts
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225 had this. The other 10 had the circular cap cover (“TIKI” one of them)
? a rectangular plate to seal the air intake slit in the engine hatch during submerged fording was secured on the deck to the left of the turret on the forward area of the chassis top just below the smoke candle dischargers
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225 had this. The other 10 did not (“TIKI” one of them).
? a triangular support piece was added to the ends of the side track guard sections.
- 085,086,088,092,201,213,217,219,220 & 225 had this (“TIKI” one of them)
? Feifel air filter system early design (double drums on each filter)
- 049,076,077,078,083,084,085,086,088 & 092 (“TIKI” one of them)
? Feifel air filter system late design
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225
? S-mine dischargers on hull top
- 083,084,085,086,088,092,201,213,217,219,220 & 225
? Exhaust muffler guard and deflector
- 049 and 076 did not have all the others did
? 5 cleaning rods with 2 on left and 3 on right and 1 was 1240mm long and 4 were 1238mm long
- 049,076,077,078,083,084,085,086,088 & 092 (“TIKI” one of them)
? 6 cleaning rods stowed on hull top with 3 on left and 3 on right and 1 was 918mm long and 5 were 980mm long
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225
? addition of loaders periscope
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225. The other 10 did not have it (“TIKI” one of them)
? spare track holders on turret sides with 3 on right and 5 on left
- 213,217,219 & 220
? spare track holders on turret sides with 2 on right and 5 on left
- only 225
? machined drive sprocket hub
- 220 & 225 only
? front pivoting tow shackles
- all had this but 049
? welding fasteners on the lower left hull rear for securing a shaft for the engine hand-cranked starter
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225. The other 10 did not have it (“TIKI” one of them)
? penetrations in the belly plate
- only 049 has a drain valve in belly plate at upper left side
? reinforced road wheels:
- locking strips spanning two roadwheel bolts were added
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225 the other 10 just had single holding tabs for each bolt
- addition of 2 smaller diameter roadwheel bolts for each of the original 6 bolts bringing the total to 18 bolts was an interim solution.
- 201,213,217 & 219. The first 10 had only the 6 bolts
- the final solution was the use of 12 larger bolts
- 220 & 225 only
- twin drivers periscopes no longer installed
- 201,213, 217,219,220 & 225. The other 10 did have them (“TIKI” one of them)
- drum commander cupola
- all 16 had this design cupola
- reinforced gun mantlet
- 088,092,201,213,217,219,220 & 225
• It was a Tiger I Early type, turret number 812, belonging to Das Reich division, located in Belgorod. From factory it had panzer dunkelgrau on it. It had smoke generators at both sides on the turret and early type Feifel filters. It was later renumbered 833, but when the turret numbers changed the 8 for the S (for Schwere), it was renumbered S34 as there was already a S33 in Das Reich. It was then the Kursk offensive.
• It had the spade on the glacis plate, the thick mantlet, straight-line side fenders, the first type of Feifel, the wide hinged mudguards, the ring reinforcements for the holes at the sides of the glacis, the turret escape hatch, the rear toolbox stored in a metal frame, the extended hull front edges, the starter adapter plate aligned vertically, welded supports for the S-mine launchers but no actual launchers, no exhaust shields, no shaft stored at the bottom of the rear plate, the old wide turret bin with side supports and with a curved cutout to clear the hatch, episcope holes above the driver's visor, five long cleaning rods, no triangular plate behind the engine hatch, no periscope for the loader, no spare track on the turret, no support legs on the engine hatch, and other details should not be in question...
• The known transition of this Tiger I is 812?833?S34. Yet its earliest identity (in Kharkov campaign) is not known for sure.
It is hard to tell if the gray 812 (white number) is the Tiger I in winter white wash with black tactic number 812 during the Kharkov campaign. If yes, its first section of the right fender must have been replaced.
This Tiger I is for sure one of the ten Tigers issued to the unit in the 1942-1943 winter, not a replacement delivered in 1943 May.
Tiger 812 was in gray with remarkable pattern of yellow wavy stripes, and had a nickname “TIKI" sprayed in its right side and front left.
Then the Tiger was renumbered with 833, and eventually became S34 for the Kursk campaign. It appears the Tiger has kept its camouflage pattern since the 812 stage. Its destiny is not clear.
• The turret numbers S34 is a consequence of organization.
At this time, Tiger I of the Waffen-SS were organized in SCHWERE KOMPANIE of a regiment (In this example: SS-Panzer regiment 2 of 2nd SS Panzergrenadierdivision "Das Reich")
? S means SCHWERE Kompanie
? 3 means third Abteilung
? 4 means fourth tank in the 3rd Abteilung
• Its number for Kursk was S34 and stayed that way until its death... probably around the time which “Tigers in Combat II” says Das Reich lost the last remaining Tigers I on 25-dec-1943 as they ran out of fuel and were destroyed by crews. There is a mention of S34 on 07-dec-1943, but not sure if it's the same or a renumbered one.
• This is my thought on Das Reich Tigers I at Kursk. All opinions are welcome and needed. I'm at the opinion that the 9 early Tigers are grey and that when they received the next 6, those where late batches with yellow paint, turret hangers and other additions. Sometime early 43, maintenance crews applied camouflage to the vehicles and the grey tanks were NOT painted overall yellow, but yellow was used as their camouflage! ”TIKI” or S34 is the best example of this. You can see that the yellow was applied over the grey. Why was this only one to have this done to? I believe it's not and that the other 8 Tigers I where done the same way.
• “TIKI” was one of the first 9 Tigers I delivered to Das Reich and the 8th company was created just before the battle for Kharkov. These photos are a part of the Führer’s birthday celebrations dated 20-mar-1943 after this the company was moved to Belgorod. On the 20-abr-1943 “TIKI” was renumbered 833 and then was again renumbered S34. There is some discrepancy over the camouflage it was either a base coat of dark grey or dark yellow with red brown camouflage there is also some rumor that the vehicle also had a complete coat of winter white wash with just the numbers visible.
• As of July 1, 1943, Schwere Panzerkompanie SS-Panzerregiment 2 had the following Tigers I assigned:
? S01 S02
? S11 S12 S13 S14
? S22 S23 S24
? S31 S32 S33 S34
A month later, things would change to:
? S01 S02 S03 S04 S05
? S11 S12 S13 S14 S15
? S21 S22 S23 S24 S25
? S31 S32 S33 S34 S35
?
(Source: Tigers in Combat II, by Wolfgang Schneider (JJ Fedorowicz), pages 201-202).
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En realidad, el asunto de los camuflajes de la Das Reich es un poco más complicado. Parte de los Tiger I que intervinieron en Kursk se recibieron en mayo y llegarían ya pintados con el “amarillo oscuro” de base. Si las franjas de camuflaje aplicadas posteriormente fueron verdes o marrones o verdes y marrones es algo que nadie parece saber con certeza, pero está claro que el color verde no iría mal para el principio del verano.
El resto de los Tiger I (9) estaban en esa unidad desde el invierno y su color de base era gris oscuro. Al llegar la primavera, algunos fueron repintados sólo con franjas del nuevo color arena sobre el gris oscuro, como el célebre 833 “TIKI”, rebautizado para Kursk como S34.
http://www.alanhamby.com/unithist.shtml#SS2
8./SS-Panzerregiment 2
• 15-Nov-1942
? Ordered to form as the Tiger I company for 2. SS-Panzergrenadier Division Das Reich
• xx-Dec-1942
? 2 Tigers I received
• xx-Jan-1942
? 8 Tigers I and 12 PzKpfw III received, organized into four heavy platoons, each with 3 Tigers I and 1 PzKpfw III and 2 light platoons of 4 PzKpfw III each
• 24/25-Jan-1943
? entrained for the Eastern Front
• 1/2-Feb-1943
? arrival in Kharkov
• 17-Feb-1942
? withdrawal to Poltava begins, 1 command Tiger I delivered to balance an earlier loss
• 22-Feb-1943
? German counter-offensive begins vicinity of Kharkov (von Manstein's Backhand Blow)
• 25-Feb-1943
? only 3 Tigers I operational
• 13-May-1943
? 6 Tigers delivered, 14 on strength
• 20-May-1943
? remaining PzKpfw III transferred
• 04-Ju-1943
? 12 Tigers I operational
• 05-Jul-1943
? Operation Zitadelle commences (Battle of Kursk)
• 16-Jul-1943
? Zitadelle terminated, 5 Tigers I operational
• 28-Jul-1943
? 9 Tigers I received from Leibstandarte which heads for Italy, 22 on strength, transfer to the Mius River front
• 04-Aug-1943
? Transfer back to the Kharkov area
• 18-Aug-1943
? 17 Tigers I on strength, 3 operational
• 20-Oct-1943
? transferred to the Bobruisk area
• 06-Nov-1943
? transferred to the Kiev area
• 17-Dec-1943
? majority of Das Reich transfers to the West for reconstitution, but the 9 remaining Tigers I remain as part of the Kampfgruppe Das Reich
• 25-Dec-1943
? All remaining Tigers I are abandoned due to breakdowns or lack of fuel
• 10-Feb-1944
? 5 Tigers I are delivered in Proskurov
• 26-Mar-1944
? last 2 surviving Tigers I are blown up
• 14-Apr-1944
? withdrawn to the Netherlands and incorporated into s.SS-Pz.Abt.102
so, in my opinion, if you want to depict one of the early Tigers received by this unit, and BEFORE Kursk, it has to be panzergrau, with dunkelgelb camo strips. There are several pics that prove this. After Kursk it would be feasible that the 'older' Tigers received in the firsts batchs, had green strips painted on, but there is no any pic i know of that prove this.
i hope some of this info would help you
best regards
