A single Super Pershing was shipped to Europe and given additional armor to the gun mantlet and front hull by the maintenance unit before being assigned to one of the tank crews of the Third Armored Division. The front hull was given two 38 mm steel boiler plates, bringing the front up to 38+38+102 mm of armour. The plates were applied at a greater slope than the underlying original hull plate it was welded on top of. The turret had 88mm thick RHA from a Panther turret welded to the gun barrel covering the front. An account of the combat actions of this tank appeared in the war memoir Another River, Another Town, by John P. Irwin, who was the tank gunner. Zaloga described three actions in his book. On 4 April, the Super Pershing engaged and destroyed a German tank, or something resembling a tank, at a range of 1,500 yd (1,400 m). On 12 April, the Super Pershing claimed a German tank of unknown type. On 21 April, the Super Pershing was involved in a short-range tank duel with a German tank. The engagement was a brief encounter. The German tank missed the initial shot. The Super Pershing responded with a quick shot, but it had fired a high explosive round which had no effect on the German tank. The crew then apparently felt something slam into the turret mantlet, although it is unknown whether this was a shot from the German tank or it was from another anti-tank weapon of some sort. The Super Pershing then knocked it out with a shot to the belly as the German tank tried to climb over a pile of rubble. Irwin described this German tank as a Tiger II, but Zaloga was skeptical of this claim, as there was a very small number of Tiger II tanks in Western Europe in 1945.[49][50] After the war, the single Super Pershing in Europe was last photographed in a vehicle dump in Kassel, Germany, and was most likely scrapped
Since then the records relating to all King Tiger movements during WW2 have been unearthed and catalogued. No King Tigers were in the area, no photographs were taken of any kill, which they would have been if it had happened, and there is no record of a destroyed King Tiger either. Yes, the Super Pershing had a big gun, and it may have destroyed a PzIV, which was more likely due to the way the target is described as exploding (ammo rack under the turret), but the tale of it taking down a KT has been proven to have been false.
That said, the Super Pershing, especially the European version, has looks that you either love or hate. I just happen to like short tanks, I reckon that they look more purposeful, and the Super Pershing has that unique stumpy, cut down look, and looks like it was made in someone's garden shed.
Which is a whole world apart from what I currently have in front of me...
The only photographs that exist were in a tank scrapyard at Kassel, Germany in 1945, and there are very few of them.
