RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Greets to all the members and guests the forum!
I am here with another newbie question regarding the numbering and labeling of German tanks in WWII. If anyone hadn't heard yet already, I currently own a common Heng Long 1/16 German Tiger I that has no modifications on it whatsoever, and I was looking for a way to personalize it a bit; make it a bit more custom. I still have to purchase a metal recoil turret from Taigen Tanks, however when I do I'll paint it custom colors and label its turret with a personalized number. I've heard several bits and peices about the German's three digit numbering system, but I would like to know more about the system in better detail. I was also wondering if I were to have my tank ressemble an actual tank from a certain German Heavy Panzer Battalion, if that would at all effect it's turret number or make it bear any insignas or symbols on it's hull naming it's Battalion. I know it's a handful but I hope someone could help me with this question..... Thanks! (P.S., my tank is an Early production model, for I know later models of the Tiger I had different standards for labeling their tanks).

If you Google "German tamk numbering" there are a myriad of articles there.

The pictures are missing but the explanation is there

http://bunker3030.blogspot.co.uk/2011/0 ... t.html?m=1

Tiger Hi, If I have not welcomed you already then WELCOME TO THE FORUM
If you are serious about Turret numbers on Tigers both 1 and 2s then I would recommend two books of reference and a website,
The books are "Tigers in Combat" Volumes 1 and 2 by Wolfgang Schneider,
Every German Army and SS Heavy Tank Company can be found within these pages and you will soon discover the subject whilst it has a pattern is also a minefield such as a surprisingly high number of German Tanks did not carry Turret Numbers
And also do not believe the colours of the decals you see,
There are hardly any reliable pictures that show the true colours of German Tank Markings.
There are a lot of pictures as well as Company and Battalion markings included in these two books as well as the fate of each tank and commissioning dates,
Not Cheap but a valuable source, Highly recommended,
The website is-----
http://www.alanhamby.com
Just trawl through and enjoy,
It is a feast of erudition,
Do make sure you visit every page especially the page marked "Paint", There you will get inspiration for your Tigers Colours and markings.
Shaun.

hello

bear in mind that the germans reorganized their divisions throughout the war.

some time ago i did some Organization charts, both for a Panzerdivision and for a Schwere Panzerablteilung. in general this could be resumed like this (ignoring exceptions)

1 Panzerdivision had 1 Regiment
1 Regiment had 2 Bataillon (Abteilung)
1 Bataillon had 4 companies (Kompanie)
1 Company had 4 plattons (Zug)
1 platoon had 5 panzers

so to speak: 812 --> 8th kompanie (thus 2nd Batallion), 1st zug, 2nd vehicle

and the charts i did:





hope this helps

Jussek Thank you for that,
I have always been amazed at how difficult it is identifying German Tanks by their Turret numbers,
It should be so simple and then you go to identify German Tanks in the Tunisian Campaign and you find a surprisingly high number of Tanks were renumbered in the field by just having the old number on the Turret being over painted with a new one,
Chasing up the old number to match it to the new Number is enough to make you turn to strong drink.
A lot of Tanks even though they were allocated Numbers never had them painted on the Tank which makes identifying particular photographs almost impossible sometimes.
So even more drink is taken,
Shaun.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I will be sure to look into it some more!