Question regarding camo nets and Afrika Korps

jayjay82

Hey everyone.

I was wondering if Germany used camo nets to conceal armor in the africa campaign ? YES Not very ffamiliar with the Afrika Korps.  Specifically i am building a Tiger and was thinking about utilizing a tan colored camo net to partially coceal it in a diorama.  YES THAT WORKS. Any help would be great!  

Running together what are really several thoughts into "An Afrika Corps Tiger in North Africa using camo nets", debatable but that's getting kind of picky, ehh?

May we know the sources of your information?

According to German records (quoted in "Tigers in Combat 1") there were NO losses of Tigers crossing the Mediterranean in either direction; neither those of the 501st or 504th Heavy Tank Battalions.

The number of Tigers that arrived in Tunisia is reported as 20 for the 501st and 11 Tigers for the 504th battalions; again I am quoting that book.

The 501st was not part of the Afrika Korps. It was in the 5th Panzer Army, which was a separate army. The ownership of the 504th is not clear to me yet; its Tigers were assigned to help both the Afrika Korps and the 5th Panzer Army, but I'm not sure whom they belonged to officially.

The book reports that these 31 Tigers were destroyed mostly by their own crews exploding them, or the British exploding them, and then by other tanks and AT guns, and finally a couple were destroyed or damaged by artillery. The book has no mentions of naval guns hitting them. The Tigers operated up to 100km from the coast, and found themselves near the beaches only in the last days of the Tunisian campaign.

I would be really interested to read new information about these Tigers.

David

Basicly it just the details of operational control of Tigers. Unlike most Panzers, Tigers were assigned to independent Heavy Tank Battalions that were attached to various Corps or Armies as needed for operations. There were a few exceptions of certain Army and SS Divisions having organic Heavy Tank (Tiger) companies which later grew into battalions as production allowed. But most Tiger Battalions would fight under various higher headquarters in numerous campaigns during their existance.

Two of these Schwere Panzer Abteilung, 501st and 504th, would see action in Tunisia during the final stages of the North Africa campaign, between November 1942 and May 1943. IIRC, not all of 504th made it to Africa, with the remainder only making it to Sicily before the Africa Camoaign ended. There those Tigers would fight against the Allies during Operation Husky.

Byrden

The first American encounter with the Tiger tank was in Tunisia on 1 December 1942, in olive groves 2km north-west of Tebourba.

And all of the photos above, show Tiger tanks in Tunisia.

But those Tigers are in the 5th Panzer Army. They are not in the Afrikakorps, and Rommel has no control over them.

David

 

 

You could have added that in your first post. That would have been cool  

The first American encounter with the Tiger tank was in Tunisia on 1 December 1942, in olive groves 2km north-west of Tebourba.

And all of the photos above, show Tiger tanks in Tunisia.

But those Tigers are in the 5th Panzer Army. They are not in the Afrikakorps, and Rommel has no control over them.

David

Byrden

Quick answer: there were no Tigers in the Afrikakorps.

Really, If that is the case, what are the above three photos and this statement from official US Army After Action reports from N. Africa?

"The first American encounter with the Tiger tank was in Tunisia (North Africa) in late 1942."

Quick answer: there were no Tigers in the Afrikakorps.

David

On Tigers in Tunisia, the few photos showing nets with the tanks, show them on the tank to break up the contour outlines

As you can see, the Germans did use cam nets. But i would suggest that the use was limited. There are certainly very few pics showing German armour under nets, and they don't appear to have carried them as modern vehicle's do. But it would not be to far fetched to have a Tiger under a net.

I would say yes.

German Africa Corps soldiers under camouflage net in African Campaign, Northern Africa, 1942