Haustenbeck’s Heritage: Journey of Tiger II V2

The Sturmtiger, although only produced and employed in small numbers, easily rivals the Tiger’s fame. This vehicle was used in three specially created units, Sturmmörser-Kompanien 1000, 1001 and 1002. In their new book “Sturmtiger: The Combat History of Sturmmörser Kompanies 1000-1002” Lee Archer and Timm Haasler aim to tell the story of these units. From the total of 18 Sturmtigers…

As is customary with German tanks, the successor to the Tiger I received many names. Initially, the new tank was named VK 45.03 (H), or Tiger III. Because the VK 45.02 (H), the original Tiger II, was cancelled, the Tiger III was later renamed back to Tiger II. In technical contexts, the same tank was usually referred to by yet…

In the course of the Second World War, mines proved to be one of the most effective weapons to thwart an enemy tank offensive from the outset. It was often the case that thousands of mines were laid as part of defensive lines, to consolidate key points and slow down the enemy. Clearing mines by hand was a dangerous and…

On the motorway, I was pleasantly surprised by a convoy of Boxer AFVs. I could not have imagined that an even bigger surprise was waiting for me at the next lay-by. By chance, two low loaders of the Dutch army carrying specialized Leopard 2 variants were parked here. In this short post, we take a quick look at these vehicles…

The size of my original article on Tiger II V2 got a little out of hand. To keep the length down, the section with a comprehensive background on Tiger II tracks is published here as a separate article for the tech-savvy readers. Being a test vehicle, it is not surprising that Tiger II V2 covered many test kilometres. The observations…