Some time ago, two grainy black-and-white photographs of an unknown Tiger II suddenly appeared in my inbox. At first glance, the features suggested it might be Tiger II V2, the well-known prototype. But the backdrop raised far more questions than it answered: French lettering, outlines of a harbour scene, and other details I had never associated with this particular tank. Could this iconic prototype really have ended up in a French port, strayed far from its documented path? The faded images concealed as much as they revealed, sparking a location hunt that led to unexpected conclusions.
What We Thought We Knew
It is already well established that, in early 1946, most of the vehicles deemed valuable by the British at the Haustenbeck proving ground travelled to a German port by Culemeyer trailer, from where they were shipped overseas. Numerous photographs featuring the “Underwater Tiger,” E-100, Grille, and the Jagdtiger, document this journey.
However, none of these show Tiger II V2 in transit. In an earlier article, I assumed all vehicles had followed the same route to the United Kingdom. The newly surfaced images, however, force us to revisit that narrative. V2 appears to have been moved at a different, and possibly earlier, moment.
Dockside Forensics
The photographs contain multiple locational cues. In one, a tall structure appears in the background. This turns out to be a floating grain elevator or cargo hoist – an installation common in ports for handling bulk goods like grain. A railway wagon confirms a track runs parallel to the quay. Furthermore, the Tiger stands beneath a distinctive canopy with ornate gable decoration.
In the side view, the word fragment “ORIFIQUE” is visible on a building façade, along with the number 121. At first glance, the text seems to run through the gun barrel, suggesting it is a watermark, but this could equally be explained by the poor photo quality or printing artifacts. Also present are a military truck (right edge) and a mobile harbour crane with a characteristic arched frame, allowing railway wagons to pass beneath.
Identifying the Vehicle
A side-by-side comparison with a known profile of V2, taken while it was still at Haustenbeck, leaves little doubt. Matching hull details include:
- Missing second and rearmost track guards in both images;
- Early GG 24/800/300 tracks;
- 18-tooth drive sprockets;
- The pot-shaped snorkel cover; and
- A Single-piece monobloc 8,8 cm KwK 43 L/71 barrel.
Turret features align as well: a pre-production turret with its Verständigungsöffnung (communications port) welded-shut, and no Turmfugenschutzring (protective armour ring around the turret base). This combination of characteristics makes it virtually impossible for the vehicle to be anything other than V2.
The Search Begins
The starting point for the search was the most striking feature in the photo: the harbour crane. Given the presumed route of the other vehicles from Haustenbeck, it made sense to begin by looking at the ports of Bremen and Hamburg. Both, however, were quickly ruled out, as their cranes did not match the one in the photograph.
Could the picture have been taken in a French port after all? This seemed highly unlikely. By 1944–45, most major French harbours had been heavily damaged by retreating German forces, with reconstruction only beginning late in the decade — well outside the timeframe in which I believe these photos were taken. Moreover, transporting a vehicle from Haustenbeck to France would have meant a considerable detour. Was there perhaps a closer port that had remained largely intact?
Enter Antwerp
After the breakout from Normandy in August 1944, Allied forces advanced rapidly north in “the Great Swan”. In early September, the port of Antwerp fell into Allied hands, largely undamaged. Although it remained unusable until late November (as the Scheldt estuary was still in German control), Antwerp soon became a vital logistics hub.
The French text on the building could be explained by Belgium’s bilingual nature. Additionally, the fact that Antwerp had arched cranes, resembling the one in the photograph, could not be ignored. What’s more, the canopy sheltering the Tiger strongly resembled those in other historical imagery of the Antwerp port.
Pinning the Quay: 121 and the Albert Dock
On a post‑war map, Antwerp’s quays appear all neatly laid out and clearly numbered. The combination of the number “121” in the photograph and the numbering on the map suggested that V2 may have been photographed somewhere around Quay 121. This was the first concrete lead tying the photos to a specific sector of the vast Antwerp port.
From there, a systematic comparison of archival imagery of the port began. The search concentrated on the docks surrounding Quay 121, focussing on distinctive features like the crane and gable decoration.
An image of passengers boarding a Red Star Line ship, shows the decorative iron work of the canopies in more detail. However, the decoration seen here, does not quite match that in the V2 photograph. Though broadly similar, the gable decorations on the canopy roofs varied subtly from dock to dock, providing a useful discriminator.
Photographs of Quay 127 and Quays 198-192 (then operated by General Motors), all located along the Albert Dock, finally revealed a perfect match for the crane, strengthening my belief that we were looking in the right direction.
A breakthrough came with a photo of Quay 107. At last, the gable decoration matched exactly with that seen on the shed over V2 (although it’s hard to make out). It was the architectural equivalent of a fingerprint match! Later on, more photos came to light showing the decoration to an even better extent.
A notable landmark across from the Albert Dock were the Kali-magazijnen (Potash warehouses). These long low warehouses were built in the 1920s to store potassium fertilizer. On both sides, the warehouses are outlined by tower-like add-ons, connected with each other and the main building using some kind of elevated hallways. In the frontal view of V2, the faint outlines of these structures can just be made out. Together, these clues fixed V2 to the Albert Dock.
The Frozen Truth: Entrepôt frigorifique
On later plans of the Albert Dock, Quays 121 to 123 are attributed to the firm Refribel, which operated a cold storage warehouse there1 2. At first glance this seemed incidental, but it turned out to be the final piece of the puzzle.
In an aerial photograph of the Albert Dock, the lettering on the rear of Refribel’s warehouse could just be made out: Koel en vriesstapelhuis (refrigerated and frozen storage facility). Given Belgium’s bilingual character, it would not surprise if the French rending of the same, “Entrepôt frigorifique“, would appear on the side of the very same building.
That realization suddenly made sense of the text fragment in the V2 photograph. The fragment “…ORIFIQUE”, was not a watermark, but in fact part of this very signage. In other words, the Tiger was no longer sitting under some anonymous shed, but its location could be pinpointed to a precise stretch of Albert Dock, directly beside Refribel’s warehouse, with remarkable certainty.
Safe Haven
The new photographs provide compelling evidence that Tiger II V2 was not shipped via Bremen, as long assumed, but through the port of Antwerp. The tank was positioned at Quay 119 in the Albert Dock, right beside what later became Refribel’s cold store. This discovery closes a long-missing gap in the vehicle’s history.
After Antwerp: Second Across the Channel
V2 was not only the second Tiger II ever built, but also the second to reach the the United Kingdom. The first3 was No. 104 from schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 101, captured in France in 1944 and present in England by the end of January 19454 5. It spent many years in the collection of the Royal Military College of Science at Shrivenham, before moving to the Tank Museum in 2006.
Lists of shipped captured German materiel indicate a second Tiger II arrived between 21 September and 4 October 19456 — almost certainly V2. Like many other captured German vehicles, V2 was almost certainly examined by the School of Tank Technology before eventually joining the Tank Museum’s collection in the 1950s.
An Unfinished Journey
Antwerp explains where V2 went; it doesn’t yet explain why. It remains a mystery how this fitted in the broader logistics of the British army, and why there was an apparent need to get a second Tiger into the United Kingdom quickly. Do you have additional information or photographs that could help unravel this story further? Get in touch and help trace the journey of this iconic tank. In the meantime, have a look at my earlier article about V2’s history at Haustenbeck
Footnotes
- This was only one of five of Refribel’s warehouses, as witnessed by this document of the Belgian Senate from November 1986, calling for the dissolution of the firm: https://www.senate.be/lexdocs/S0507/S05070193.pdf[↩]
- In the late 1940s the operator of these so called, Koel- en Vries Inrichtingen seems to have been S.A.T.I., and only later this became Refribel.[↩]
- UK, House of Commons, Hansard, 31 May 1945, vol. 411, col. 353. “Tanks (Inspection By Members). See the Prime Minister’s remark “There is only one Royal Tiger at present in the country and it has been damaged.“”[↩]
- UK, House of Commons, Hansard, 16 January 1945, vol. 407, col. 15. “German King Tiger Tank”. Of interest is Sir J. Grigg’s response to Mr. Stokes’ questions on the King Tiger tank: “Yes, Sir. One is on the way.“[↩]
- The War Office M.I. 10, List of Captured Enemy Material Received From Theatres of War, 5 February 1945[↩]
- The War Office M.I. 10, Captured Enemy Material Received From Overseas, List No. AL.21[↩]
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