Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

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The late afternoon sunshine glistened off the white snow; the sun offered very little warmth to the cold Russian winter. In the middle of a large clearing surrounded by trees, a lone sixty-ton Tiger sat motionless in the snow. One main track had snapped and a road wheel had been blown off. From a distance, the Tiger still looked every bit as menacing as it had always been. Its distinctive step shape frontal armour wide tracks and large exhaust stacks mounted on the rear. This tank though had seen its fair share of battle and had the scars on its armour to prove it.

The crew of the Tiger was huddled together dead in their steel tomb. After a successful campaign, the tank now lay lifeless in a field. Flames still flickering around the engine compartment after it had been hit several times with armour piercing rounds. A testament to its armour that it had survived so many hits. Low on fuel, low on food and the tank in desperate need of maintenance the odds were stacked against the crew. They had only been together for six months and had ate, laughed, cried and now died in the same tank.

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