Grey Tigers (1 Viewer)

[fmethorst]

The topic of grey Tiger tanks always seems to generate considerable interest and discussion. What is it about the grey variants that seems to pique collectors interest? The actual combat engagements featuring grey Tigers appears to be very small. The situation is hampered by a number of factors:

• Tigers destined for North Africa were painted in DAK colors.
• The deployment of early Tigers straddled the winter of 1942-43 often resulting in whitewash being applied.
• The order in February 1943 (H.M. 1943 Nr.181) to change from Grey to Dunkelgelb with field applied Green and Brown

Since German regulations often appeared subsequent to actual adoption and there could be some lag of units in the field having time and the appropriate conditions to implement them we can assume the Feb 43 date a fuzzy transition point.

What does this leave us in regards to true grey Tigers?

The first few arrived in Mga (eastern front) with s.H.Pz.Abt.502 August 29 1942. They didn't engage in combat until nearly a month later on Septemeber 22 1942 when 4 of them joined an attack against the encircled 2nd Soviet Shock Army. The outcome of this attack was 1 Tiger was hit prior to experiencing an engine failure and the other 3 bogged down in the unsuitable terrain. Of these 4 tanks 3 were recovered and the remaining 1 was finally blown up on November 25 1942 after an extensive recovery effort failed.

Notwithsanding this early engagement it appears that the bulk of combat featuring grey Tigers occured over the winter of 1942-43 and that the majority of those vehicles ended up whitewashed at some point.

Frank

 

[Mitch]

It may be down to the fact that grey has not been used in this hobby for a Tiger I that kindles the interest of the collector. Its also quite a confusing topic as the early tigers that were grey should according to regulations have only lasted a short period. This lag you mention, between changing to dunkelgelb and using other camo colours was seemingly down to the crews of individual units. Grey was covered in green and brown, just green and, in many cases dunkelgelb as the camo pattern over grey.

Add to this the fact that at Kharkov and up to Citadel Tigers were still grey and, were being sent from factories in grey and dunkelgelb!! This explains some of the confusion in the literature and, the topic in general. Grey Tigers cover quite a time frame and see some of the most intensive fighting on the russian front From Leningrad and surrounding areas to Kharkov and, citadel.
Mitch

 

[fmethorst]

It may be down to the fact that grey has not been used in this hobby for a Tiger I that kindles the interest of the collector. Its also quite a confusing topic as the early tigers that were grey should according to regulations have only lasted a short period. This lag you mention, between changing to dunkelgelb and using other camo colours was seemingly down to the crews of individual units. Grey was covered in green and brown, just green and, in many cases dunkelgelb as the camo pattern over grey.

Add to this the fact that at Kharkov and up to Citadel Tigers were still grey and, were being sent from factories in grey and dunkelgelb!! This explains some of the confusion in the literature and, the topic in general. Grey Tigers cover quite a time frame and see some of the most intensive fighting on the russian front From Leningrad and surrounding areas to Kharkov and, citadel.
Mitch

The regulation (H.M. 1943 Nr.181) actually states in paragraph 6c that field troops are to leave the base color of their existing equipment unchanged. Meanwhile paragraph 6d goes on to state that replacement and occupation troops are required to change the base color. This helps explain the existence of grey vehicles (with various oversprayed camouflage) well into 1943.

What I am explicitely referring to though is the pure grey overall vehicles. There appear to be very limited instances of this configuration.

Frank

 

[Rob]

Hey Frank, thanks for posting, this is very interesting. Allow me to put forward my very straight forward reasons for looking forward to this new Grey Tiger. It is simply because not only is it THE most famous of all German Tanks but also along with the Spitfire and Sherman Tank quite possibly the most iconic weapon of War from WW2. As a result of this I've wanted one of each of the ' main' camo schemes it was painted in (I say ' main' as there are of course quite a few). I now have it in Desert, Normandy, White, 'Snow Tiger' and soon to be Grey . These I would consider possibly the most recognized schemes (although we could of course debate that) from the most famous theaters of WW2. I'd like to say that five will be enough Frank, but as a friend said to me today ' You can't have enough Tigers ':smile2:

When these orders to repaint Tigers (or other Tanks) went out, how quickly were they changed do you think Frank, and would some units lag behind others resulting in some Tanks remaining their original colour for longer than they should have? I guess what I'm asking would battlefield conditions and intensity of action affect the timescale of repainting?

Rob

 

[uksubs]

The topic of grey Tiger tanks always seems to generate considerable interest and discussion. What is it about the grey variants that seems to pique collectors interest? The actual combat engagements featuring grey Tigers appears to be very small. The situation is hampered by a number of factors:

• Tigers destined for North Africa were painted in DAK colors.
• The deployment of early Tigers straddled the winter of 1942-43 often resulting in whitewash being applied.
• The order in February 1943 (H.M. 1943 Nr.181) to change from Grey to Dunkelgelb with field applied Green and Brown

Since German regulations often appeared subsequent to actual adoption and there could be some lag of units in the field having time and the appropriate conditions to implement them we can assume the Feb 43 date a fuzzy transition point.

What does this leave us in regards to true grey Tigers?

The first few arrived in Mga (eastern front) with s.H.Pz.Abt.502 August 29 1942. They didn't engage in combat until nearly a month later on Septemeber 22 1942 when 4 of them joined an attack against the encircled 2nd Soviet Shock Army. The outcome of this attack was 1 Tiger was hit prior to experiencing an engine failure and the other 3 bogged down in the unsuitable terrain. Of these 4 tanks 3 were recovered and the remaining 1 was finally blown up on November 25 1942 after an extensive recovery effort failed.

Notwithsanding this early engagement it appears that the bulk of combat featuring grey Tigers occured over the winter of 1942-43 and that the majority of those vehicles ended up whitewashed at some point.

Frank

Cheer Frank just put me of getting the figarti grey tiger now lol but very interesting thread ! I've always liked the triple Normandy camo tiger myself when did done well

 

[fmethorst]

Rob,

Wanting to collect one of every color varient would definitely drive interest in this rarely scene version. Personally I think the grey version looks really sharp so I can also see the appeal from a purely aesthetic perspective as well.

As for the gradual disappearance of pure grey Tigers I think the winter of 1942-43 is probably pretty close. As Mitch noted versions featuring grey as one of the camouflage colors were likely present well into 1943. I think attrition played a part as well. As older equipment was lost new equipment would have come in the new color.

Frank