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Recover our bogged Tiger 100 of 502 Tiger battalion

Recover our bogged Tiger 100 of 502 Tiger battalion
The first Tiger captured by the Soviets was # 100 of 502 Tiger battalion it was chassis number 250004, its engine and radiator were broken. The tank was undergoing repairs when it was captured.


The Company arrived at Mga, south-east of Leningrad, on the 29th August 1942, detrained and began to move towards the front. That day saw the first use of the Tiger in combat. It was an inauspicious debut.

The commander of the 502nd, Major Richard Märker, had advised against deploying the Tigers. He argued that the terrain in this sector was completely unsuitable for the 56 ton tank. Heavily forested, the area had poor drainage, which resulted in large, soft bogs. The heavy rains common at this time of year made matters worse.

He was also worried that just four tanks would have minimal impact on any battle. He was overruled and the tank’s debut proved to be a failure. On two of the tanks thick mud built up between the interleaved roadwheels. This overstressed the power train and caused transmission failure. A third suffered engine failure.

Tiger ‘100’ of the 502nd, the first captured by the Soviets.
The three broken down and bogged in Tigers were recovered by the Company’s Sd Kfz 9 Famo halftracks. Three of these vehicles were required to haul each tank to safety. The replacement parts needed had to be flown in from Germany. Despite these challenges, the four Tigers were operational again by the 15th September.