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Water bottle storage
German soldiers were provided with distinctive water bottles with cups attached by straps. The cups had folding handles. For each crew member of a tank, there was a stowage point for a water bottle. Since the bottle had a clip, the stowage point consisted simply of a small loop.
This is an example in Tiger #2500122 [1] . The loop is U-shaped, and welded at its ends to a small metal rectangle 50mm x 25mm. The rectangle is welded to the wall or, as in this case, to metal strips that hold it close to the wall.
The stowage in the Tiger's turret was rearranged several times. There are very few photographs of interiors and we may never know the full story. Four different arrangements of the water bottles have been seen, and are shown in the following diagrams.
This arrangement is seen in tanks '712' [2] and '833' of S. Pz. Abt. 501 [3] . The loader's bottle is in the forward right corner of the turret, beyond the vision port. The commander's bottle is at the back, high up. I have also drawn the shell-removing tool (the 'entlader') which is lower down. The gunner's bottle is on the left side wall.
The tank's stowage was redesigned in December 1942 [1] , possibly because that the escape hatch was added. The Bovington vehicle was produced a few months later, with the bottles fixed in this arrangement [1] . The loader now has two bottles close to hand, but the gunner can no longer reach his. The commander's bottle is low down behind his seat, just beside the pistol port. For some reason, the designers have placed one bottle sitting on the 'entlader' tool.
This shows the stowage point for the commander's bottle. The label will be obscured when the bottle is hung from the loop.
This arrangement is drawn in the Turret Manual [4] for the turret with the 40mm roof. But it must have originated earlier, when the turret was redesigned with a new cupola.
The 'entlader' tool is now moved forward, but once again there is a water bottle sitting on it. The commander's bottle is still behind his seat, moved slightly to avoid the gun counterbalance that has been inserted there. The third bottle is not on the turret wall and so it is not shown here; it is on the 'box' structure, to the immediate right of the loader's seat.
In the final Tigers, as seen in the 'Saumur' vehicle [5] [6] , there are no stowage points for water bottles in the turret. Presumably the bottles are stowed loose behind the coaming on the turret ring .
Sources
[1] Survey of vehicle 250122, Bovington, by David Byrden
[2] Survey of vehicle 250031, by Stephan Vogt
[3] Tiger 1 on the Western Front
[5] Survey of vehicle 251114, at Saumur, by Jean-Charles Breucque
[6] Survey of vehicle at Saumur, by Hilary Louis Doyle
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