The hull was made at the Henschel & Sohn factory at Kassel-Mittelfel, the turret cames from the Wegmann Waggonfabrik A.G at Kassel.
From the serial number this tank was build in may 1944
The tiger1 at Saumur is one of the 14 tigers delivred the 06th of june 1944 to the 2nd Kompanie of the s.SS.Pz.Abt 102 which was in the area of St-Pol, south of Calais.
The 2nd Kompanie du s.SS.Pz.Abt 102 is commanded by the SS-Hauptsturmführer Endemann.
The 13th of june 1944, the battalion is shiped near Paris and settle in the park of the Versailles Castle .
From the 01 of july , the battalion moves to the Normandy front by road (with a lot of technicals problems )
The battalion is the 04 of july in an assembly area around Cauville, the 10 of july , the s.SS.Pz.Abt 102 is in the area of the Hill 112 where a big fight starts .
The 11 of july in the evening, the hill 112 is captured by the tigers of the s.SS.Pz.Abt 102, they will keep this strategic position until 02 of august 1944.
Between the 10 of july and the 20 of august, this battalion will destroy 227 tanks , 28 AT guns , 19 half-tracks, 4 scout cars , 34 trucks !
On 22 july, the 2nd Kompanie stand at Maltot, on 24 july, 4tanks are destroyed by the Kompanie .
On 1 August, the 2nd Kompanie moves to the north of la Biesterre , on 2 august, the Kompanie take part to an attack, and at the evening have destroyed 17 tanks !
Mid august , the 102 SS.s.Abt is trapped in the Falaise gap, most of the tanks are destroyed or blown up, none will cross back the Seine .
The tiger of Saumur was probably abandonned after a mechanical problem , as a matter of fact there is no sign of hit or sabordement on it.
 |
After the German retreat all the Normandy is full of abandonned vehicles
: a godsend for the French resitance groups .
The tiger of Saumur is recovered at the end of 1944 by the "l'escadron autonome de chars lourds Besnier ", name of the captain who make this group. This heavy tank squadron is fitted with recovered German tanks : panzers 4, stug 3, panthers , tigers 1. This group took part to several missions, including the siege of the St Nazaire gap. After the German surrender on 08 may 1945, the squadron is enlisted as the 2nd platoon of the 6th Cuirassier and is moved in occupation in Germany in the area of Trêves . From the photos, the tanks of the squadron have news markings : small French flag , name , and immatriculation. The tiger of saumur is nammed "Colmar" , an another tiger 1 "Bretagne", a panther "Dauphine"etc...
|
The captain Guy Besnier |
 |
Tanks of the Besnier group, the marking "Colmar" and the little flag
are visible on the tiger , in the background, Stugs III G and Panzers IV
.  |
 |
In the French evaluation report for the tiger, made in 1946 by the technical
service of the Army, section "autos-chars" there is a little photo showing
the tiger 1 used during the tests at Münsingen.
After enlargissement of the photo, you can see the marking "Colmar" and the french flag on the turret , so it's the tiger of the Besnier squadron !
|
 |
The tiger at Saumur is easy to identify : big muzzle brake not completly screwed, and a hit on the frontal armour plate |
 |
Then , when you look carefuly the photo , one can see a hit on the upper
corner of the front armor plate, and the big muzzle brake, not completly
screwed . These details identify this tank as the one actually displayed
at Saumur .
|
SOURCES:
*Historica hors série n°60
*SteelMasters n°3
*MMA n°36
*Tiger1 (Ryton publications)
*Evaluation report of tiger1 (Chatellerault Archives )
*Thanks to Rudi for his help and the details on the Besnier group