Aspects of the event
Description
The 8th company of "Das Reich" had a self-inflicted loss. On 24 February 1943, the company commander was drinking with Luftwaffe officers. He bet them that he could drive his Tiger across a stream. At dawn he had his crew start his own whitewashed Tiger, number 800, and drive it into the frozen stream; it promptly fell through the ice and became stuck.
The tale of a man putting a 56 ton tank on ice is a good one and probably grew in the telling. But in fact, the lower part of the Tiger was sealed and it could drive through water as high as a man. With half an hour's preparation, it could be made ready for complete submersion. The commander probably lost his bet because the stream bed was not solid.
The tank was pulled out of the stream days later; probably enough time for it to fill with water. It had to be sent to a depot for weeks of repair. To make matters worse, this was a Command Tiger, critical for linking the company's tanks to the Army via radio; and it was the only one they had.
There are no photographs of this embarrassing event, but we do have images of Tiger 800 itself. The tank came back to the company in the summer of 1943, and served with them in Operation Citadel.
Photos
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