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M8 Slew King Tiger at St. Vith


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The historical documentation shows the tank was in the sector of the Cav unit, not the Armored Infantry of the parent battalion which was one over. The account is clear that shooter was an M8 (not M20) armored car. What's not clear from the account is that the Tiger was in fact a King Tiger, but from what I can see, the owning unit had been reequipped with King Tigers well before the Battle of the Bulge. That said, there were Tiger 1s at the Bulge, but only from a single battalion from a combat demolition unit (Borgward B IV). Details at link.

https://www.answers.com/Q/Lists_of_Tiger_1_tanks_in_battle_bulge

Returning to the main narrative, the M8 left its position and chased the Tiger down the trail, closing to 25 yards before opening fire. The tank caught fire in the rear, which was the part the M8 was shooting. The engagement observer was a captain, not some know nothing private or freshly arrived 90 day wonder, which I think greatly improves account credibility. Also,  he describes the engagement as the only thing of note in an otherwise quiet sector. There is zero mention of any other portion of the force there participating, and the tenor throughout is how unusual the occurrence was. Had a bazooka team done it, and especially a GI with a rifle grenade, let alone destroying the tank by close assault, this would've been known, given that nothing else happened in that sector on that day. War diary entries note cases in which bazooka or other destroys a tank. Have seen quite a few such entries over the years. The same would be even more true regarding a tank or ATG, I think.

Could the sole known eyewitness, rank notwithstanding, have been wrong, because some other entity also engaged but was unknown to him or the battalion S3 to whom he reported? Sure. Do I consider it unlikely? I do.

Regards,

John Kettler

Edited by John Kettler
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