The Capture of Tiger 131: History Reassessed

The latest research has begun a new chapter in the story of the last working example of history’s most famous tank

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NEW INFORMATION, including an astonishing account from a previously unknown eye-witness, has dramatically changed the story of the world’s most famous tank, revealing exactly how the infamous Tiger 131 was captured.

The eyewitness recalled the moment his anti-tank round bounced off the Tiger tank as the turret turned in his direction moments before it was disabled by a lucky hit in what became the first example of the fearsome new German panzer to fall into Allied hands, intact, as British forces seized it during fierce fighting in the Tunisian desert in 1943. Such was the importance of the capture that, when visiting North Africa, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and King George VI went to be pictured with it. The lucky shot had wedged itself in the turret mechanism so it couldn’t turn, and the crew had baled-out and run.

The original story of 131’s capture came from Lieutenant Peter Gudgin, who was charged with writing a detailed report about the Tiger’s capture after it had been brought back to t…

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