Otto Carius' Tiger 217

[Spasm]

It's been hanging around in a rather large box for a while, so while I'm waiting for the Triumph spares shops to catch up on deliveries:

Looks quite good perched on an old ammo box

[peter monahan]

Nice one! 

[Spasm]

Thanks Peter, hope your retirement is going ok. No idea how I ever had the time to go to work, but retirement is miles and miles better.

Otto Carius of 2.sPzAbt 502 - the ones with the painted woolly mammoths - and another Tiger destroyed 17 tanks including a JS-1 in a 20 minute action in Malinava (Eastern Front). He is credited with over 150 kills and the only Tiger to have shot down an aircraft! He said it took his gunner two shots before he got one though - good grief.

After the war he gained the qualifications and opened a chemist called 'Tiger Apotheke'. His book "Tigers in the Mud" is worth a read.

Here he is getting another gong and some other cool pics (saves you having to look him up)

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Spasm

[peter monahan]

Thanks again.  I did take a quick look, after I realized you had given the tank commander's name in the title of your post.

Shooting down a plane with a Tiger is pretty amazing too!

Fascinating! "'Tiger Apotheke'. His book "Tigers in the Mud" "  I for one, tend not to remember that all of the soldiers, on all sides, who survived, had 'life after the War' stories too, and sometimes fascinating ones.  I once worked with a Finn, named Torri, who was a rock blaster in a mine in northern Ontario.  He was missing two fingers on one hand, which I assumed was work related.  Torri had a partner who spoke for both of them, though I'm pretty sure Torri understood English just fine. 

Anyway, long story short, I eventually discovered that Torri lost his fingers 'in the war' and, for the rest of the Finns, the joke was which side he's fought on.  Not for the Allies but for the [anti-Communist] Axis.  Always regretted that I never got the full story.

[Spasm]

I suppose he could've fought for both sides - maybe lost a finger to the Russians and another to the Germans - now that would've been a story not to miss.

Steve

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Spasm

[peter monahan]

16 hours ago, Spasm said:

I suppose he could've fought for both sides - maybe lost a finger to the Russians and another to the Germans - now that would've been a story not to miss.

Steve

 

I'm pretty sure, from the context and the sniggers, that he only fought for the Axis.  There were a number of Finns, technically mercenaries I suppose, who fought the Soviets in the Baltic states, alongside Wehrmacht units, right into 1945.  But, yes, still kick myself for not digging out the story.   

[Paul R]

I don't think those Finns were mercenaries, per se, but more fighting to prevent another Soviet incursion into their country?

[Martin2]

Stunning model Steve

many hours on the air brush there !!

awesome detail , it just looks right

??

martin

[GdC26]

Yes, compliments, very well done