tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post8830804140155418849..comments2024-03-28T14:35:30.147-04:00Comments on Tank Archives: Beheaded King TigerPeterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09622237223229485503noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5030145265861917845.post-1931803104413852432022-05-27T10:02:46.077-04:002022-05-27T10:02:46.077-04:00Hmm, I can understand the reasons for overclaiming...Hmm, I can understand the reasons for overclaiming enemy tanks--but wasn't there any organization in the Soviet army that counted the wrecks on the battlefields and reconcile claimed kills versus actual kills? (That would result in a minimum figure, as a KO'ed tank could be recovered and towed away even if later deemed irreparable). <br /><br />The other problem is that I think this author gives way too much credence to German unit tallies. This reminds me of the air war over Germany, with the low tallies of German planes lost, from fragmentary data, which are trumpeted as "truth" when it in no way accounts for the aggregate totals the Germans actually lost. Peter has shown numerous times how the German way of counting losses obscured their actual losses.<br /><br />I mention these things as in the West, there were "counters" who went over the battlefield and tallied the wrecks. I saw a webpage discussion which I can't find now, which tallied all 45 of the King Tigers lost by the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion in France, with location where discovered along with the cause of loss. I see that Wikipedia (whose authors apparently worship German sources) claims that two of the 503rd's King Tigers got back to Germany, and the November report sent to Guderian in November of 1944 only clalmed seven were lost! <br /><br />Given all these, I wouldn't blow off Soviet kill claims based on German sources, like this author did.<br /><br />Stewart Millenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01261690405884935161noreply@blogger.com