Franz Staudegger. The Tiger Commander That Manages To Survive Against 50 T 34s

On Kursk July 1943 the biggest battle in history, there was a story of a German Tiger that manages to take on 50 attacking T 34s and he won the battle but how? On July 5^th, 1943 Franz Staudegger’s Tiger was to close up to his unit.

When Staudegger suddenly saw the indistinct outline of another tank ahead and blocking the road with turret smoking a cigarette, he snatched up his personal weapon and some hand grenades Staudegger clambered down from the Tiger to speak what he assumed to be another German tank commander but when he realizes that the tank he was trying to approach is a Soviet T 34 standing with its hatches open.

Staudegger acts quickly he pulls and tossed a grenade to the turret hatches and exploded, the tank was a smocking wreck. When the T 34 exploded the flash of the explosion reveals another T 34 behind it, Staudegger pulled another grenade and ran to the T 34 and tossed to the T 34 as the crewman opens its hatches to examine what happened. The second tank blew up and immediately destroys it and then Staudegger runs back to his Tiger.

He was awarded the Iron Cross 1^st class for destroying 2 enemy tanks with just a grenade, but 3 days later the Soviet 10^th tank core launched a massive attack against the flank of the 1^st SS panzer division. What Staudegger didn’t know that a force of at least 50 T 34s headed to his way, Staudegger’s Tiger had suffered damaged tracks and running gear and along with another damaged Tiger was further east than the rest of the regiment’s armor.

As the Soviets approach mechanics manage to gest Staudegger’s Tiger operational again, but instead of withdrawing the sergeant decided to try and stop the Soviet thrust he drove out of town towards the German grenadiers were being overwhelmed by Soviet Armor. Within minutes Staudegger’s Tiger had destroyed 3 tanks; suddenly 2 more tanks reared over an embankment and engaged the Tiger luckily the Tiger got them both. More and more Soviet T 34 started to come over the embankment but Staudegger’s Tiger got them all destroyed, one by one the T 34’s shells bounced harmlessly off the Tiger’s thick frontal armor.

Throughout the battle, Staudegger’s Tiger constantly maneuvers from position to position in order to get a deadly shot, Staudegger’s Tiger had destroyed 17 tanks but he faced a new problem, he was running low on armor piercing shells and the Soviet tanks kept coming he decided to use high explosive shells. The big HE shell was enough to penetrate the T 34’s armor and destroyed 5 more tanks, after his Tiger was hit by 67 shells Staudegger decided that he had enough he quickly withdraws from the battle.

Just one Tiger knocked out 22 T 34s, he was awarded the Knight’s Cross the first-ever awarded on a Tank Commander. He later fought with the most well-known German Tiger commander Michael Wittmann in Normandy and survived the war; he died in Frankfurt, Germany on May 16, 1995.