I have often wonderd what effect the Tiger could have had, if any, if all avaliable Tigers had been sent to Manstein for his counter attack to relieve the 6th Army.

I realise that at most there would have been 90? Tigers avaliable, and considering the forces arrayed against them, this may seem like a small pebble in a large pond. But consider this, througout the war the Panzerwaffe maintained a 5-1 kill ratio.

So what if any difference would their deployment have made?

Could they have operated as the ciutting edge of the attack to over come the massive Soviet tnak forces, thus allowing the accompanying Panzer and Infantry Divisions an easier time?

Or would the unproveness of the Tiger have been more a hinderance than an asset?

My curiosity about this started after reading George M< Nipe's "Decision in the Ukraine". The facts and figures he provides for the Tigers at Kursk made me wonder about their deployment at Stalingrad. Hopefully all this rambling will make sense

Regards from the Swamp

Hawkeye

Ethelian

I don't think they would have made a big difference except to prolong the Soviet victory Out in the open they would have slaughtered the Red army

But once in the streets in Stalingrad.......... They wouldn't have had any great effect IMO I think even with the Tigers in the battle the Soviets would have still captured the city

They had the numbers on their side

The answer does not lie with the 90 Tigers. We all know what they were capable of (especially in the open terrain south of Stalingrad). The problem is the supply line needed to bring these Tigers forth through the front line and to the cauldron. Fuel, ammo and necessities for every day survival had to be brought up along side or behind this force, usually in soft skinned vehicles which would be very susceptbile to pincer attacks by mobile Russian forces.

Frank

They may not have made any difference - because von Paulus following Hitler's instructions still wouldn't have withdrawn from Stalingrad. If Manstein's relief force had been bolstered with Tigers he may well have broken the siege, but the result with 6th Army stuck in Stalingrad may well have been more catastrophic, in that his forces may have been sucked in too. At any rate, even if Manstein had broken through, Paulus' men were too far gone for a breakout attempt, they no longer possessed the transport needed.

My take would be they quite well could have forced a breakthrough. If anything else, it would have been similar to a Falaise Pocket event. I think a large amount would have been able to hoof it out. 200,000 +. It wouldn't have made much of a difference in the long run though.and probably cost the vast majority of the precious Tigers due to breakdow