I need some info on Otto Carius’ jagdtiger the # and or camo colors for a diorama , any help is appreciated
He commanded the second company of 512, so it was probably 200. By the very end, their tanks generally had no markings at all, but I can’t speak for Carius’s particular vehicle.
Oberleutnant Otto Carius commanded the 2nd company of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 512 from the end of January 1945 until the last 6 Jagdtigers were blown-up by their crews and the unit disbanded on April 15. Otto Carius himself stated that there was no photographic equipment available to 2/512 and very few German photos of this unit survived the war, as Allied troops commonly confiscated P.O.W. cameras. The 1st company used an odd “X” numbering system. Photos of vehicles with X1, X5 and X7 are known. A photo of a 3rd company vehicle shows a white “Y” painted on the side of the fighting compartment and with 3 sets of spare tracks per side, thus obscuring any tactical numbers, (if any were actually present). Photos of 1st company’s surrender at Iserlohn usually describe the vehicles as being overall dark yellow with no additional camouflage paint, only conifer branches. Other authors state that these actually had Ambush Scheme, obscured by heavy dust. The photos I have seem to suggest they were camouflaged, possibly in Ambush Scheme. A color drawing in Concord’s Panzerwaffe at War, (2), page 40, is erroneous, as it claims the vehicle, number 331, (the Aberdeen Jagdtiger) as being from s.Pz.Jag. Abt. 512. This vehicle was from Abt 653, not 512. In short, the few photos I have that are known to be of 2/512, are of such poor quality that no numbers can be seen and colors / patterns can not be discerned. Sorry to be of such little help.
Well thanks anyways folks … it is a very tough question as there isn’t much info on this vehicle to begin with . The info you gave is a very good start anyways !
I just took a look in “Tigers In The Mud” for you and it depicts a few pictures of #213 as the first Tiger he commanded. I’ve seen these pictures in Tigers in Combat too I believe. Or maybe it was in one of those Restayn books. Anyways…its an early Tiger with the early style cupola and smoke dischargers. I think the scheme was mainly beige with the unusual balkenkruez. Hope that helps
Right, but his Jagdtiger would have had a different number.
My mistake… I misread the subject [V]
in a book ive got Schwere panzer in detail by Culver & Feist theres a photo of a Jagdtiger surrounded by troops of the 36th (texas) infantry division, the number is 234 and on the next page theres a drawing of the tank in a base coat of yellow with green and brown camo , on the green and brown theres yellow brush marks, the caption is sPz.Jag.Abt.512
in the schiffer book Elefant- Jagdtiger- Sturmtiger by Wolfgang Schneider theres photos of the 512th in Iserlohn in the Ruhr pocket
heres some photos ive found online, that are in these books
theres more photos here http://www.panzer.punkt.pl/strony_www/jagdtiger_galeria.htm
there are also photos of the Jagdtiger at Bovington including the engine compartment
Great photos Jon, I haven’t seen too many pics of Jagdtigters.
The first of Jon’s photos is Jadgtiger X1 of the 1st company, sPz. Jag. Abt. 512, surrendering to US troops at Iserlohn. The second photo is Jagdtiger X7 after being abandoned by Lt. Sepp Tarlach on April 1st, also of the 1st company, sPz. Jag. Abt. 512. The third photo is another 1/512 vehicle, commanded by Heinz Rondorf, as it passes through Iserlohn on it’s way to surrender. I have photo’s of 2nd company, but they are of such poor quality that they really aren’t worth looking at. The large 2 page title page in one of my books shows 1/512 with their vehicles lined-up, crews at attention, being photographed for the last time as a unit, at their surrender at Iserlohn. These vehicles plainly have camouflage paint schemes, as do their supply trucks. Why so many authors state that these vehicles were only painted in dunkelgelb is beyond me. They obviously didn’t look at this photo of 1/512.
This color artwork, originally from Tanks of World War Two by Jean Restayn, is of a 2nd company vehicle, sPz. Jag. Abt. 512. We can probably safely assume that other vehicles of this company had similar paint schemes.
