CAT SCRATCH FEVER

Statistical analysis of combat reports from the European Front point out that it cost the loss of five Shermans to destroy one Tiger in battle. Weighing 31-tons and having only the minimum of armour-protection, the Sherman's main virtues were it's mechanical-reliability and the sheer quantity produced. American industrial might simply overwhelmed their enemies with numbers - similar in respect to that of Soviet Russia with their vaunted T-34s.

Though with it's own specific faults (and just as easily knocked-out when hit in the right spots), the Tiger was the tank that came to symbolize the might of German power on the battlegrounds where skill, determination and luck still counted as an equal to the growing hordes of Allied armoured forces which continued to be beaten and bloodied by a spent force that had been fighting for five years against not only overpowering numbers, but by the irrational decisions of their own political leaders who held little respect for how-much could be produced by other nations. Like a lion surrounded by a pack of hyenas, the panzerwaffe was simply chewed apart until it bled to death upon the richest soil on Earth.

Of the 25,000 AFVs produced by Germany during the war, only 6-percent were Tigers, yet 'Tiger-phobia' spread throughout the war to the point that every Allied unit that encountered German tanks immediately reported the presence of these 56-ton behemoths - resulting in immediate halts in advances and a 'call-up' for anti-tank, artillery and air-support to deal with the deadly menace. Simply by their appearance in combat, the Tiger lengthened the duration of the war and shortened thousands of Allied lives through action, fear and intimidation. Yet - despite the awesome reputation of the Tiger's main gun and it's heavy armour-protection, along with the appreciation towards the superior-quality of German arms-manufacture and the well-earned respect accorded to the expertise of the veteran crews who operated them - even these monsters couldn't turn the tide of Allied forces that stood united against the 'master-race' that employed them. Time and numbers were simply not on their side...

Couching Tiger, Hidden Panther ;)