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I found these books very informative and interesting and in talking to others here on the forum I had a few questions for Mr. Devey. He was kind enough to respond to my questions and allow me to share the correspondence with you. Here is that correspondence:
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Mr. Devey,
I have been reading your most excellent books about the Jadgtiger Tank Destroyer. Thank you so much for covering the technical and operational history of these machines. They were marvels of engineering and an example of a once great power slipping into defeat.
I have a few questions that I had hoped you could clear up if you don’t mind.
Hi Don,
Thank you so much for your letter regarding the Jagdtiger enquiries. This is only the second enquiry about the Jagdtiger in 20 years.
My work from 1999 is still relevant, I have found no further documentation but quite a number of photos have been discovered and posted on the internet and all are of wrecked vehicles except for 2 of Porsche vehicles, one is 305001 the training vehicle at Kummersdorf tank school after it was repaired and reworked.
1. In your Technical History on page 24 you state that “Photographs found, indicate that only 8 vehicles (numbers 305003 to 305010) received a coating, all were Porsche type.
This is in relation to the application of Zimmerit to the hulls of the Jadgtigers.
However, on page 111, in the bottom right corner, Plate 142 shows a man pulling a track onto a Jadgtiger with a rope. That Jadgtiger is of the Henschel suspension type and shows Zimmerit on the glacis plate, around the M34 ball turret, and on the sides of the hull.
Can you help clarify whether any Henschel type Jadgtigers had Zimmerit?
There were two Porsche vehicles that did not receive zimmerit 305011 and 305012, one was destroyed in Schwetzingen and is photographed with the tactical number 115. Only the track sprocket gives this information as it had the 18-tooth rims. No Henschel vehicles with zimmerit.
(1) Plate 142 came from the operators hand book for the Tiger II and if you look carefully you can see the bottom of the Porsche turret. As the running gear was the same it was relevant to include the image but I should have made the caption more accurate. Sorry for any confusion that I have caused.
2. Can you provide guidance as to the inclusion of spare track segments, tools, and towing equipment on the Jadgtigers? I have been told that late in the war Jadgtigers can be seen without any of this, indicating they were rushed into the field “naked”.
I was under the impression that the reason so many “naked” photos exist is that these were destroyed Jadgtigers blown up by their crews and therefore the accessories were removed prior to the destruction or the act of destroying them removed them.
Also, I note that the photograph on the title page of your Technical History shows 3 Henschel equipped Jadgtigers with a full complement of accessories.
Do you know what date if any Jadgtigers would have went into service without a full complement of accessories?
(2) When a Jagdtiger broke down, they salvaged anything that was useful and was quick/easy to remove.
I have included some photos of 2 of the last Jagdtigers to be released in March 1945, one was blown up in The Herz mountain area (still has one of its towing ropes) and the other near Paderborn. They still have some track links. The three Jagdtigers surrendered in Iserlohn were all operational and they can now be seen in a video on Youtube -
3. Regarding the monopod mount for the MG42 on the rear deck of the Jadgtigers, do you have any information about when this was included on the Jadgtigers? Was it added in the field or only as part of the build in the factory?
(3) The monopod was photographed on 305058 and the information is very limited about their installation just photos from the wrecks and the three surrendered vehicles in the video which all seem to be fitted with them.
4. What camouflage patterns were found on the mid to late production run Henschel suspended Jadgtigers? Was the underlying primer still red oxide? Was it applied in the factory or in the field or both depending on date?
(4) The hulls were coated with red primer and the camouflage applied at the factory possibly by the troops themselves when they went to collect their vehicles.
The reason I am asking these questions is that I am going to be building a Jadgtiger 1/6 scale model with my dad. A sort of “father / son” project and I would like to be as realistic as possible.
The kit (from a company called Armortek) is pretty accurate in as much detail as it goes into and is of the Henschel suspension type.
If I was to build a “mid production” Jadgtiger, with Henschel suspension, Zimmerit? coating, a full complement of tools, with an MG-42 monopod mount, in tri-color RAL 7028 (Dunkelgelb), RAL 6003 (Olivegrün), RAL 8017 (Schokoladenbraun) camouflage would that be completely off the mark?
The Armortek kits are very accurate and I think that my friend Per Sonnervik helped them to put it together as there is a blog on one of the websites. Per was very helpful and was one of the best model builders around. I have just found out that he died in 2018. But there is a link to his work so here are the Jadgtiger drawings - http://www.panzerbasics.com/panzer/02_a ... dtiger.htm
Per and I went to see the panzers in Kubinka in 1993.
Here is the page with the photo album from that trip: http://www.panzerbasics.com/panzer/02_a ... albums.htm as well as albums from Aberdeen and Bovington.
I appreciate your time and attention in reading this and hope you are able to respond. And I thank you again for the excellent books.
Good luck with the project and I am certain that you and your father will enjoy the process.
I am on the point of publication of my next book on a totally different subject called "Mines, Cables, Railways, Foundries, and Mineral Loading - Bédar, Los Gallardos, Garrucha, Mojácar and Turre (1840-1970)", this is a much larger work than the Jagdtiger volumes and is being released in English and Spanish versions. It is 384 pages of large format, 485 photographs/drawings and over 150,000 words. It will be subsidised by the local authorities and regional here in Spain and available at about 30 euros plus postage.
