What are you saying? The reviews I've seen suggest the RFM barrel is actually 10% longer than Dragons barrel.

Rommel didn't have any Tigers. The Tigers in Tunisia belonged to Generaloberst von Arnim.





The barrel in Rye Field's kit #5001 is too long.

David

OIC.

It's merely the competitive market place at work. Rye Field is the new guy who did a new Afrika Tiger.

So Dragon dusts off theirs and contacts the Tiger experts to make the ultimate Afrika Tiger kit. So of course theirs is better. The Rye Field Tigers are quality kits. They should sneak in and do a Tiger that no one has done yet (Das Reich at Kursk maybe?)

Everyone does the initial Tiger or the oddball Tiger, but no one does the later early series production with the reinforced mantle and "s" mines and so on. Or no one has quite gotten it right.

OK, is longer, not shorter - in any case is out of scale.

Rommel is high ranking German Commander in North Africa Theater. Tigers I in Africa aren´t part of DAK, but Desert Fox uset both Schwere Panzer Abteilung as "Firefighters" on critical places on front.

Rommel was made the head of all German forces in the theater on 23 February 1943. He left Africa permanently on 9 March. He was the commander of the Tigers in Africa for only 14 days.

During those days he fought the British near the Mareth Line in southern Tunisia. The Tigers remained in the north. He did not use his Tigers for anything, as far as I know.

Some Tigers participated in Rommel's battle at Sidi Bou Zid in February, but they were only on loan to him.




Could you give us an example?

David

He won't because he can't. I'm guessing he's very new to all this and that's why he's spouting fallacies. If you recall the Sherman Tank Scandal book thread he was on the author's side, being caught up in the "German Armor>All others" mythology.

12.1.1942 Tigers destroyed 34 allied tanks and 6 armoured cars.
On to begin of December ´42 Tigers (4.12 ´42)Tigers destroyed around 184 US Tanks. In 19th January on Battle near Keebir sees Tigers destroyed around 25 AT guns and one hundred od soft skins. 14th February in Battle on Sidi boud Zid Tigers destroyed:
112x medium Tanks
5x light tanks
12x 155mm guns
80x half tracks
10x self propeled guns
15x armoured cars
77x Jeep Willys MB
10x 10t Heavy trucks
64x GMC medium truck (2.5t)
12x 4ton tractors/heavy haulers
and 40x watches
From H.C. Butcher 1947

In last battle on Africa theater near Pont du Fahs and
25 allied tanks and remains 9 Tigers damaged around 150 allied tanks to 10h May 1943.

On Africa Theater was deployed 22 Tigers. On the (combat)loses of 10 lost Tigers (in combat) two was abadoned and three destroyed by their own crews... PzKpfw VI Tiger I in NAT have around 300 allies tanks kills....

That does not answer David's question about Rommel's use of Tigers, and at any rate the dates listed are outside the time frame of Rommel being in charge of all German forces in Africa.

There is no shame in admitting you were mistaken about Rommel influencing the mystique of the Tiger.

Well, from my own count, there were 31 Tigers deployed to Africa. But that's beside the point.

Most of the battles that you listed were not Rommel's battles. He was in Libya; these battles were in Tunisia, and they were the responsibility of Generaloberst von Arnim.

Tigers did participate in the Sidi bou Zid battle. They were not Rommel's property even then; they were on loan to him.
And in this battle, the Tigers were not "Firefighters". There was no "fire". The Axis forces initiated the battle.

So, no examples.

David