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Only one variant of the Tiger II was produced, a command tank known as Panzerbefehlswagen Tiger Ausf B. Following an order given in June 1944, the first conversion was completed in September 1944. The development was done by the firm of Wegmann, using vehicle 280284 for the trials. Ammunition stowage was reduced by 17 rounds which allowed extra radio equipment to be installed in the turret in addition to the standard FuG 5 radio. Room was found in the fighting compartment for a field generator, accessories box and antenna extension rods. Two versions saw service, the SdKfz 267 with a FuG 8 radio and a star antenna, and the SdKfz 268 with a FuG 7 radio and a rod antenna. The extra antenna was fitted at the centre of the engine compartment roof in addition to the standard antenna at the back of the turret.
Tiger II command vehicles were not built as such, but converted from standard vehicles when required; a number of conversions were carried out from November 1944. In February 1945 an order was issued for the development of a new set of wireless equipment with a reduced number of components, such as junction boxes, but it is not known if it saw service.
1) Kubinka NIIBT Research Collection - Foreign Vehicles, Kubinka, Russia
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This is an example of the Panzerbefehlswagen Tiger Ausf B. It was captured in August 1944 near Sandomierz in Poland. It is a SdKfz 267 but it appears to have its mast star aerial fitted in the standard rod aerial position at the back of the turret, and it is fitted with a Russian headlamp in the centre of the glacis plate. It has Russian text painted on the side, part of which translates as “captured 13-8-1944”. It was one of three knocked out by Jr. Lt. Aleksander Oskin commanding a T-34/85 on 12 August 1944, the first time these vehicles had been encountered by the Red Army (source: R. Fleming). He was part of the 53rd Guards Tank Brigade and in the evening of 11 August was ordered to conduct a scouting patrol to the small village of Ogledow. Finding German troops in the village, he stopped and observed them, having camouflaged his tank in a corn field. Before sunset a German tank column entered the village and shot it up, and then halted for the night.
Early the next morning the tank unit, part of sPzAbt 501, the first unit in the East to receive the Tiger II, left the village and moved along the road towards Oskin’s tank. His crew did not recognise the vehicles but he had heard of a new German heavy tank and waited until the last minute to open fire. He let the three tanks approach to about 200m before firing at them from the side. After firing a number of rounds in a short space of time he destroyed the first two, both of which later exploded. He then followed the retreating third tank and stopped it with a round through the rear armour. He took some prisoners, and was later awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union (GSS) award for his success. This tank, number “502”, was probably the third tank; it was recovered soon after and sent back to Moscow for examination.
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