There were no Tigers in the US sector of the Normandy campaign, but GIs swore they'd seen them. They were probably Panzer IVs with Schürzen and spaced turret armour.

The movie Kelly's Heroes demonstrated that the Tiger 1 was completely impervious to paint shells.

The most effective tank/tank killer the Germans had was the Stug III. Most produced, cheapest to build, easiest to service, lowest profile, most tank kills.

The only German weapon I remember my father speaking about in terms of what "worried" them - was the 88's.

At 8:08 ->   "....you're looking at 8 thousand Tigers..." ???  The number of produced Tiger I and Tiger II together was around 1900 total.

Chris is correct. I travelled from Australia to Bovington to see the Tiger but also to see the other fantastic bits of kit there. Very memorable. Even my wife was into it! Gotta be happy with that.

And one of the other issues with the Tiger is how difficult it was to recover if disabled or broken down. You can find pictures of a Tiger being towed by two or three big Sdkfz 9s.

Mr. Copson is asked whether the Tiger was the "most feared".  He gives a long answer 5:10 talking about its cost, its reliability, the difficulty of maintenance etc. etc.
But why? None of these aspects are relevant.
Allied tankers didn't KNOW these facts, for the most part. And even if they knew them, what difference would they make?  You "fear" a tank when you believe it's in your vicinity, because it might shoot you. The knowledge that its mechanics have a difficult job, or that arguments about fund allocations rage in Berlin, doesn't change your fear.
He's answering a different question to what was asked.
And then... he says "eight thousand Tigers".
There were 1350, and even that number is double-counting components that got recycled.

Fantastic episode guys! Thanks Chris that was so interesting and informative.

The vast majority of the Sherman tank crews never faced a Tiger or a Panther tank .
Most of their losses came from anti tank weapons .

5:16 hi, sorry to correct but the Tiger I has a 700HP engine for 57 tons of weight and the Panzer IV a 300HP engine for 25 tons. So both has about 12HP/ton.

My late father in law served with the 50th Northumberland Infantry Division from 1941 - 1946 and landed with The Green Howards on Gold Beach on D-Day.

He told me that almost every German tank they saw from 6 of June onwards was perceived to be a Tiger. Most tended to be upgunned and up armoured Mk IVs.

The thing about what would have happened if we had Centurion in 1940 has got me thinking about something else. Imagine if the RAF and Air Ministry had actually listened to and supported a man called Frank in 1929 who had ideas for a new type of engine...

Always great to have Chris Copson in a video

With respect to Wittmann, I seem to remember both Joe Ekins and the fellow from the Canadian Sherbrooke Fusiliers said they could never be certain if they destroyed Wittman's tank. Both Ekins and the Canadian guy said his tank would have simply been "another enemy tank" and that they didn't even know who Michael Wittmann was at the time. The idea the Canadians may have hit Wittmann seems to be based on likelihood as they were positioned within 150 metres of where Wittmann's tank was destroyed.

My grandfather built centurions when I asked him, and he always said, "I can't tell you, it's secret." He worked at Vickers Armstrong,  on the tyne!

This myth is not busted.The allies saw tigers any time they spotted a german tank. The fear of the tiger were very real.

9:24 Early M4 variant with three hull machine guns, and two, turret-mounted machine guns. The hull guns were all M1919A4.30 caliber machine guns, two fixed, and one mounted in a ball mount for the co-driver.

Love the debunking of the Ronson myth, seriously I've watched untold tank documentaries and never heard that before, absolutely brilliant.

I usually dismiss clicky thumbnails, but yours is worded just right. I like Hanson's take on the effect of Dunkirk on British armor.
I was an American armor soldier long ago. I am not alone in my respect for the Centurion. What a beast.
I remember days at the museum at Ft Knox and seeing the cutaway of the T34. The idea of sighting through the barrel, as was done with the earliest model, made us roll our eyes in disbelief.