Unleashed by Hitler in 1942 the German Tiger tank was by far the most powerful tank ever built at the time. The 60-ton monster could destroy any Allied tank from more than a mile away & it soon became the most feared tank in the world. Desperate to discover the secret technology used in the Tiger's manufacture Winston Churchill close a brilliant young army engineer Major Doug Lidderdale as his special agent. In a late-night briefing in the subterranean War Rooms under Whitehall he ordered him: ' Go catch me a tiger'. Doug did not hesitate & by February 1943 was facing Rommel's desert army. After several unsuccessful & hair-raising efforts to bag a Tiger on the battlefields of Tunisia Doug & his team put their lives on the line in a terrifying close-hand shoot-out with the five-man crew of a Tiger capturing the tank intact. The morale boost to the Allies was such that both Churchill & King George VI flew to Tunis to examine the Tiger first h&. But the Germans were not finished with Doug. They did not want the secrets of the Tiger benefitting the Allies' sabotage attempts & constant attacks by the Luftwaffe & U-boats pursued Doug & his men on every step of the journey back to Engl&. But eventually by October 1943 the Tiger
- number 131
- was delivered to London & gifted to Churchill who had it placed on London's Horse Guards Parade. Lidderdale went on to use some of the Tiger technology to develop war machines for the D-Day landings & was promoted to Colonel. Tiger 131 is now kept at Bovington Tank Museum & is the only working Tiger in the world.