With exclusive access toprivate diariesand dozens of photographs, this
is theincredible story of one of the most dangerous and thrilling secret
missions of World War II
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. Desperate to discover the
secret technology used inits manufacture, Winston Churchill chose 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."By February 1943, Dougwas
facing Rommel's desert army. After several hair-raising efforts to bag a
Tiger on the battlefields of Tunisia, Doug and his team put their lives
on the line in a terrifying 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 and King George VI flew to Tunis to examine the Tiger
firsthand. But the Germans were not finished with Doug constant attacks
by the Luftwaffe and U-boats pursuedhim and his men on the journey back
to England. But by October 1943, the Tiger was 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 and was promoted to Colonel. Tiger 131 is now kept at Bovington
Tank Museum and is the only working Tiger in the world. The full extent
of Doug's adventures only came to light after his son, Dave Travis,
revealed the existence of his father's diaries."
