I'm looking for information on actual, verified engagements between American-manned M-4 Sherman tanks in the European Campaign (as opposed to N. Africa and Mediterranean/Italy). I heard about a researcher who claims that there were only five engagements of Tigers in the campaign (four by Shermans, one by a Pershing), and it seems a little low, especially when the Brits and Canadians had so many fights with Tigers during Goodwood. I also want to find out more about these particular engagements.
I answered a question several months ago about this topic but I will re-answer it here and add a bit of new information. Steven J. Zaloga lists three encounters with Tiger Is [6]; in the first incidence, the antiaircraft guns won (shot up Tigers that were being towed back on flatcars for repairs) in the second incidence, the Tiger lost (shot in the rear by an M8 armored car of Troop B, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron during the battle of the Bulge [5]), and in the third incident it was a draw (Tiger kills a Pershing, then is killed by another Pershing)
As in encountering more than three individual Tigers, certainly. But as you can probably tell, American encounters with Tiger I tanks were few and far between. Tiger I production stopped in the summer of 1944, and most of those tanks were sent to the Eastern Front. In addition to the three specific encounters listed by Zaloga, I have found three more:
1. According to Harry Yeide and the actual text of the report, the after action report of the 746th Tank Battalion for the month of October 1944 states that they destroyed
"two Mark IV's, four Panthers, two Tigers, eleven antitank guns, sixteen large bazookas and rocket guns, fifty pillboxes with machine guns, thirty pillboxes without machine guns, and 134 machine guns in open emplacements." [1], [7]
In many cases, the boxy shape of the Panzer IV (Mark IV) with side skirts, was misidentified as a "Tiger". Similarly, the King Tiger was often misidentified as a Panther and vice versa. Even taking this into account, the King Tiger was encountered more often than regular Tigers, and the Panzer IV and Panther even more so than the King Tiger since they made up the theoretical bulk of the German tank force! The most common German "tank" seen by Americans often was not a tank at all, but one of the many variants of Sturmgeschütze, or various types of tank destroyers. To many terrified GIs, every German gun was an "88" and every tank a "Tiger."
2. During the German counterattack on the closed pincer of the US 1st and 30th Infantry Divisions around Aachen in October 1944, the Heer 3rd Panzergrenadier Division was used, that had some "fifteen to twenty" Tiger I tanks.
"Some of these tanks got very close to Verlautenheide, but a TD in an orchard got the drop on one of them and let go with eight rounds. The shots just bounced off of the Mark VI Tiger's thick armor, but it stopped this vehicle and others nearby soon came to a halt." [2]
3. Controller Tigers of a special demolition unit (s.Pz.Abt. (Fkl) 301) being used as conventional tanks
"Panzer Abteilung 301 returned...to rest and refit with Tigers to use as control vehicles for the BIV Sprengladungsträger and was organized with a headquarters and three companies each with 10 Tigers....21 more Tigers were shipped...25 August and 15 September 1944 and...ten were taken over from the s.SS.PzAbt.103. The 301st was first reported...as having 31 Tigers (27 operational) and 66 BIV (61 operational). Four Tigers were lost before the...Ardennes Offensive and...on 16 December 1944, the 301st reported 27 Tigers available of which 12 were operational. It still had 27 Tigers of which 21 were operational on the Western Front on 30 December 1944...." [3]
The Germans attacked the lines of the 104th Infantry Division near Lucherberg with seven Tiger I tanks of s.Pz.Abt. (Fkl) 301 on 29 November 1944
"29 November 1944: Abortive employment of Panzer-Kompanie (Funklenk) 319 against Lucherberg. Afterwards, schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 519 and Panzer-Abteilung (Funklenk) 301 (7 Tigers) attack Lucherberg." [4]
The only Tiger I-equipped units in the Ardennes were the 4th Kompanie (formerly Schwere Panzerkompanie Hummel) of the 506th Schwere Panzerabteilung, and the 12 operational Tiger I of s.Pz.Abt. (Fkl) 301, that were used as conventional tanks instead of as control vehicles for the Borgward IV. The Tiger destroyed by the M8 Greyhound referenced in your linked article would have had to have come from one of these two units. [3]
Sources:
[1] The Infantry's Armor: The US Army's Separate Tank Battalions in World War II, page 199, by Harry Yeide
[2] Aachen: The US Army's Battle for Charlemagne's City in WWII, by Robert W. Baumer
[4] Tigers in Combat, Volume I, by Wolfgang Schneider
The Panzer Legions: A Guide to the German Army Tank Divisions of World War II and Their Commanders, by Samuel W. Mitcham
[5] The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium, 17-23 December 1944: An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense (US Armor School) pp. 31-32
CRAP! I meant to say PzKw VI, obviously. Sorry.