I'm reanimating this thread to announce that I am finally happy that I know the previous turret numbers of "712".

For years we were confused about it. Researchers (at TIIF.DE) identified all the Tigers of the 501 and ruled out all possible numbers for this tank except "21" and "221".

In the book "Tiger without a home" the author reports examining the tank closely and finding "a pair of twos" at the beginning of the turret number. He had no clear idea of the battalion's numbering schemes so it is encouraging that his findings are compatible with ours, after coming at the question from different directions.

But there was a puzzle; the central "1" digit in "712" was obviously older than the other digits. In fact we found a photo of the Tiger in Operation Ochsenkopf where this final "1" can be seen. The puzzle is this: the "1" was placed near the middle of the available space and it was impossible for a "pair of twos" to fit on its left.

Recently another wartime photo of this Tiger surfaced. It was numbered very clearly as "21". This 2 digit number was placed unusually far to the left, and the "1" in the photo is obviously the same painted "1" from the final number "712". The photo shows the left side of the turret, so we can be sure that neither side had room for "a pair of twos" before this "1".

So I come to this conclusion:

This Tiger was originally "221" (witness the "pair of twos" and the leading "2" being placed far over to the left of the space, on both sides, leaving enough room for two more digits).

Tiger "21", the company commander's Tiger, was the tank irreparably damaged on 31 January attacking Robaa (all other Tigers have been ruled out by researchers now).

Therefore our Tiger was selected as the new company commander's mount and its number was altered to "21", preserving the leftmost painted "2". The rightmost "21" was overpainted with a new "1" (witness the recently discovered photo).

For Operation Ochsenkopf the number was altered to "81" (witness the visible "8" in the USA photos, and every other identifiable tank of the 2nd company having its first digit altered like this.) Tigers of the first company did not alter their turret numbers at this time, by the way!

After Ochsenkopf, the remaining Tigers were consolidated into the 7th company, with all Tigers except the Stab Tigers getting new numbers that started with "7". So our Tiger became "712". (We also know that "111" became "71" at this time, the new company commander. Tiger 11 was lost in the battle. ).

In summary : 221 -> 21 -> 81 -> 712

David