Posted on 04/07/2018 9:25:29 AM PDT by Simon Green
To some minds, bigger is always better—but size can create is many new problems as it solves. Midway through World War II, Nazi Germany decided to take its huge 128-millimeter antiaircraft gun and stick it on its biggest, baddest tank. The result was the monstrous Jagdtiger (“Hunting Tiger”), then heaviest tank to see action in World War II—and still heavier than modern M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks! But the vehicle’s terrifying bulk proved to be its own worst enemy.
During World War II, German factories churned out numerous turretless assault guns (Sturmgeschutz) and tank destroyers (Jagdpanzers) based on each major tank chassis. Though the lack of a turret made them less capable in offensive operations, they were cheaper to build, could carry heavier guns and armor, and remained highly effective at ambushing enemy tanks or providing fire support. Therefore, a turretless version of the huge seventy-ton Tiger II tank was seen as a natural platform for the 128-millimeter gun. A full-scale wooden mockup of the Jagdtiger was presented to Hitler on October 20, 1943, and the führer enthusiastically approved production.
The Jagdtiger was nearly eleven meters long and three meters tall, and tipped the scales at seventy-nine short tons—or eighty-three fully loaded with ammunition and a crew of six. Much of that weight went into 250 millimeters of armor protection in the casemate superstructure housing the main gun; however, the lower hull had only fifteen centimeters, and the sides and rear eight. Thus, while the front armor was practically invulnerable, it remained susceptible to shots to the side, rear and top.
The gargantuan vehicle retained the same 690-horsepower Maybach HL 230 P30 used on the Panther tank—even though the Jagdtiger was 60 percent heavier. Theoretically capable of going twenty-one miles per hour, the “moving bunker” was reduced to nine miles per hour cross-country, and its fuel-gulping characteristics limited range to fifty to seventy-five miles. The motor simply lacked adequate power, and predictably broke down with alarming frequency.
The 128-millimeter Pak 44 gun measured fifty-five calibers and had only ten degrees traverse to either side. Its sixty-pound shells traveled at 950 meters a second, with a range of up to fifteen miles if used for indirect fire. The forty rounds of two-piece ammunition had to be assembled by two loaders before each shot, and the gun had to be leveled to evacuate the breech. The Jagdtiger also mounted a machine gun in the hull, and sometimes a second antiaircraft machine gun on the rear engine deck. Tiger ace Otto Carius was not thrilled with this “secret weapon that could still save Germany,” as described in his autobiography Tigers in the Mud:
“Any large traversing of the cannon had to be effected by movement of the entire vehicle. Because of that, transmissions and steering differentials were soon out of order. . . . A better idea for the travel lock of the eight-meter long cannon of our ‘Hunting Tiger’ was also necessary. It had to be removed from outside during contact with the enemy. Locking down the barrel during a road march was necessary, of course. Otherwise the mountain brackets would have been worn out too quickly and exact aiming would have been impossible. . . . We discovered that the cannon, because of its enormous length, was battered about so much as a result of even a short move off the road that its alignment no longer agreed with that of the optics.”
The Jagdtiger was intended to “snipe” enemy tanks from two or three miles away while remaining immune to return fire. This was a fine concept, but Germany already had the Pak 43, a smaller seventy-one-caliber, eighty-eight-millimeter gun that could still penetrate the heaviest Allied tanks such as the Churchill VII and IS-2. This was already deployed on the Jagdpanther, a fifty-ton tank destroyer with superior mobility and still formidable armor protection.
The Pak 44 had roughly the same maximum penetration as the Pak 43, though admittedly its heavier shells retained greater energy for long-distance shots. However, even standard German seventy-five-millimeter guns were highly effective versus the most numerous Allied tank types, the American M4 Sherman and Russian T-34. Despite its niche advantages, the Pak 44 was a classic case of overkill.
One wonders what true production costs might have been sans slave labor?
Our tanks sucked, one on one no match. 6 on one there was chance.
Good point. One part of building models was pretending to operate them once complete. Can't say I ever wanted to pretend being inside of a Japanese tank.
Our tanks did indeed suck. They were cheap and reliable, but otherwise mediocre. I still maintain that German tanks were and are overrated.
The glory days of German armor were early in the war, with mostly PzIIs and PzIIIs, and a few short barreled Pz IV Cs and Ds. The principle small arm was a bolt action rifle designed in the 19th century, and their logisitics chain relied on draft animals. German successes were predicated on superior doctrine, training and morale.
The superweapon V2s, Tigers, Panthers, Me 262s and so on presided over a relentless retreat and sunset of Third Reich aspirations. Even where these weapons were promising, they were as you mentioned prone to breakdown and also various shortages. Germany was not particularly well served by their MIC. The short range of the Me 109 cost them the Battle of Britain. The poor cold weather performance of their armor and motor pool arguably cost them Barbarossa.
As a hypothetical consider a Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe equipped with Garand rifles, the T34 series armor, and P47 and P51 fighters, but otherwise keep the training, morale levels and doctrine. If I was doing a fantasy football WWII, that is what I would shoot for.
By the way I have long admired your tagline, and concur.
Ugh. One of the worst war movies ever made. OK, maybe the worst.
I've never been able to erase memories of those M-48 Tigers rampaging through the Ardennes Desert.
:-))
No thank you. An artillery and jabo fighter-bomber magnet, especially at bridges it couldn't cross, and I'd really hate to think about the nightmare of keeping it fueled up and resupplied with ammo.
In 1966-67 I got to meet a couple of the surviving German WWII panzer aces, and asked them for the best advice they could offer on how to deal with the 17-1 odds we faced from an immediate Soviet armor attack, with the odds getting worse as their reserve and conscript forces followed on.
Practice your night driving, I was told. Always engage from ambush, and make your plans for what you do when your fuel runs out....
I read a book about the battle on the Lomba.
Written by a SA Armored Car Cdr.
Interesting.
They were firing 90mm.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.