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| The most famous German battle tank, the Tiger generated an aura of
invincibility giving it a psychological advantage of great value. This
reputation was justified by events such as the action in which SS-ObersturmführerWittmann,
commanding a Tiger on the Villers Bocage road in Normandy on 13 June 1944,
destroyed 25 half-tracks and tanks, effectively blocking the road and halting
the advance of a complete armoured division. At that time the British and
Americans called every German panzer a "Tiger", although most of them were
PzKpfw
IV. Few would claim it as the best tank of all time, but it showed
the way to the Panther
and Tiger II which went a long way towards making up in firepower and effectiveness
for the numerical deficiency in armor with which the German army had
to face the Allied forces in the closing stages of WWII.
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| The Tiger tank originated from developments started in 1937, when Henschel were instructed to design and construct a 30- to 33-ton tank prototype as possible successor to the PzKpfw IV. The new vehicle was known as the DW1 (Durchbrüchwagen, breakthrough vehicle). However, after one chassis with interleaved road wheel suspension had been built, trials were suspended to allow work to be carried out on a further design for a 65-ton tank, the VK6501. The VK6501 was itself a further development of the original PzKpfw VI NbFz. This project was cancelled to resume development of the DW 1. The improved model, the DW2, weighed 32 tons, accommodated a crew of five, and had to be armed with the short 75mm gun. Trials were carried out until 1941, when Henschel, Porsche, MAN and Daimler-Benz were invited to submit designs for a new vehicle in the same class and weight as the DW2. |
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| The Henschel version (VK3001H) was a continued development of the DW2, which superstructure resembled that of the PzKpfw IV, and had seven interleaved road wheels. It was planned to mount the 75mm L/48 gun in this vehicle, but the appearance of the Russian T-34 with its 76mm gun made the vehicle already obsolete and development was discontinued. The Porsche version (VK3001P) was a turretless prototype with several new features such as petrol-electric drive. With the order for the VK3001 an additional order has been placed for a 36-ton tank, the VK3601, which specifications included a powerful, high velocity gun, heavy armor and a maximum speed of at least 40 km/h. These specifications had been personally proposed by Hitler, who was impressed by the French "Char B1 bis" and the British Matilda I. Experimentel work on both the VK3001 and VK3601 was stopped when a further order for a 45-ton tank was received in May 1941. Designated VK4501, the intended vehicle was to mount a tank version of the 88mm gun, and the prototype should be ready in time for Hitler's birthday on 20 April 1942, when a demonstration was to be staged. |
| Henschel decided to incorporate the best features of their VK3001H and VK3601H project into the new design as time was limited, while Porsche incorporated as many as possible of the design features from theirVK3001P model. The demonstration of the two competing prototypes, the VK4501H and VK4501P, took place before Hitler at Rastenburg, when the Henschel design was considered to be superior. The new vehicle was designated PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf. E. The Tiger was subsequently in production for two years, from August 1942 until August 1944, and in this period a total of 1350 vehicles were delivered out of 1376 ordered, indicative of the fact that the Tiger was conceived primarily as a fighting machine and not as a mass-production machine. Ninety Porsche Tigers were also ordered, partly as safeguard against delays or failure of the Henschel Tiger, of which the chassis was eventually used as basis for the heavy tank destroyer Ferdinand/Elefant. These vehicles made their unsuccessful battle debut in the Kursk tank battle. |
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| The Tiger I was the first German combat tank to be fitted with overlapping road wheel suspension, arranged with triple overlapping and interleaved wheels of a steel disc type with solid rubber tyres. The overlapping wheel system was adopted for optimum weight distribution. There were eight independently sprung torsion bar axles on each side, with the right hand axles trailed aft and the left hand axles led forward in order to carry all axles inside the hull. This resulted in an extremely soft and stable ride for a tank of this weight and size. Two types of track were used, one 725mm in wide was fitted for combat conditions, and a narrower one of 520mm in wide for travel and transportation. When the narrow tracks were fitted the outer wheels were removed from each suspension unit. |
| Through this type of suspension gave a superior ride, it also had its drawbacks, one being that the interleaved wheels were liable to become packed with mud and snow during winter fighting, and if ignored until frozen this could jam the wheels. The Russians discovered this and took advantage by timing their attacks for dawn, when the vehicles were likely to have become immobilised during the night's frost. Very late production Tigers had steel disc type wheels with resilient internal rubber spring rims of the type fitted to the Tiger II. In these Tigers, the outside run of wheels was omitted, reducing both the icing-up problem and the overheating problem of the axle bearing. |
| To Tiger page II |
