Tiger I & Tiger II

Anthony Tucker-Jones, Brian Delf

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781781590300
• eBook ISBN: 9781473826786
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: German History
• Index: History

A pictorial history and analysis of the infamous World War II German tanks. The German Tiger I and Tiger II (known to the Allies as the King Tiger or Royal Tiger) were the most famous and formidable heavy tanks of the Second World War. In their day, their awesome reputation inspired such apprehension among Allied soldiers that the weaknesses of these brilliant but flawed designs tended to be overlooked. Anthony Tucker-Jones, in this illustrated history, tells the story of their conception and development and reconsiders their operational history, and he dispels the myths that have grown up around them. The Tigers were over-engineered, required raw materials that were in short supply, and were time-consuming to manufacture and difficult to recover from the battlefield. Only around 1, 300 of the Tiger I and fewer than 500 of the Tiger II were produced, so they were never going to make anything more than a local impact on the outcome of the fighting on the Western and Eastern fronts. Yet the myth of the Tigers, with their 88mm guns, thick armor, and brutal profiles, has grown over time to the extent that they are regarded as the deadliest tanks of the Second World War. Anthony Tucker-Jones's expert account of these remarkable fighting vehicles is accompanied by a series of color plates showing the main variants of the designs and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.

Chapter One

Tiger I: Henschel or Porsche?

The evolution of the Tiger I is a story of lost opportunities, both in design terms and operationally. By the spring of 1941, following the Wehrmacht’s experiences fighting the British Matilda and French Char B heavy tanks, Adolf Hitler was firmly of the view that he needed a tank heavier than his existing Panzer Mk IV. Although work had been carried out in the late 1930s on producing a successor to the Panzer Mk III and IV, the designs had come to nothing. The development of the Tiger I was tortuous, going through at least six different design stages.

In 1937 the Waffenamt (German Ordnance Department) tasked Henschel with developing a heavy breakthrough tank that would be twice the weight of the Panzer IV The first prototype, dubbed the DW I (Henschel Durchbruchwagen – ‘breakthrough vehicle’) was completed in September 1938; it had five road wheels and was sprung by torsion bars, while the side armour comprised two pieces joined at the back of the fighting compartment.

Despite the fact that war was looming over Europe, the DW I trials were suspended to allow work on a huge 65-ton tank designated the VK 6501. VK was short for Vollkettenkraftfahrzeug, or ‘fully tracked experimental vehicle 65 tons, first design’. Two VK 6501 prototypes were built, only for work to be switched back to the DW I.

The follow-on DW II appeared in 1940, featuring one-piece side armour and different tracks. The engine, a Maybach HL 120 coupled to a Maybach Variorex eight-speed gearbox, gave a speed of 35km/hr Weighing in at 32 tons, it had a crew of five and was to have been armed with the short 75mm gun used on the Panzer IV. Lacking any apparent sense of urgency, this work now lapsed, though the hull arrangement would be used on the VK 3001 (H).

The VK 3001 project was authorised by the Waffenamt on 9 September 1938. Henschel turned to the DW II but replaced the needle-bearing tracks with dry-pin tracks. However, trials did not take place until early 1940, when eight test vehicles were ordered. The first VK 3001 did not appear until March 1941, and two months later it was decided to go with the heavier 36-ton VK 3601 requirement. Subsequently two further VK 3001(H) examples were finished, along with twelve turrets built by Krupp.

While Henschel was working on the VK 3001 design, the Porsche design bureau was conducting similar research. Although officially designated the VK 3001 (P), Porsche designers knew it as the Type 100 or the Leopard. For the suspension Dr Ferdinand Porsche employed longitudinal torsion bars mounted externally, while power was supplied by air-cooled engines and electric transmission. Two prototypes were produced between 1940 and 1941, but the engines proved problematical and they went the way of the Henschel prototypes.

These plans, though, had to be resurrected in the summer of 1941 when it was discovered that Soviet tank design had stolen a march on the Germans with the T-34 and KV-1, in terms of both armour and firepower. The initial remit was to procure a tank mounting a gun capable of piercing 100mm of armour at 1,500 metres. At the same time, the design had to be able to take similar punishment. Hitler turned to Henschel and Porsche once more. It is quite remarkable that Hitler, who had already committed Nazi Germany to fighting a two-front war, felt he had time to indulge in developing two competing designs. To complicate matters further, Krupp received the contract to produce turrets for both the Henschel and Porsche designs.

Henschel was requested to design a tank in the range of 36–40 tons armed with a tapered squeeze bore gun (designated Waffen 0725) to be produced under Project VK 3601, while under Project VK 4501 Porsche was asked to come up with a 45-ton vehicle capable of taking an anti-tank version of the 88mm flak gun.

Once again the staff at Henschel found themselves going down a blind alley. Although drawing on the VK 3001 (H), the VK 3601 (H) had larger road wheels on eight axles. The lack of adequate foresight immediately stymied the Waffen 0725: because of the war tungsten steel was in short supply, which meant ammunition for the tapered bore guns could not be produced. Hitler cancelled Waffen 0725 and opted to use the VK 4501 turret on the 3601. This in turn caused further problems because the replacement turret had a larger diameter, meaning the hull superstructure had to be widened to accommodate it. The knock-on effect of increasing the superstructure and the track width caused a weight increase that required an extra run of road wheels to decrease ground pressure. This became Project VK 4501(H).

Henschel’s designers were able to draw on the key features of their VK 3001 (H) and VK 3601 (H) programmes, though they must have despaired at the ever-changing requirements each time the specification was revised and the tank became heavier They built two models, the H1, mounting an 88mm KwK 36 L/56 gun, and the H2, with a 75mm KwK L/70 gun in a Porsche turret. In practice, the H2 only got as far as a wooden mock-up. To avoid confusion the Porsche H1 was redesignated the VK 4501 (P), and it drew on the earlier, cancelled, VK 3001 (P). However, the Porsche air-cooled engines essentially did not work, forcing Porsche to consider abandoning electric transmission for a hydraulic one.

A side view of an early production Tiger I. Note the cylindrical cupola with vision slits, the machine-pistol port at the rear of the turret by the storage bin, and the distinctive rubber-rimmed dish-shaped road wheels.

Both the Henschel and Porsche prototypes were put through their paces before Hitler at Rastenburg on his birthday on 20 April 1942. It soon became apparent that the Henschel design was much more ready for mass production, with far fewer teething problems. Not only did the Porsche lose out, but also its name was appropriated by the Henschel vehicle and thus the PzKpfw VI Tiger was born. Judged a far superior design by virtue of its conventional layout and construction methods, the Henschel tank was officially designated the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf H, and its Sonderkraftfahrzeug (ordnance number) was Sd Kfz 181. However, in February 1944 its designation was altered to PzKpfw Tiger Ausf E, Sd Kfz 181.

The Henschel Tiger had eight sets of triple overlapping and interleaved road wheels with a torsion bar suspension to give optimum distribution of its 57-ton weight. The superstructure and the hull were welded together, with the superstructure extending out over the tracks to allow for the wider turret. The 88mm KwK 36 was fitted coaxially with an MG34 machine gun in the external gun mantlet.

Another early production Tiger captured in Tunisia by the US Army; a GI occupies its cupola with forward-opening hatch.

Despite a lack of preliminary testing, Porsche Tiger production had been instigated with delivery scheduled for July 1942. Problems with the V10 air-cooled engines and the suspension meant only five had been built when production came to a halt in August 1942. As the Porsche Tigers had air-cooled engines, the intention had been to form two detachments for service in North Africa, but instead the completed vehicles were sent to Döllersheim for training purposes. Production was officially abandoned because Porsche proved unable to resolve the technical difficulties.

Although only a single model Henschel Tiger I was produced, there were a number of distinctive changes during the vehicle’s production life. The initial Tiger Is are identifiable by their rubber-rimmed road wheels, the large Feifel air cleaners at the rear, the tall commander’s cupola and dual headlights. While the mid-production Tiger I retained the rubber-rimmed road wheels, it has a different turret that included a smaller cupola. Finally the late production Tiger I from January 1944 is instantly recognisable by its all-steel disc wheels, which were internally sprung, and its periscope-equipped cupola.

It was soon found that the selected Maybach V-12 petrol engine, the 21-litre HL 210 P45, was just too underpowered and from December 1943 it was replaced by the 24 -litre HL 230 P45. The sheer weight of the Tiger made the use of the earlier clutch and brake type of steering impractical. Instead, Henschel produced something similar to the British Merritt-Brown steering unit that was regenerative and continuous. The gearbox provided eight forward gear ratios and allowed for a twin radius of turn in each gear. This and the pre-selector made the Tiger relatively easy to handle, despite its size.

Nonetheless the Tiger’s overall lack of mobility and relatively low speed meant it was vulnerable to flank attack. The Germans compensated for this by adding platoons of Panzer IIIs or IVs to the Tiger battalions to act as flank guards. These flanking platoons usually had the thankless task of moving forward first, which inevitably meant they also acted as decoys, drawing enemy fire;...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction: Hitler’s Zoo
• Photograph Sources
• Prologue: Peashooters Against Behemoths
• Chapter One: Tiger I Henschel or Porsche?
• Chapter Two: Tiger II’s Troubled Birth
• Chapter Three: Tiger I and II Variants
• Chapter Four: Inauspicious Debut
• Colour Plates
• Chapter Five: Tunisian Tigers
• Chapter Six: Tiger I on the Steppes
• Chapter Seven: Tiger I in the Hedgerows
• Chapter Eight: Tiger II: Normandy to Berlin
• Chapter Nine: Tiger Tales
• Chapter Ten: Tiger Stalking
• Epilogue: Tiger’s Big Brother: Maus
• Further Reading