Porche’s X-shaped engine

German tank development followed a very predictable course. This included engine development. After experiments in the 1920s and early 1930s, German tanks settled on the Maybach V-shaped series. These gasoline engines that worked at high RPM (about 3000) were characteristic for German tanks. They were used until the end of the war, although some began to think about an alternative as early as 1941-42. Ferdinand Porsche was among those who had his own idea about what a tank engine needs to look like.

Simmering-Graz-Pauker is best known as a producer of train cars and locomotives.

The first attempt to build a diesel engine was undertaken by Daimler-Benz in 1940. The MB 809 and later MB 507 were unlucky. Work on diesel engines was not abandoned. Porsche K.G. picked up the relay, working closely with Austrian companies. The new team created a brand new engine known as the Simmering-Graz-Pauker Sla 16. This was an X-shaped air cooled diesel engine which opened a whole new direction in development of tank engines. However, Germany did not have time to make use of the fruit of this labour.

The predecessor of the SLa.16 was initially developed for the Typ 205, shown here in its configuration as of October 1942.

Tank Review

"To the Chief of Staff of the 31st Vistula Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Order of Kutuzov Tank Corps

I present to you the report on application of tank armament in the Patriotic War. The materials were collected in conversation with the 242nd Order of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov Tank Brigade.

Attachment: the aforementioned on three pages.

Chief of Staff of the 242nd Tank Brigade, Captain Hohlenkov

June 22nd, 1945"

"Report on the use of tank weapons in the Patriotic War

1. Notes on the design drawbacks of guns, machine guns, and ammunition

King Tiger Penetration

 "Approved by the Commander of Artillery of the 5th Guards Army
Guards Major General of Artillery Polyektov
September 11th, 1944

Results of penetration tests of the German Tiger B heavy tank (composed from data gathered by the 5th Guards Army, 13th Army, 3rd Guards Tank Army, 31st Tank Corps, 10th Independent Tank Destroyer Artillery Brigade

Notes:

1. When firing at the turret with subcaliber shot and AP shells of all the aforementioned calibers, the turret is not torn off.
2. The aforementioned calibers do not penetrate the front armour of the hull or turret due to the sharp angle of impact (no more than 46-48 degrees). The 152 mm shell penetrated the tank's front armour at 250 meters at an angle of impact of 86 degrees near the machine gun ball. The diameter of the breach was 350 mm.
3. The running gear (tracks, wheels) is vulnerable to all the calibers shown in the table."

CAMD RF F.328 Op.4867 D.48 L.133

All the King's Horses

The heaviest mass produced tank of WWII appeared on the Eastern and Western Fronts almost simultaneously. Unlike the Tiger, which the Western Allies had a taste of in Africa, and the Panther, information on which was available from the USSR, the forces that landed in Normandy on D-Day had to go into battle against the “King Tiger” blind. How did the Western Allies learn about the last member of the German “Big Cats”?

Bits and pieces

The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B saw its first battle on July 18th, 1944, in France. Two tanks from the first company of the 503rd Heavy Tank Regiment were knocked out. In addition, one tank fell into a bomb crater and got stuck there. Despite being aware of a “new mark of Tiger … having a sloping sided turret and hull” as early as May of 1944, the British learned very little from these knocked out vehicles, if anything at all. Judging by the somewhat inaccurate description of a new 66.4 ton Tiger tank with the 8.8 cm KwK 43 cannon described in the September 1944 edition of the A.F.V. School Gunnery Wing Information Bulletin, any available information was collected from intelligence sources rather than from the knocked out tanks. Even this limited information was more than what the Americans obtained. The head of the American military mission in the USSR, Major General John R. Deane, sent a request to Lieutenant General Lebedev, the head of the Red Army Main Directorate of Armoured Vehicles (GBTU) on October 4th, wishing to know more about the new enemy tank. Judging by the fact that Deane used neither the official index of the tank nor its commonly used nickname, but the term “Tiger Imperial”, the Americans had precious little information about the vehicle.

Photograph of the King Tiger tank from the January 1945 issue of the Intelligence Bulletin magazine. The photograph is annotated with the thickness of the tank’s armour plates.

King Tiger Field Penetration Trials

"Report on the results of testing the T-6-B King Tiger superheavy tank in order to determine its weak points held on September 2nd, 1944, near Staszów by a commission composed of the following: [names]

The results of the trials are summarized in the following table:

Component of the tank	Gun caliber	Type of ammunition	Range	Angle	Result
Hull front	152	HEAT*	250 m	90	First hit: 350 mm wide breach in the machine gun ball.
				46	Second hit: 70 mm deep dent 230 mm in diameter.
	85	AP	200 m	46	60 mm deep dent 170 mm in diameter.
Turret front	57	Subcaliber	200 m	75	165 mm deep dent 70 mm in diameter.
Turret side	152	HEAT*	1200 m	70	Penetration, 200 mm breach.
			250	86	Penetration of both sides, entrance breach is 190 mm in diameter, exit breach is 840 mm in diameter.
	85	AP	200	86	Penetration 170 mm in diameter.
Superstructure side	152	HEAT*	465	85	Penetration of both sides, entrance breach is 170 mm in diameter, exit breach is 750 mm in diameter.
	85	AP	400	85	Penetration 150 mm in diameter.
	76	Subcaliber	300	88	Penetration 40 mm in diameter.
		AP			Dent 75 mm deep 84 mm in diameter.
	57	Subcaliber	200	88	Penetration 70 mm in diameter.
		AP	200	88	Penetration 60 mm in diameter.
	45	Subcaliber	150	80	Penetration 30 mm in diameter.

Beheaded King Tiger

This photograph of a King Tiger with a torn off turret and Soviet officers standing on the hull is known to many fans of WW2 history. It can often be seen in various publications describing the Battle of Balaton in March of 1945, although none of the authors seem to have attempted to discover where this image came from. A number of clues reveals that this tank came from the 503rd Heavy Tank Battalion and the photo was made in December of 1944 during the Budapest Offensive Operation. It has nothing to do with the battles in March of 1944. Let us try to figure out where this headless tank came from.

The Fight for Sight

Optics often come up in discussions that compare Soviet and German tanks. The famous "Zeiss optics" are often invoked by those who are not very well versed in the subject matter. The issue was not in Soviet sights. Plenty of them survived to this day, and any who wish can evaluate their quality on their own. German tanks were first and foremost superior in their observation devics. Their visibility was better than that of Soviet tanks, which was often a deciding factor in victory on the battlefield. However, the evolution of German observation devices is an interesting topic for discussion.

King Tiger Intel

 "Memo on the new "King Tiger" (Koenigstiger) heavy tank and methods of combat against it

Elements of the 1st Ukrainian Front captured 4 King Tiger tanks near Szydłów on August 12th, 1944, one of which was functional. 2 non-functional King Tiger tanks were captured near Korozvenka on August 15th, 1944. 

Preliminary characteristics of the King Tiger tank are as follows:

Limping Jagdtiger

The German Jagdtiger tank destroyer was built in two variants: one with a Porsche suspension and one with a Henschel one. The former was deemed poor and removed from production. This fact is stated in every publication dedicated to the Jagdtiger, but is not discussed in detail. In this article we won't stop at brief descriptions, questionable overviews, and conclusions, but instead will discuss how German late war tank suspensions were developed, cover the Porsche suspension, then present the history of the Jagdtiger's suspension in the appropriate context. Our tale will be based on an analysis of the design rather than compilations of opinions of other authors.

Mix and Match

 "#837681
April 6th, 1945

The NIBT Proving Grounds tested Tiger Ausf.B road wheels on a T-34-85 tank. Trials showed that these wheels are more reliable than those used on the T-34-85 tank.

No defects aside from the loss of the disk attachment cone at 1058 km and four cases of burst welding seams on the rims were observed during 1500 km of travel (of those 567 were on a highway with an average speed of 42.3 kph).

How to Lose Everything and Learn Nothing

German tanks and SPGs of the second half of WW2 are often praised as "wonder weapons". Based on what is written about them, one can only come to the conclusion that Germany lost WW2 by accident. This is often said about the "big cats": the Tiger, Panther, and so on. Indeed, Germany's tank industry took a lead in 1943. Thanks to a sudden jump forward, one can argue that Germany had the best heavy and medium tanks. However, it was in the second half of 1943 that the Germans began to lose their grasp on the Eastern Front. A year later, German tank industry was no longer in the lead. The issues it faced were systematic, and despite an arguable second plate in the tank race, the Germans had no future when it came to either the tanks or their armament.

Bigger Guns

"February 5th, 1945

Evaluation of tank armament

In 1944 the Germans accepted the Tiger B tank into service, which is now the main type of enemy heavy tank.

The Tiger B tank has powerful front armour and the 88 mm KWK-43 gun. The AP round of this gun has a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s with an aimed rate of fire of about 6 RPM.

The second type of main German tank is the Panther medium tank. This tank has a 75 mm gun with a muzzle velocity of 1000 m/s and rate of fire of 7-8 RPM.

The AP shells of these tanks can penetrate our tanks from 1500-2000 meters.

The Third Reich's Last Tanks

German tank building was in a difficult state towards the end of WW2. The issue wasn't just in factories damaged by bombers, loss of significant territories, and shortages of resources. The consequences of mistakes in planning and production as well as unscrupulous competition began to crop up. Let's take a look at how the new head of the Panzerkommission tried to bring order back to German tank building and what came of it.

85 mm for Dummies

 Death to German occupants!

Areas of

GERMAN TANKS

vulnerable to the 85 mm gun

Directorate of the Commander of the Armoured and Mechanized Forces of the Red Army
Military publisher of the USSR NKO, Moscow, 1944

Overgrown Cricket

 The Germans focused a lot of effort on mechanization of artillery. They were the first to use SPGs of all types in large numbers. The most common German fully tracked armoured vehicle was an SPG. Light and medium SPGs were common, but heavy ones not so much. Only the Jagdpanther heavy tank destroyer was built in large numbers, but only 90 Ferdinands and 85 Jagdtigers. Compared to the ISU-152 and ISU-122 these are negligible numbers. Heavy "weapons carriers" were in the worst position. Not a single one was mass produced and only one prototype was built. This was the Geschützwagen Tiger für 17cm K72 (Sf) or Grille 17/21.

Warspot Article: All the King's Horses

The Pz.Kpfw.Tiger Ausf.B or King Tiger was the heaviest mass produced tank of WWII. The British had almost no warning before encountering this formidable machine on the battlefield, but it wasn't too long before captured vehicles were inspected and the threat was properly assessed. Find out what the British discovered in my latest article on Warspot.net.

https://warspot.net/372-all-the-king-s-horses

On the Way to the King Tiger

There is an unwritten rule in tank building: start working on a replacement for the tank that you just built. This rule is especially true in wartime. In some cases, work on the replacement began before the predecessor left the drawing board. This is how work started on the Tiger II, the heaviest mass produced tank of WWII. Formally, development began in 1941. The tank named VK 45.02(H) gained a lot of weight during development and changed its name and designs multiple times.

King Tiger Battlefield Penetration Trials

Field penetration trials weren't an unusual phenomenon during WWII. Soldiers often wanted to look with their own eyes at what their own weapons can do against the enemy, plus the sight of blowing holes in enemy tanks is always good for morale. In this case, two rare beasts were captured for trials: a Tiger and a Tiger II. 

"1st Howitzer Artillery Brigade of the Reserve of the Supreme Command
November 9th, 1944
#01909

For your information, I direct to you the results of experimental firing on Tiger and Tiger B tanks.

Forward these results to battalion commanders, and the results on SU-152 shooting to all troops.

Attachment: the aforementioned on 4 pages.

Chief of Staff of the 1st Starokonstantinov Order of the Red Banner Order of Bogdan Khmelintskiy Howitzer Artillery Brigade, Major Vinogradov"

Diagram #1: upper front plate and illustration of the angle and thickness of the upper and lower front plates.

An Overloaded Big Cat

German tank builders started producing tanks with greater characteristics than those of their competitors since late 1942. First was the Tiger Ausf.E which had no equivalent for over a year. The Panther Ausf.D debuted in the summer of 1943. This tank was even more dangerous, if only because there was more of them. As practice showed, the Panther's gun was more powerful than a Tiger's, and its upper front hull plate was impervious to 76-85 mm guns at any range. The Ferdinand heavy SPG debuted alongside it. The USSR, USA, and Great Britain had to catch up. Only Soviet tank builders ended up producing a worthy opponent with the IS-2 and ISU-152. The Tiger Ausf.B was supposed to be Germany's answer, but it never reached the status of "king of beasts" like the Tiger did. Its influence on Soviet tank building was also far lesser.

Double Tigers

 "American Embassy
American Military Mission
Moscow
USSR

September 13th, 1944

To Major General V.N. Yevstigneyev
Chief of the Department of External Affairs
People's Commissar of Defense
Moscow
USSR

Dear General Yevstigneyev,

Several weeks after the last meeting with Lieutenant General Lebedev, we learned about a number of new German tanks and SPGs. The following tanks were mentioned: