Seek information about the Soviet Union's fear of Tiger tanks in World War II.

Tiger tank is the best heavy tank in World War II, and it is also the aircraft carrier that has created countless best tanks. Its birth and the equipment of German active forces have caused great threats and fears to the armored forces of Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union. For a time, the phrase "beware of tigers ahead" became the mantra of the allied armored forces! Let's listen to old Sam's opinion.

Tanks in World War II can be roughly divided into three categories: light tanks, medium tanks and heavy tanks. Light tanks mainly play the role of detecting, early warning and attacking secondary targets on the battlefield, and play an auxiliary role in the whole armored combat. Light tanks have poor defense and attack power, but excellent maneuverability. Medium-sized tanks are the backbone of armored forces in various countries, mainly attacking enemy tanks, fortifications and artillery positions, killing enemy effective forces and so on. The defense and attack power of medium-sized tanks are generally much stronger than those of light tanks. Although the mobility is not as good as that of light tanks, it is not weak.

In short, the strength of a country's assembled troops depends largely on the performance and quantity of medium-sized tanks. Besides these two tanks, there is also a heavy tank. This kind of tank is mainly used to attack other tanks, strengthen fortifications and so on. Its main function is to search and annihilate, and it is a very important strike force for armored forces. Heavy tanks are generally strong in attack and defense, but poor in maneuverability. They are the pillars of fire in the armored forces.

At the beginning of World War II, heavy tanks were not taken seriously.

Taking the most powerful German armored forces in Europe as an example, due to the characteristics of blitzkrieg, German high-level officials paid more attention to light and medium tanks, and they developed 1, 2, 3 and 4 tanks. Among them, 1 and 2 are light tanks with good maneuverability. Both Type 3 and Type 4 are medium-sized tanks with good maneuverability, and their attack power and defense power are not weaker than those of the Anglo-American and French medium-sized tanks at that time.

The Germans didn't pay much attention to heavy tanks, mainly because the German armored forces often needed to penetrate into the enemy's rear hundreds of kilometers independently when realizing blitzkrieg, so they required high maneuverability. In terms of technology at that time, the mobility of heavy tanks was definitely poor, and they could not compete with light and medium-sized tanks in blitzkrieg. So what is the practical significance of developing such a heavy tank?

The Germans began to study the feasibility of equipping heavy tanks as early as 1930, but it was not until 1937 that the research plan of heavy tanks was officially launched, but the progress was extremely slow, which was mainly the result of high-level neglect.

In the battle of Poland, German armored forces defeated Poland's millions of troops in two weeks, and the victory was so easy that German military officials thought that the existing combination of light and medium tanks seemed to fully meet the needs of the battlefield. Then why develop heavy tanks?

Unfortunately, war has its own evasion, and it will never change because some people take it for granted.

After the French campaign, the British and French allied forces taught the Germans a good lesson. Although the battle of France ended in a fiasco between Britain and France, in actual combat, the German armored forces encountered hundreds of heavy tanks from Britain and France (in fact, in hindsight, they were only heavy and medium-sized tanks). The heavy armor of British Mathilda 2 tank and French Charl B 1 tank caused great trouble to German tanks. In actual combat, German light and medium tanks could not destroy them at all. In several encounters, German tanks suffered heavy losses and were finally destroyed and wounded by Stuka dive bombers and 88 mm anti-aircraft guns.

The battle of France made the Germans realize that heavy tanks also have the meaning of existence, especially for defensive operations.

As a result, the Germans began to speed up the research plan of heavy tanks. 1939, the military asked famous tank manufacturers such as Porsche, Daimler Benz and Mann to provide their own solutions.

At that time, the requirement was to equip 75 mm long-barrel guns (the best German tanks at that time were 75 mm short-barrel guns), weighing about 35 tons. After 1 years of research work, Porsche, Daimler Benz and Mann put forward their own heavy tank schemes at the beginning of 194 1 respectively.

At this point, the German again suffered a stormy impact from soviet heavy tanks. 1941On June 22nd, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, and the largest Soviet-German war in World War II broke out. At the beginning of the war, the Germans swept the Soviet border guards, causing heavy losses of about 4 million Soviet troops in a few months. Although the battle seemed smooth sailing, the German tanks encountered two terrible Soviet tanks, the T-34 medium tank and the KV heavy tank. The fire defense and maneuverability of T-34 medium-sized tank far exceed that of German active tanks, causing great damage to German tanks 2, 3 and 4. Comparatively speaking, heavy tanks KV 1 and KV2 are the biggest headaches for the Germans.

As we all know, the 37 mm and 50 mm short barrel guns of German type 3 medium tank can't penetrate the armor of T-34 at any angle, and the type 4 medium tank can only penetrate the rear armor of T-34 before upgrading the 75 mm short barrel main gun, or penetrate the side armor of T-34 at a very close distance.

The Germans still can't deal with the T-34 heavy tank, so they can't do anything about the KV heavy tank with almost twice the armored defense capability of the T-34.

Although Soviet tank soldiers don't like KV tanks with many faults, poor maneuverability and difficult maintenance, they still play an important role in actual combat, delaying the German offensive pace to the greatest extent.

The most famous example is that the 1 KV2 tank of the second armored division of the Soviet Third Mechanized Army blocked the sixth armored division of Germany for 48 hours. At that time, on the Lithuanian front, this KV2 heavy tank voluntarily stayed behind the house to stop the Germans from advancing. It was full of ammunition and ambushed on a bridge on the Dobisa River, waiting for the arrival of the Germans.

On the morning of June 24th, the German vanguard troops encountered this KV2 tank, and 12 trucks were destroyed. After the two sides met, the Germans launched five attacks in two days. Six 37mm anti-tank guns were used for the first time. As a result, all seven launches hit the KV2 tank, and only part of the paint on the turret was shot down. On the contrary, KV2 destroyed four of them. The second time was a sneak attack with an 88 mm anti-aircraft gun, but the anti-aircraft gun was knocked over by the gun before it was erected (it took a while for the German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun to be erected, and the time was extremely fragile), and the tractor was also destroyed.

For the third time, an elite engineering unit of 12 people blasted KV2 at night, using twice the amount of explosives. However, KV2 violently strafed the engineering troops with machine guns, and had to carry out blasting from a long distance. After blasting, even the tank tracks were not damaged.

The fourth time, the Germans feinted with six Czech 35(t) light tanks to attract KV2's attention (during which several 37mm shells hit KV2 without causing any harm), and then secretly set up an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. When KV2 confronted six German tanks, the 88mm anti-aircraft gun fired five rounds in succession, two of which were broken down. Although the KV2 tank was smoking, when the German soldiers approached him, they found that the turret was still turning.

The fifth time, the German infantry knocked on the top cover of KV2 and threw several grenades into it, all the members were killed. At this time, most of the troops of the Normal University have been blocked by this KV2 for 48 hours.

The strong defense of KV tanks did pose a great threat to the Germans, that is, on the same day that KV2 was destroyed, the Germans fought fiercely with the main force of the Soviet 2nd Armored Division near another bridge to repel it. In this war, the Soviet army left 29 kV tanks, but most of them were abandoned due to mechanical failure. Among them, the armor around a KV tank was hit by various anti-tank guns as many as 70 rounds, which caused the aiming device and crawler of the tank to be damaged in a large area and forced to give up, but none of the shells 1 penetrated its armor, which surprised the Germans!

After a series of operations, the Germans had almost no way to deal with KV tanks, a land cruiser with extremely thick armor. It is absolutely impossible to rely on tanks to deal with it.

After understanding this situation, the Soviet army used this tank more unscrupulously. At that time, because the front-line logistics of the Soviet Union had fallen into great confusion, many tanks and ammunition were seriously inadequate. After some KV tanks exhausted and carried a small amount of ammunition, they continued to attack German anti-tank gun positions and crushed all anti-tank guns. Such arrogant tactics are naturally unbearable for proud Germans.

The success of KV heavy tanks awakened the German high-level officials from their dreams and made Hitler very angry. The dictator angrily accused the German generals of neglecting the research work of heavy tanks, which led to the passivity of the German armored forces.

Hitler ordered in 194 1 that heavy tanks must be developed immediately, which must have the performance beyond KV tanks and can effectively destroy all Soviet active tanks. Hitler also pointed out that the existing 75 mm artillery can not meet the requirements of the battlefield, and the most powerful 88 mm anti-tank artillery in the Soviet-German war must be used as the main gun of the tank. So the early heavy tank plan was overthrown and the research work resumed.

It should be noted that the efficiency of German tank designers is still relatively high. They finished the design of the whole vehicle before1April 20, 942 (Hitler's birthday). On that day, Porsche and henschel participated in the prototype demonstration, and Mann was eliminated (but the Leopard tank designed by Mann also won the bid), and the gun king Krupp designed the turret according to the car bodies of the two companies.

But the problem is that the car body was originally designed as a 75 mm gun, but now it has increased to 88 mm, and its weight has increased a lot. The existing car body can't bear such a weight, which leads to many mechanical failures.

On April 7th 1 1 km, the prototypes of the two companies arrived at Rastenberg Station and were forced to go to Hitler's headquarters. However, during this short journey of 1 1 km, these two prototypes broke down several times, which worried the engineers on board.

Fortunately, the performance on April 20th was quite good. After careful study, Hitler thought that the prototype design of Porsche did not meet the requirements of actual combat for heavy tanks, with poor maneuverability and slow response. Henschel's design is flawed, but it meets the needs of the German army. After studying with German executives, in July, they adopted a compromise plan, using the prototype car body of henschel company and the turret of Porsche company. In fact, the turret was designed by Krupp, which is equivalent to kicking Porsche out.

It should be noted that Hitler's performance at this time is still relatively practical. Although ferdinand porsche, the boss of Porsche (the inventor of the famous Beetle), is his personal friend, he still doesn't adopt Porsche's design.

At this time, Porsche was extremely dissatisfied with the result. They thought their products were excellent and would win the bid, so they produced 90 car bodies in advance to prepare for mass production in the future. As a result, they didn't win the bid, and these car bodies were wasted. Fortunately, Porsche is still smart. They made Ferdinand heavy tank destroyer with 90 car bodies, which was also famous later, but this is the content of another article.

-Ferdinand heavy tank destroyer (also called elephant), which is also an extremely terrible weapon in the German army. He can penetrate the main armor of the Soviet T-34 tank at a shooting distance of 2,800 meters, or penetrate the main armor of the American M4 Sherman tank at a shooting distance of 3,000 meters. Because of its great power, it has become synonymous with German tank destroyer. The Soviet tank destroyers that are more powerful against the Germans are all called Ferdinand!

194 1 In July, henschel's prototype VK450 1(H) was officially adopted by the German Army and named as Panzerkamfwagen 6 ausf.e, also known as Tiger 1 tank.

Although it was finalized in 194 1, the production of tiger tanks requires very complicated manufacturing technology, many processes and many sophisticated processing tools and skilled workers. In addition, the prototype itself had many problems until 1942 began mass production in August.

Tiger tank was the best heavy tank in the world at that time, and it was the Mercedes-Benz BMW in the heavy tank industry!

In terms of firepower, it is equipped with an 88 mm 36 L/56 from the powerful German 88 mm anti-aircraft gun. The gun can penetrate armor with a thickness of140mm at a distance of1500m, and armor with a thickness of125mm and110mm at a distance of1500m and 2000m respectively.

In those days, the effective range of tanks was generally around 1000 meters, and most of them were within several hundred meters. However, Tiger tanks can accurately attack the enemy within a distance of 1500m to 2000m. At that time, no allied tanks could resist its attack, not even KV2 heavy tanks with the thickest armor in the Soviet Union.

The gun used the most advanced German carl zeiss TFZ 9b sight at that time, and its accuracy was amazing. In a test shot, the tank fired at a distance of 1000m, and five shells landed on a target with a length and width of 0.4m (about the side size of the computer case), which was very amazing at that time (at that time, the tank was generally at least 2.5m high and 3m wide).

1in July, 944, the tiger tank of the third company of the 506th heavy tank battalion destroyed the T-34 tank at a distance of 3,900 meters, which was an amazing achievement far exceeding the firing limit of the artillery, which was enough to show the excellent performance of the artillery and aiming system.

German armored forces who used tiger tanks in World War II praised the tiger artillery system, thinking that it was a very stable and accurate shooting platform like Panther and an excellent tank killer!

In the battle, the T-34 tank that suppressed German tanks for two years finally met its opponent. The huge power of the Tiger tank artillery easily penetrated the front armor of the T-34 tank, detonated its internal ammunition, and was lifted up by the huge explosive force to fly more than ten meters away. German soldiers joked that this was T-34' s hat off to the Tiger tank.

Power and high precision have become the biggest killer of tiger tanks, and it is also its most remarkable feature.

Defensively, Tiger tanks did not use inclined armor similar to Panther tanks and Tiger King tanks, but used traditional German vertical armor. It can be said that the armor of tiger tank is the peak of traditional vertical armor manufacturing in Germany. The armor of this precision-rolled metal plate made of nickel alloy steel is produced by cold rolling forging process rather than casting. Compared with cast steel, the strength characteristics of cold-rolled forged steel are much higher!

Although the manufacturer of tiger tanks suggested to the military in 1944 that in order to save working hours and speed up the production of tanks, it must be changed to cast steel technology. After careful study, the army rejected this proposal on the grounds that the quality of armor must be guaranteed.

As a result, the hardness of armor exceeded the hardness level of similar armor on all other tanks during World War II, and it was the best armor in German tanks.

Its front armor is 102 mm thick, its turret front is 135 mm thick, and its sides and rear are also 82 mm thick. The four sides of the turret are almost vertical, and the thickness of the gun shield and turret is almost equal, which makes it almost impossible to penetrate the turret of the tiger tank from the front. At that time, no allied tanks could effectively penetrate its front armor, and even it was extremely difficult to penetrate its side armor at a long distance.

At that time, the defense capability of Tiger tanks surpassed that of KV tanks and became the first in the world.

In fact, the defense of tiger tanks is not much better than that of leopard tanks. However, due to the thick side and rear armor of the Tiger tank, it still has strong defense ability in actual combat (the side armor of the Panther tank is relatively thin).

An officer of the 503rd heavy tank battalion sent back a battle report. During the six-hour Soviet-German tank battle, his tanks were hit by 227 anti-tank rifles (Soviet troops were equipped with a large number of anti-tank guns), 14 rounds of 45 mm armor-piercing bullets and1/76 mm armor-piercing bullets, and the tracks, axles and suspension systems were seriously damaged.

-The main gun of Tiger tank is very powerful, and the gun power is extremely important for heavy tanks. Because artillery is invincible, the most powerful trump card of German tanks in World War II is almost always driving tiger tanks.

In terms of maneuverability, with the technology at that time, it is impossible to give consideration to both firepower and defense. Because of its heavy armor and heavy large-caliber turret, the total weight of Tiger Tank is 56 tons, which is twice that of Type 4 Tank. This weight overwhelmed any kind of engine and bearing system at that time, not to mention the 650 horsepower of the 2 1 L 12 cylinder Maibakh HL2 10 P45 gasoline engine used by Tiger tanks in the early days.

The top speed of the early Tiger tanks was 45 kilometers per hour on the highway, but the actual top speed of off-road was only 30 kilometers per hour. Because the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers is as high as 800 liters, the maximum stroke of the Tiger tank is only 120 kilometers.

In the famous movie Armageddon, the Germans left a large number of tiger tanks at the end of the Ardennes campaign because of lack of fuel. This is not fiction. Because Tiger tanks need a lot of gasoline, the oil fields controlled by Germany are basically seized by the Soviet Union, and they are forced to fight by seizing the enemy's fuel.

However, it is impossible to maintain an oil-eating machine like a tiger tank by capturing it, and it is inevitable to throw away the tank eventually.

Tiger tanks are too heavy, which leads to many mechanical failures. It is very difficult to maintain the battlefield, so special heavy maintenance vehicles must be used, because ordinary maintenance vehicles can't move at all. Under normal circumstances, a tiger tank needs 3 18 ton Sdkfz9 semi-tracked tractors for traction. If you use a tiger to pull, the tiger that is often pulled will be paralyzed because of the heavy load, and you must use two tigers to move. This is hard to say on the battlefield!

1944 From May 23rd to 25th, Company 3 of the 508th Heavy Tank Battalion lost all 15 tanks, mostly due to mechanical failure. Because the Germans lack more traction vehicles, they can only throw some broken tiger tanks on the battlefield.

In addition, the weight of tiger tanks is too heavy for ordinary bridges, so it is very difficult for tiger tanks to drive in areas with more rivers.

Although the mobility is poor, compared with other heavy tanks in the world at that time, the mobility of tiger tanks is ok, which is stronger than Panther tanks, Tiger King tanks and Soviet KV and Stalin series heavy tanks.

The use of tiger tanks needs careful consideration.

If it is regarded as the pillar of blitzkrieg and needs to be attacked for as long as Type 3 and 4 tanks, then Tiger tanks are simply not competent because of their low engine power and frequent mechanical failures. I'm afraid some Tiger tanks broke down on the road before they reached the battlefield. At the same time, huge fuel consumption and car body weight have considerable requirements for logistics departments and battlefield roads.

However, Hitler's overall positioning was successful. He customized the tiger tank as the destroyer of tanks and fortifications, which was generally used in the battlefield where anti-tank fire and support fire were needed to attack enemy fortress positions. Therefore, tiger tanks are generally organized into independent heavy tank battalions for independent use by group army or army, with priority given to SS troops.

Tiger Tank has organized 1 1 heavy tank battalion and three independent SS armored brigades. The heavy tank battalion was initially equipped with 27 Tiger tanks, which were later increased to 50, and some Type 3 and Type 4 tanks and semi-tracked armored vehicles were used as auxiliary vehicles.

This method of use is very practical now, and it also makes the tiger tank play its greatest role.

-At that time, the mobility of tiger tanks was good, especially in defensive warfare, and the mobility could completely meet the requirements. Compared with the Tiger King tank with poor mobility, the comprehensive performance of the Tiger King tank is obviously better.

Tiger tanks first entered the war in1September 23, 942 at the battle of Leningrad. Because the tiger tank at that time belonged to the initial model. Under Hitler's order to finish several Tiger tanks in a limited time, German manufacturers and designers were afraid of going to jail, so they tried their best to grab the construction period. Some design problems were modified directly on the production line before the scheme was modified and implemented.

For a German who is rigorous, precise and emphasizes doing things according to the plan, this is naturally forced out, and the consequence is bound to be many problems, large and small, in the early Tiger tanks.

Four Tiger tanks of the First Heavy Tank Company of the 502nd Heavy Armored Battalion are fighting near Leningrad, mainly experimental. As a result, two tanks fell on the road because of mechanical failure before they rushed to the front line, and only two tanks rushed to the battlefield.

When two tanks passed through a small swamp near Leningrad, they were trapped in the mud and couldn't move. The Soviet army immediately mobilized heavy artillery to bombard it, and both tanks were injured. German maintenance personnel repaired the 1 vehicle at the risk of being shelled, but the 1 vehicle was too deep to be towed, so it had to be destroyed by blasting and was finally captured by the Soviet Union.

The capture greatly shocked the Soviet army, which immediately upgraded all T-34 tanks and accelerated the development of Stalin is series heavy tanks and Su-152 self-propelled anti-tank guns.

Tiger tanks entered the war for the second time in 1943 North Africa, but this time the record was quite good. The open terrain of the desert in North Africa makes the artillery power and defense of Tiger tanks play a powerful role.

In actual combat, six Tiger tanks easily destroyed 15 American tanks in the Battle of Feld Trail at Kaiserling Pass, and one of them, M4 Sherman, was destroyed by Tiger tanks at a distance of 2.7 kilometers, which is an extremely amazing number.

Three months later, Tiger tanks attacked again, and 1 1 Tiger destroyed 35 American tanks again, most of which were M4 Sherman. Until the German army in North Africa surrendered to the Allies, 33 Tiger tanks in North Africa destroyed all the Allied tanks 150, and only 1 was destroyed by British large-caliber anti-tank guns. This is because the tank captain rashly opened the hood and poked his head out to observe. A shell fired from a British Churchill tank hit the turret and wounded his head. Other tank members also suffered casualties and were forced to give up the tank.

Hitler was satisfied with the performance of the tiger tank and ordered mass production in the rear. But at this time, the biggest problem of Tiger Tank is that its structure is too complicated. The production time is as high as 250,000 to 300,000, and the cost is as high as 1.5 million dollars. This man-hour is dozens of times that of the Soviet T-34 tank (of course, the calculation method of man-hour in Germany is different from that in the Soviet Union, but western experts estimate that the production of a tiger is at least equivalent to the production of 10 T-34)!

This achievement can only be achieved by henschel Company, because henschel Company is originally a company that produces railway locomotives and heavy lifting machinery, and other companies don't know how many working hours it will take.

The processing requirements of tiger tanks are very high. The welding of huge body, the cutting, manufacturing and polishing of turret and suspension system must be within the minimum allowable error range, and then the final complicated assembly work. Naturally, the time spent on such processes and requirements cannot be less.

-The biggest disadvantage of Tiger tank is its complicated structure. This kind of tank has absolutely no opponent in local wars, but it will not work in the world war II, where hundreds of thousands of troops frequently scuffle. The number of defects makes these tiger tanks unable to deal with more than ten times the number of enemy tanks.

Since August of 1942, German tank factories have made great efforts to produce only 25 vehicles per month, and even 104 vehicles could not be produced until April of 1944. From July 1942 to August 1944, only 1355 tiger tanks were produced.

The Soviet Union's IS Stalin 2 heavy tanks produced nearly 4,000 vehicles in just one year, and the more advanced IS Stalin 3 heavy tanks also produced more than 2,300 vehicles a year. That is to say, at the same time, soviet heavy tanks's production capacity is five or six times that of the Germans. If you add more than 53,000 T-34 tanks produced in several years, it is equivalent to tiger tanks hitting Soviet medium and heavy tanks 60 times.

If we add 50,000 M4 Sherman tanks of the US military, the number of medium and heavy tanks in the US and the Soviet Union alone will be no less than 100 times that of the Tiger tanks. This is really the data that makes the Germans extremely helpless, and it is impossible to win in this kind of war.

Tiger tank has obvious advantages, strong defense ability and strong attack power, but its disadvantages are also obvious, such as poor maneuverability and slow response. His turret is controlled by a hydraulic drive system driven by an engine. Because the turret is too heavy, it takes 1 minute to rotate once, and it is almost impossible for tank members to rotate the turret by hand at a large angle. Manual operation of tank members can only be used when the turret needs to adjust the shooting angle slightly! Once the engine of the tank is turned off, the turret can't turn and can't fight. The turret of American M4 Sherman medium tank can rotate once in 10 second.

If tiger tanks are used in offensive operations, their role is limited. Why did such an advanced Panther tank still suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Kursk? This is mainly because Panther tanks are completely used for offensive operations. Although its front armor is very thick, it is impossible to cover all sides, back or even top armor and crawler, and it is normal to be hit in all directions in offensive operations.

But in actual combat, the record of tiger tanks seems to be obviously better than that of leopard tanks. Even the most famous German four-door tanks with more than 100 tanks used tiger tanks.

This is mainly the use of tiger tanks, which just meets the performance requirements and can foster strengths and avoid weaknesses.