Page 87 - History of War - Issue 10-14

TIGER I

PANZERKAMPFWAGENVITIGERAUSF.E across the battlefields
A Tiger I tank rolling
of Europe was a
frightening sight for
COMMISSIONED August 1942 any Allied soldier
ORIGIN Kassel, Germany
LENGTH 8.45m (27.7ft)
RANGE 5,000m (16,404ft)
ARMOUR Electro-welded interlocking nickel-steel plates
ENGINE Maybach HL 210 P45
PRIMARY WEAPON 88mm cannon
SECONDARY WEAPONS 7.92mm MG-34 machine guns
CREW 5

of the Russian winter, where its caterpillar tracks Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-299-1805-16 / Scheck / CC-BY-SA
wouldbecometrappedinthedense,frozenmudof
Eastern Europe. This meant the nimble T-34 could
now outmanoeuvre the Tiger and strike where the
armourwasweakest.TheAllieshadnoanswerto
thesheerpowerofPanzerkampfwagenVIsuntilthe
developmentoftheShermanFireflyin1943,which
finally matched Tigers pound for pound. Before this,
onlywaveafterwaveofShermansandT-34scould
bring about the downfall of a Tiger.
By1944,Germanfactorieshad
hurriedtheTigerIIintoproduction “THEALLIESHADNOANSWERTOTHESHEER
andthenumbersoftheTigerI
dwindled. Contemporary reports POWEROFPANZERKAMPFWAGENVIS UNTIL THE
suggest that the Tiger I was
over-engineered and, towards DEVELOPMENT OF THE SHERMAN FIREFLY”
thelatterstagesofitslifespan,
rushed off the production line as the Nazis
desperately tried to save the war.

Above The tank has
insignia showing
its battalion and
allegiance to the
German Wehrmacht.
This particular
model was found
abandoned in the
North African desert Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-022-2936-27 / Altvater / CC-BY-SA

Right The Tiger
Iwasreliable
mechanically but
was let down by
over-engineering
and the harsh
conditions of the
Eastern Front
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