Page 89 - History of War - Issue 10-14

TIGER I

CATERPILLAR TRACKS

The tracks fi tted on a Tiger were
extremely wide. This helped the
bulky 57-ton tank traverse over
boggy ground as well as spreading
the weight more thinly to cross
bridges. Despite this, the Tiger
was the victim of adverse weather
conditions on the Eastern Front as
frozen mud wedged itself within the
tracks. The lightweight soviet T-34s
didn’t experience this problem as
frequently and were able to outfl ank
the Nazi tanks – particularly at the
1943 Battle of Kursk, which was
the biggest tank battle of all time.

SECONDARY WEAPONS THE TIGER II
AND AMMUNITION THE TIGER WASN’T THE MOST FEARSOMEOFTHENAZIPANZERS.THE

(TWO 7.92 MG-34 MACHINE GUNS) TIGER II WAS BIGGER, STRONGER ANDBETTERPROTECTED

As well as its main cannon, the Tiger was fi tted with MG-34
or MG-42 machine guns. A Tiger tank would have one next to MAIN GUN
the driver at the front of the tank and on some models an MG The Tiger II’s main gun packed a marginally
would be attached to the top of the vehicle. These machine more powerful punch than the Tiger I as it
guns could reach distances of up to 400m (1,312ft) and could penetrate 182mm (seven inches) of
5,850 rounds would be kept aboard to cut down swathes of armour at double the distance. This was
infantry and light vehicles. also further than Allied tanks of the period.
Known informally as the Königstiger, only
492 of these mighty machines were made.
ARMOUR
The armour was nearly 200mm thick on
the Tiger II, and signifi cantly more than
its predecessor. The Allies tried to create
equivalents but tanks such as the American
T29 were not ready for World War Two. The
Tiger IIs were rushed into production and
were often hampered by ill-suited engines.
KING-SIZE
The Tiger II was a heavy tank and its
bulk was even larger than the Tiger I. The
original Tiger already had issues with its Images: Bundesarchiv, Hamann / Wagner
engine so the larger size of the Tiger II
emphasised these problems even more.
Only in use at the tail end of the war, we will
never know how it could have contributed
to the earlier stages of the war.

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