The origins of the German program for a heavy tank dated back from 1937, when it

was discussed for the first time the convenience of a tank that weighed from 30 to
35 tonnes. The company Henschel

was ordered to develop two vehicles having the same specifications than the
Durchbruchswagen (Breakthrough Vehicle) DW 1. A prototype was already being built
when the company was ordered to focus

in a heavier vehicle, the VK 6501. This one was a 65-ton vehicle - armed with a 75-
millimeter cannon and multiple machine guns in secondary turrets - which was
intended to be denominated PzKpfw

VII. But the project was cancelled in 1940, when two prototypes had been already
finished and they were in phase of evaluation. Meanwhile Henschel continued working
in a "lighter" heavy tank, of

which a prototype had been built: the DW 2 with a weight of 32 tonnes, a crew of
five and an L/24 75-millimeter cannon, the same one mounted in the PzKpfw IV. When
in 1940 the German Ministry of

Armament convoked Daimler-Benz, Henschel, MAN and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, president
of the German Committee of Tanks, to present their plans for a 30-ton tank, the
proposal by Henschel was based in

the DW 2. It was asked to the company to build four prototypes of the Vollketten
Kraftfahrzeug (Motorized Tracked Vehicle) VK 3001 (H) for its evaluation. It was
asked as well the production of

prototypes to Porsche, which would be called VK 3001 (P). The following month of
March, Henschel built two prototypes and the other two six months later. The design
did not differ much from the

PzKpfw IV, but it had seven interspersed wheels at each side, mounted on torsion
bars, and three return rollers. It was to be armed with the L/48 75-millimeter
cannon but, when it was studied the

Soviet tank T-34/76 captured in November, it was considered that this project had
become outdated, although the tests on the chassis had been already carried. The
project VK 3001 (H) was cancelled

and the prototypes VK 3001 (H) were reconverted into prototypes for self-propelled
guns. It was ordered to Henschel a similar prototype of a 36-ton tank, the VK 3601
(H), designed for mounting a 75

-millimeter cannon with "conical" bore (progressively diminishing caliber). This

project was cancelled as well, but more because of economical reasons than failures
in the design.[p]
The inefficiency in the combat against the British and French medium tanks of the
75-millimeter cannon in service until then was confirmed during the Battle of
France in the summer 1940. For

instance, in Arras they had ostensibly failed their impacts against the British
tank Matilda. Because of this, Hitler ordered to continue the adaptation of the 88-
millimeter cannon

Fliegerabwehrkannone FlaK 36 to a new tank that could destroy the armor of the
Allied tanks at a distance of 1500 meters and, besides, that were able to withstand
a tank of similar power. The Flak
36 was an anti-aircraft weapon, also used as towed anti-tank weapon and tested in
both roles with excellent results. The development team of the Ministry of Armament
sought a weapon of lesser

caliber and "conical" bore, able to confer the projectile higher speed. Such
weapons were already being tested as towed anti-tank weapons and they were very
effective, but it was required tungsten,

very demanded then, for their projectiles. The adoption of such cannon could have
long-range consequences for the vehicles armed with it, which could be smaller and
hence lighter. However,

eventually, the scarcity of tungsten costed dearly to the plan. But it was the
traumatic encounter of the Wehrmacht with the KV-1 and T-34 tanks what really led
to a specification for a heavy tank,

able to carry the prestigious 88-millimeter cannon in a full-rotating turret and

sufficiently armored to withstand any anti-tank weapon existing. The manufacturers
Henschel and Porsche would take

the challenge to create the new tank, whose first specification, later delayed, was
from 1937. The turret, built by Krupp, would be common to both projects. Hitler had
a personal interest in this

tank and he pressed to make it into service as soon as possible. In the moment of
its introduction and during some time later the Tiger would be the more powerful
tank in the world. The 88

-millimeter cannon equipped with 92 shells was really formidable and the thick
armor guaranteed protection against any projectile coming from the front. In the
Western Front the Tiger was so

effective that the Allies had to develop special tactics to engage against it, even
though in some occasions it worked so ineffectively that in no way could be thought
that it was putting in

practice all its capacity. But it was a fact that the apparition of the Tiger was a
shock for the Allies and soon this tank earned the reputation of being the biggest
threat on the battlefield.[p]
They were ordered two prototypes of tanks that could mount the 88-millimeter cannon
Flak 36 - which was denominated KwK 36 L/56 -, one to Henschel and the other to
Porsche, in May 1941, as the VK

4501 (H) and the VK 4501 (P). Both companies based their projects in the work
previously made in the 30-ton tanks. The project by Porsche was moved by gasoline
and electricity, with longitudinal

torsion bars and other new details. However, in the tests it was the more
conventional Henschel tank the one that won, despite having surpassed the
stipulated weight in 10 tonnes. The prototypes

that competed to become the PzKpfw VI Tiger were exhibited for the first time the
20th April 1942, 53rd birthday of Hitler. The production of the VK 4501 (H) was
ordered in August 1942, being

denominated PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf H; as a precaution, it was ordered to Porsche to

build 90 chassis of his model, just in case Henschel had unexpected difficulties.
But Henschel had no problems in
the production and the chassis projected by Porsche were adapted as tank
destroyers, with the denomination Ferdinand (later Elephant). Meanwhile, the
Henschel Tiger was gaining strenght gradually.

Despite coming later than the PzKpfw V Panther, the PzKpfw VI Tiger was clearly a
design of a former period. It had none of the sloped lines present in the Panther,
being more similar to the PzKpfw

IV in this regard; with such profusion of vertical surfaces, it relied solely in

the thick armor for its protection, which contributed to add unnecessary weight to
the tank. The frontal armor was

110 millimeters thick, the upper side part of the hull was 60 millimeters thick and
the lower one was 82 millimeters thick. The bottom of the hull and the top of the
turret were 26 millimeters

thick. The armor was made with large plates welded, to improve the solidity of the
hull, which on the prototype showed ostensible flexings when firing the cannon in
any angle, except forwards. The

sides and the rear part of the turret were built in a single piece, by using a 80
millimeters thick plate - obtained by casting - curved like a horseshoe; this plate
was complemented by a 100

millimeters thick flat plate for the frontal part in which a hole was made to hold
the long and heavy cannon, whose mantlet was 110 millimeters thick. The turret was
built as well with vertical

surfaces, albeit the rounded shape helped to compensate for this deficiency. It was
not a great ballistic profile, but worse things had been seen. The rotation of the
turret was made by a hydraulic

motor that took energy from the gearbox, so when the engine was stopped, the turret
had to be rotated manually. The slow rotation of the heavy turret was one of the
handicaps of the Tiger.[p]
[aimg96]high_res/tanks_germany/
pzkpfw_vi_tiger_i_heavy_tank_01.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/tanks_germany/
pzkpfw_vi_tiger_i_heavy_tank_01.jpg[/aimg96][br]
[fs]Five views of a PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf H from the First Panzer Division SS
"Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler". The schematic camouflage is a model used in the
Russian front. Note also the interspersed

wheels, the smoke dischargers on the turret, the towing cables and the spare
tracks.[/span][p]
The first 250 tanks Tiger had installed an engine HL 210 giving 645 horsepower; the
subsequent ones were equipped with the HL 230 of 700 horsepower - albeit in the
practice there was very little

difference in performance between both engines - which gave a maximum speed of 37

kilometers/hour. Speed was too low due to the need of a high reduction in the
transmission. Weight was excessive

for the normal driving system by clutch and brake, so Henschel adapted the British
regenerative unit attaching it to a Maybach eight-speed preselective gearbox. The
interior of the Tiger had all

the comfort possible in a tank. The crew was placed in four compartments in the
hull. The driver and the hull gunner were separated in the fore part with the
gearbox between them. The driver used a
steering wheel apart from the two levers usually found in tanks for driving, and
the instruments were of the most complete and perfect used then. The turret was
completely normal, even though space

was restricted when all the 92 shells were stored. The cannon was balanced by a
heavy spring in a tube, in the left part of the turret. The 88-millimeter
projectiles could penetrate a 112

millimeters thick armor at a distance of 450 meters, which was enough for all the
armored vehicles of the time when the Tiger was introduced. The excessively
restricted operational range was a

problem during the operations; with a fuel capacity of 567 liters, the Tiger could
make only 120 kilometers by road with two stops to refuel; in cross-country the
operational range was about half

of that. The lessons that Henschel had learned with the suspensions of the VK 3001
and the VK 3601 were invaluable for the project of the Tiger, which had eight wheel
hubs on each side, each of

them with a large road wheel. These were interspersed forming two rows. The wheel
axes were supported by torsion bars; the wheels had such a diameter that return
rollers were unnecesary. That was

the first time that such a characteristic system was installed in a German tank.[p]
The first tanks Tiger had road wheels with rubber tires which, from February 1944,
were replaced by fully metallic wheels with inner springs. However, the Tiger Ausf
H - which later and with

retroactive character was renamed as Ausf E - never had the problems to keep the
tires that characterized the Panther, whose crews had an exhausting work regarding
the road wheels. The Tiger Ausf H

came with two sets of tracks: ones for combat that were 725 millimeters wide and
others for marching that were 520 millimeters wide. Due to the excessive weight,
the Tiger had been equipped with

unusually wide tracks, and this supposed a problem for transporation on railway, so
the narrower tracks were introduced facing transportation on railway or normal
circulation on road. To install

the marching tracks it was required to dismount the outer road wheels, which had to
be mounted again when installing the combat tracks. The shift of tracks - which
would take about 15 minutes - was

tedious and expensive, contributing to restrict mobility. The interspersed

disposition of the road wheels granted a gentle and stable march in surfaces of any
type, but it had a disadvantage: the

soft mud and the snow accumulated between the two rows of wheels could freeze when
the tanks stopped during long time in the winter nights. For example, if the Tiger
tanks stopped during night

after having been traveling in such conditions, they were often found immobilized
at dawn. The armored units of the Red Army soon realized about this and attacked in
the opportune moment when the

Tiger tanks were jammed.[p]

The Tiger was intended to be assigned to special batallions of 30 vehicles under
the control of a corps in the headquarters. In general terms this was carried to
practice, although some armored

divisions received their own Tiger batallions, particularly the Waffen SS. The
Tiger entered action for the first time in September 1942, during the Siege of
Leningrad, where the conditions of the

terrain were undesirable for any tank. The Tiger, very sparse and in short number,
found themselves alone in open field, with very little coverage and in a situation
very exposed to well emplaced

heavy anti-tank cannons. As a consequence, they suffered heavy losses. In the

period of the large battles in the Western Front, after the Allied landings in
Normandy, the crews of the Tiger already

knew that their tanks performed better in ambushes, in limited spaces, where they
benefited more from their thick armor and powerful cannon than in open field, where
their tactical mobility was

limited, their speed was scarce and their operational range was short. As a
consequence of this, it was in the battles for containing the Allied advance in
1944, in the "bocage" areas of Normandy,

with their narrow roads, high hedges, wide fences and small orchards, where the
Tiger found itself in its element, where its cannon could inflict the maximum
damage and its armor allow for a

respite on the counterattack. In one occassion in 1944, an armored batallion from

the British 7th Armored Division - known as the "Desert Rats" - lost at least 25 of
their tanks and many auxiliary

vehicles from a sole Tiger. It has to be noted that not all the British losses were
in tank combats, albeit, on the other hand, much higher numbers are given regarding
Allied destroyed armored

vehicles.[p]
The incident happened the 13th June 1944, near the town of Villers Bocage, during
the Operation Epsom, which formed part of the Battle for Caen. The Tiger tank was
commanded by SS Obersturmfuhrer

(Lieutenant) Michael Wittmann, from the 11th Abteilung Schwere Panzer SS (Heavy
Batallion Panzer SS). Wittmann accounted then for 119 destroyed tanks (or 138
according to other sources) during two

years as tank commander. A translated version of the story said that "in the
morning of that day Michael Wittman watched from the peepholes in the turret of his
Tiger the movements of a British

armored column that meandered on the road to Villers Bocage. Along with his crew,
always the same, Wittman had fought in Russia, destroying 119 Soviet tanks in nine
months. If Commander Carr,

second-in-command in the British armored column, had known about his presence, he
probably would have advanced with more caution, but the column continued sparse
along the road. Suddenly the Tiger

bounced into an esplanade that ran parallel to the road, and in very little time it
destroyed 20 tanks, four tank destroyers, one command vehicle, 14 armored personnel
carriers and 14 Bren

Carriers." The Tiger demonstrated as well its worth, one and another time, during
that winter, in the Battle of the Bulge, in the mountains of the thick forests in
the Ardennes. It was there and in

Caen where the Tiger earned its reputation of being invincible against any armored
vehicle that it faced. The Tiger was in fact very feared by the crews of the
Sherman tanks. It was a reasonably

compact tank, but so heavy that it could not cross the German bridges and the first
400 units had to ford the deep rivers to cross them. The requirement of shifting
tracks was very laborious and

the wheels had problems because of overweight. The Allied discovered that their
more agile tanks could surpass the maneuvering capacity of the Tiger and attack it
from the rear. This along with

other limitations rendered this tank obsolete in 1944. In August of that year 1300
units had been built, not so many having into account its reputation and effect on
the Allied morale.[p]
Apart from its standard tank version, some Tiger were fitted as command vehicles
(Panzerbefehlswagen). They were provided with tactical panels and plans, with two
additional radio devices: one for

direct air support and other for linking with the headquarters of the divisions;
but these modifications were made at expenses of losing storage space for the
ammunition of the cannon and the co-

axial machine gun. Some Tiger served as well as armored recovery vehicles
(Bergepanzer) and as assault tanks (Sturmmtiger) carrying launchers for 380-
millimeter rockets (Raketenwerfer) instead of

the 88-millimeter cannon.[p]

[box]
Crew: 5[p]
Armament: One KwK 36 L/56 88-millimeter cannon, one MG 34 7.92 millimeters co-axial
machine gun, one MG 34 7.92-millimeter machine gun in the hull[p]
Ammunitions: 92 x 88-millimeter cannon, 4500 x 7.92-millimeter machine guns[p]
Armor: 26-110 millimeters[p]
Length: 8.25 meters[p]
Width: 3.73 meters[p]
Height: 2.85 meters[p]
Weight: 55 tonnes[p]
Ground clearance: 47 centimeters[p]
Ground pressure: 1.04 kilograms/square centimeter[p]
Power to weight ratio: 12.93 horsepower/tonne[p]
Engine: Maybach HL230 P45 with 12 cylinders in V, refrigerated by water, developing
700 horsepower at 3000 revolutions per minute[p]
Speed (road): 38 kilometers/hour[p]
Speed (cross-country): 20 kilometers/hour[p]
Operational range: 100 kilometers[p]
Maximum surmountable trench: 2.5 meters[p]
Maximum surmountable step: 0.8 meters[p]
Maximum surmountable slope: 35 degrees[p]
Maximum fording: 1.2 meters[p]
[/div][p]
[b]PzKpfw VI Tiger (SdKfz 181) Ausf. E[/span][p]
[aimg96]high_res/tanks_germany/
pzkpfw_vi_tiger_i_heavy_tank_cutaway.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/tanks_germany/
pzkpfw_vi_tiger_i_heavy_tank_cutaway.jpg[/aimg96][p]
[box]
1 - L/56 88 mm cannon :: 2 - 7.92 mm MG 34 co-axial machine gun :: 3 - 7.92 mm MG
34 machine gun :: 4 - 7.92 mm ammunition :: 5 - Smoke dischargers :: 6 - Escape
hatch :: 7 - Commander's seat :: 8

- Manual mechanism for turret rotation :: 9 - Porthole for small guns :: 10 -

Hydraulic mechanism for turret rotation :: 11 - Commander's shield :: 12 - Gunner's
manual mechanism for turret

rotation :: 13 - Gunner's manual mechanism for cannon elevation :: 14 - Gunner's

seat :: 15 - Machine gun firing pedal :: 16 - Binocular telescope :: 17 - Air
depuration system :: 18 - Maybach

engine :: 19 - Radio :: 20 - Containers for 88 mm shells :: 21 - Control pedal for

turret rotation hydraulic mechanism :: 22 - Turret rotation hydraulic mechanism ::
23 - Disc brake drum :: 24 -

Steering mechanism :: 25 - Steering wheel :: 26 - Gearbox :: 27 - Driver's seat ::

28 - Hand brake :: 29 - Throttle :: 30 - Pedal brake :: 31 - Clutch :: 32 - Shock
absorber :: 33 - Suspension

torsion bar :: 34 - Interspersed wheels :: 35 - Commander's cuppola/hatch :: 36 -

Ventilator clutch lever :: 37 - Air admission valve control :: 38 - Fuel priming
pump :: 39 - Gasoline deposit cap

:: 40 - 7.92 mm ammunition storage[p]

[/div][p]