Another 03/03/20 “Tiger”: how to fight the most dangerous tank Hitler
Opinion of the fighting qualities of Hitler’s tank “Tiger” and his models were based largely on its firepower – a long time in the armies of the allies of his 88-millimeter cannon analogues were not available. Although, as practice fighting, absolutely invulnerable and invincible “Tigers” were not.
What were their advantages
Hitler’s “Tigers” had heavy armor on all sides (80 to 100 mm), the Soviet “EP,” it did not break through even when fired at close range. Our tank 76 mm gun could knock out the “Tiger” only when hit in the side armor.
the Firepower of the 88 mm gun of the Tiger was such that the tank was able to fire accurately from a distance of 2.2 thousand meters and hit any armored vehicle. Only with the advent of the Soviet heavy tank “is-2”, which had straightened armor plates, the tankers of the red army the opportunity to fight with the Nazis on an equal footing.
as a whole, until 1943, have “Tiger” in the tank armies of the anti-Hitler coalition had no competitors. Therefore, on the fronts of world war II (Nazi heavy tanks participated in the battles in the Soviet Union, Africa, Italy, and other countries) are often in the tank attack the soldiers of the opposing side there were the so-called “hygrophobia” the fear of the invincibility of the coming “Tigers”.
Military historians, it is estimated that overall Hitler’s “Tigers” on the fronts of the Second world war destroyed about 10 thousand enemy tanks, while the Panzer divisions of the Third Reich had lost almost 10 times less units of this heavy military equipment.
the First pancake
Hitler’s “Tigers” in the war with the Soviet Union took the first fight on the Eastern front in August 1942. Soon three of the four heavy tanks broke down, they were evacuated to the rear and was repaired only after a month (this process was quite time-consuming). In another attack, three of the four “Tigers” were hit and one was sucked into a swamp. The Germans had managed to remove his equipment and cut the gun. In January 1943, one of the destroyed “Tiger” was towed to his rear to explore the tankers of the red army.
Why are they no longer produced after the war
Despite the excellent armor protection and lethal firepower of the Tigers, including an improved model of the “Tiger II” (“king tiger”), released in 1944, had a number of significant drawbacks. They were very “hungry” – kilometer “eat” 15 liters of fuel. And in conditions of slush or snow drifts leaded petrol was needed much more.
Another significant problem was the repair of the “Tiger”. Mechanics heavy tank in the rough terrain was constantly out of order. Mud and ice were scored by the tracks of the caterpillars. And more serious damage repairs often required the use of special equipment. For example, when replacing a gear box to raise an 11-ton tower “Tiger” was necessary for the crane. Hitler’s heavy tanks were bulky and in the fight at the slightest failure just rushed or blown by the crews, because there was no possibility to repair them quickly. Besides spare parts for Tigers cost quite expensive: each tank cost about a million Reichsmarks – it was a monthly salary of 7 thousand workers of Germany at that time.
using information obtained from German prisoners, representatives of the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition to relatively quickly find out the weaknesses of Hitler’s “invincible” heavy tanks – with the successful mining of disabling tracks “Tigers” vulnerable were peepholes and vents.
Production of “Tigers” was very time-consuming and costly. Moreover, as shown, these tanks are extremely difficult repaired in combat. Therefore, after the surrender of Germany, the issue of industrial production of heavy tanks based on the surviving samples of “Tigers” allies even not considered.
Nicholas Syromyatnikov
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© Russian Seven
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