The failed doomsday tank-German "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyer

When it comes to armored vehicles such as tanks, it will inevitably not be able to bypass World War II, but it is necessary to study armored vehicles such as tanks during World War II. German armored vehicles are absolutely impossible to bypass. When the Second World War just broke out, Germany had not developed so many "armor black technologies." However, with the gradual deterioration of the war at the end of the war, Germany began to go further and further in terms of "black technology", and the "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyer was a typical example.

"Tiger Hunting" anti-tank destroyer

With the "No. 3 Assault Gun", "Stalker" and other anti-tank destroyers succeeded in World War II. The Nazi German armored forces began to go further and further on the anti-tank destroyer. Before the "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyer, Nazi Germany had already developed the "Ferdinand" anti-tank destroyer. It’s just that the reliability of the "Ferdinand" anti-tank destroyer is really bad, so Nazi Germany is thinking about creating a more powerful anti-tank destroyer, and the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer is The product of this demand.

"Ferdinand" exposed too many problems

From the very beginning, the birth of "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer was very bumpy. The "Hunt Tiger" anti-tank destroyer was originally planned to start production in December 1943, but due to technical reasons and other factors, the production plan was forced to delay until 1944. But at this time, with the mass production of the "Black Panther" tank, Nazi Germany had to extend the production time of the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer to January 1945.

The mass production plan of "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer has been delayed until 1945 at the beginning of the year

"Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer The biggest feature of the car in appearance is the 128mm PaK 44L/55 main gun. When using armor-piercing shells, it can penetrate the 167mm thick steel armor plate arranged at a 30-degree angle at a distance of 1000 meters. Even if the shooting distance is extended to 2000 meters, the penetration depth of the steel armor plate arranged at a 30-degree angle is still 148 mm. The power of this main gun was so powerful that even only high-explosive shells could deal with most of the tanks of the Allied forces at that time.

In terms of armor protection, the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer uses a fixed battle room design. The frontal armor thickness of its fixed battle room reached 250 millimeters. Within the normal combat distance, the main guns of most Allied tanks could not cause effective damage to it. In fact, few "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyers are battle-damaged.

This level of frontal armor was almost invincible at the time.

In order to be able to carry a huge main gun and heavy armor, the "tiger hunting" anti-tank The destroyer uses the "Tiger II" heavy tank, that is, the chassis of the "Tiger King" heavy tank. Because of this, the protection of the "Tiger Hunting" anti-tank destroyer is at an excellent level from all angles.

Before the surrender of Nazi Germany, the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer achieved mass production. Although its mass production volume is small, there are two different types of mass production "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyers. Krupp once suggested to install the KwKL/66 type 128mm main gun for the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer, but the "Hunting Tiger" could not hold the 66-times diameter 128 mm main gun, and finally chose the 88 mm gun. PaK43L/71 main gun, this type of "tiger hunting" mass production type produced a total of about 4 vehicles.

The captured "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer

The biggest problem with the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer is the lack of horsepower. The Maybach engine used by the destroyer has only 690 horsepower, which is a drop in the bucket for the dozens of tons of "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyer. In addition, the fuel tank capacity of the "tiger hunting" is also insufficient. In fact, most of the "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyers captured by the Allied forces are quiteComplete, it's just that the maneuvering is slow or there is no fuel and has to be discarded.

The main units using the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer are the 512th Heavy Armor Battalion and the 653 Heavy Armor Battalion. Both the US and Soviet forces have their own records of capturing the "Hunting Tiger" anti-tank destroyer. However, most of the "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyers have completed their mission in the shooting range and have become toys for the US-Soviet test range.

A small amount of luck entered the museum, most of them went to the shooting range

As a rare mass-produced and actual "black technology" weapon in Nazi Germany during World War II , The "tiger hunting" anti-tank destroyer has realized its value to a certain extent. But it also proves the importance of modern armored vehicles' performance balance. Weapons that pursue certain aspects of performance will eventually expose more and bigger problems in other aspects.