* World War II -- Germany tanks








World War II German Tanks: Mark VI and VII Tigers

World War II Tigers
Figure 1.--The Tiger tank was an impressive piece of equipment, not something one would want to encounter on the battlefield. It had, however, serious weaknesses. It was a massive and complicated weapon, required enormous material and time to build. This meant that the Germans could not build very many of them. It was also slow and used enormous quantities of fuel, something the Germans did not have in needed quantities. Fuel shortages forced the Germans to abandon Tigers during the Battle of the Bulge. It was also difficult to deploy. What worked well on the flat plains of the East was a problem in the heavily wooded Ardennes with narrow bridges. It could not fit across many bridges in the Ardennes. There were few tanks that could go toe to toe with a Tiger. The problem for the Germans was that they faced artillery and air power that was more than capable of stopping them.

The most famous German World War II tanks are probably the massive Tigers. The fearsome Tiger tanks were heavily gunned and armored, but not very mobile and could not be produced in numbers needed by the Germans. The Mk VI Tiger I and the Mk VII Tiger II were especially feared by advancing Allied infantry encountering them. The long-barreled 88-mm gun was a fearsome tank destroyer. The Tiger I had incredible frontal hull armor 100 mm (3.9 in) thick and frontal turret armor of 120 mm (4.7 in). This made it unstopable in battles with Allied tanks. Allied tankers saw the Tigers as virtually indestructible. Important elements of tank design, however, are maneuverability and speed. And here the Tigers (but not the Panthers) failed. The Tigers had, however, serious weaknesses not apparent to the tankers and infantrymen that had to fight it. Critics charge it was over engineered. It was a massive and complicated weapon, required enormous quantities of material, time, and labor to build. This meant that the Germans could not build very many of them. It was also slow and used enormous quantities of fuel, something the Germans did not have in needed quantities. Fuel shortages forced the Germans to abandon Tigers during the Battle of the Bulge. It was also difficult to deploy. What worked well on the flat plains of the East was a problem in the heavily wooded Ardennes with narrow bridges. It could not fit across many bridges in the Ardennes. The Tigers were not indestructible, but they were about as indestructible as was possible with World War II technology. It took out many lightly armored Shermans. In one surreal encounter, a Canadian tank crew in a Sherman positioned itself behind a hedge. A Tiger, not seeing the Canadians, pulled up to the other side of the hedge. The Canadians at point blank range fired several shells at the Tiger--to no affect. This was all a shoc k to American tankers who thought they had the most effective tank of the War. The Shermans had a bad but true nickname as portable bunson burners on tracks. The Germans called them 'Ronsons'--the name of popular cigarette lighters that advertised as lighting the first time when stroked. The Germans used their Tigers essentially as movable pillboxes as they shifted to the defense. They were superior in one vs one tank battles. Encounters with Tigers such as the Canadian 7th Division at Villers-Bocage could prove deadly (June 1944). By the time Tigers were deployed this is not usually how battles unfolded. The Allies had much larger numbers of tanks. Soviet T-34 and American Sherman tankers worked out killing tactics. Groups of Allied tanks maneuvered to get in a killing shot to the vulnerable rear engine area. In an ambush situation one or two Shermans could get the job done. And in the small European villages the Tigers could not maneuverer well and even driving right thr ough buildings they could be hunted down one on one. The Tigers were also targeted by specially designed or adapted anti-tank aircraft. Clear skies brought down a hail of murderous rockets or bombs from the anti-tank aircraft. Rockets in particular proved very effective against tanks, even the Tigers.






HBC







Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to Main World War II German tank page]
[Return to Main World War II country tank page]
[Return to Main World War II tank page]
[Return to Main World War II land technology/tactics weapons page]
[Return to Main World War II land technology/tactics page]
[Return to Main World War II technology/tactics page]
[Biographies] [Campaigns] [Children] [Countries] [Deciding factors] [Diplomacy] [Geo-political crisis] [Economics] [Home front] [Intelligence]
[Resistance] [Race] [Refugees] [Technology]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]





Created: 3:15 AM 11/20/2013
Soell checked: 11:50 PM 11/20/2013
Last updated: 11:50 PM 11/20/2013