German Supertanks

Frontal views and side views of three different German super-heavy tank projects.
As far as I know the projects' names and pictures are correct, but the names 'Tiger III' and 'Panzerkampfwagen VIII' are purely imaginary. The heaviest project got farthest, two prototypes and various parts for a dozen other tanks were produced of the Maus.
Of the second-heaviest project, the E 100, one hull with the suspension was produced, while the Krupp Löwe (Lion) remained a paper project.

That's exactly what I was told at the German tank museum in Munster - and I'd think that those guys know what they're talking about. Anything else belongs in the realm of Nazi flying discs, IMO ...
 

Baskilisk

Banned
Its not like they could make very much in the long run anyway...they were already having a hell of a time replacing busted Panzers.
 
The super tank (and plane/ship) projects succeeded in their main purpose:

To keep its designers from being drafted.

It is much better to do design studies than to fight on the Eastern Front ...
 
17cm cannon K17 on Tiger II chassis - not exactly a tank, but certainly in the 'heavy' department. IIRC the walls could be folded to keep the vehicle's silhouette within the railway loading gauge.
Wow... that sounds like, essentially a very heavy tank destroyer/self-propelled gun indeed. I say those rather than super-heavy tank, for the obvious reason it doesn't have a turret.

I mean, a 170mm cannon (it sounds more impressive in millimeters, :D)?

I don't think any armour could stand up to that... just think of how successful the StuG was in OTL, and scale up...
 
Those super-heavy tank projects did have one purpose, which was the same secondary purpose of earlier vehicles such as the Neubaufahrzeug: propaganda props (the Neubaufahrzeug also was an experiment and a test bed).

Sure, they could fire a round, and they could travel over a short distance, provided that the terrain was easy, dry and compact, without breaking some of their overloaded powertrain/suspensions components, even.

But what they really were was empty promises, intended to keep the Germans deluded into hoping in the Final Victory. Propaganda.

Certainly there were other factors, including cultural ones, that helped this delusion. But the hope in the Wunderwaffen was part of the trick. A trick which worked rather well; yes, the German services experienced mass desertions – but only in the very end, when only a moron could still be fooled.

In a way, these gigantic props still serve their purpose today: to this date, there still are boy armchair generals who believe that the Secret Weapons of the Third Reich might or should have carried the day.
 
Yes they are impractical. And yes even Tiger II was more damage than good, and arguments can be made even over Panther vs. upgraded PzKw IV.

Still. Theoretically. Could have supertanks been have used to any benefit, for example, early on Eastern Front. While Luftwaffe was still kicking Red Army airforce most of the time?
 
hmm, well If you ASB in tigers panthers and mauses to 1940 and somehow the Germans have a decent number of them, I could see the Germans having relative impunity on the battlefield as far as armored clashes go, although I don;t see how things would progress differently in Barbarossa than in OTL, the Red army was already retreating as fast as it could and the Germans were advancing faster than their supply lines. Would easier tank battles in '41 allow them to push all the way to moscow? The big difference maker might have been on the west, if the Germans had more tigers and panthers in africa you would definetly see a much earlier developed pershing tank, perhaps the african campaign goes badly and the Allies have to delay D-Day, also perhaps the battle of the bulge goes differently. although at that point with pershing tanks the BoB would have probably failed earlier on methinks.
 
Slower tanks cause the germans to move their attacks slower? Letting their supply lines keep up better?
 
Still. Theoretically. Could have supertanks been have used to any benefit, for example, early on Eastern Front. While Luftwaffe was still kicking Red Army airforce most of the time?

No. It's not the enemy that keeps them out of action. It's that they will be unserviceable most of the time, down for repairs. The rate of losses at every river crossing will be staggering, and they _have_ to ford rivers.
Note that it would take three other Maus to tow a Maus with a broken-down engine or out of a bog.
 
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