How effective would a Landkreuzer be?

With modern engineering and materials, a Landkreuzer-tyle tank could probably be built that was at least marginally useful, though you could get the same effectiveness in much better ways. But with the technologies and materials of the 1940s, it could never have been useful to the Nazis. Though it would have been a wonderful project for the Allies, considering the resources the Reich would have needed to divert from making actual, useful military hardware to create the thing.
 

Driftless

Donor
The ground pressure would not, I think, be insurmountable - it's got an area of 490 square metres, so it's only about two tonnes per square metre of horizontal area.

If the treads are 1/2 the width of the vehicle (as per the design), it's got a ground pressure of 4 tons per square metre - which is 0.4 kg/cm2. That's less than half that of a Tiger tank.

So it wouldn't necessarily destroy the roads it went on.

The bigger problem is that it has real trouble going through tunnels or over bridges of any kind - though with a 11m height it was just meant to ford, helped by the ground clearance that would let it drive over a standing man.


However, there is a problem in the calculations I've just given.

They assume the P-1000 weighs 1,000 tonnes. And that's nigh impossible.

The intended armour thickness was 10 inches on the sides. Assuming no armour on the roof and floor, and nine metres of armoured side (base to roof), that gives us four armour plates - two 10x14m and two 35x14m - and a thickness of .26 m.

Total armour volume= (2x45x9x0.26) = 210 cubic metres of armoured steel.

At 7.8 T per m3 for rolled steel, the armour alone thus comes to a rough estimate of 1,642 tonnes. Even if this is cut down by the form of the tank, it's very hard indeed to see the whole tank (complete with 20 tonnes dry weight of engine, for example) coming in at 1,000 tonnes.

It's a fascinating excercise to envision getting this beast into motion. If the treads were the size you've pointed out, just imagine their weight alone, plus the size of clutch and transmission to convert engine power to motion:eek:

On the logistical side, wouldn't you need to build this bad boy near the front? You aren't likely to drive it the breadth of Germany (too big for conventional rail or road transport). Also, both the height & width along with the weight are going to be too large for many bridges, so you'd need to ford most streams. Even considering the proposed low ground pressure, it's still likely to require it's own group of engineers to prep the banks for getting into and out of the stream (think of the tall and steep banks of many rivers in northern Europe).

Most of the current mega-machines (i.e. mining, shuttle crawler, etc) that are even larger than this animal don't travel very far, and those that do, typically have very specialized purpose and associated site prep.
 
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If it got anywhere near the frontline, it might actually cause some panic. Until a squardon of Lancasters come along and turn it into a pile of scrap. Failing that, wait for it to run out of fuel.
 
I never understood why a military that found all of its success on fast moving, medium armour would move to a focus on Maginot Line like tanks. Even the first Tiger was a ridiculous waste of resources, better to upgrade the Panzer IV into something faster to produce.

I think Hitler of 1939 would scoff at Hitler of 1943's obsession with static armour.
 
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No.

They whistle up 617 Squadron.

The Dambusters drop a Tallboy bomb on it.

No more Landkreuzer.

Lancaster F for Flying Death

"Target in sight."

"Gad! The bloody thing is huge! Bombardier, are you lined up on it?"

"Right-o. Couldn't half miss it if I tried."

"Drop."

"Bomb's away." The plane jerks upwards as it is suddenly five tonnes lighter.


Landkreuzer Arischensieg

"There's one Tommy up there."

"Is that all? Driver, move the tracks forward and back."

"Jawohl."

'OOOOO M-ON-GO!!!!!!!!
 
No.

They whistle up 617 Squadron.

The Dambusters drop a Tallboy bomb on it.

No more Landkreuzer.

That's what happens when they put normal AA batteries on it, if they really want to spend enought resources to make a brigade in only one tank they should have projected it with Flaks 88 on the top
 
That's what happens when they put normal AA batteries on it, if they really want to spend enought resources to make a brigade in only one tank they should have projected it with Flaks 88 on the top

Just put hangars and a runway on it, it's practically an aircraft carrier already...
 
It would take spectacular luck for this thing to get off even a single shot before dying. Two shots is right out, as is it hitting something.
 
What about something bigger? The greatest (land) machine of war ever designed, the landkreuzer P1500 monster?

tank.JPG

It was so big that even the P1000 looks small close to it
 
the P1500 super-heavy self-propelled gun
the idea was to put the 800 mm Dora/Schwerer Gustav K (E) gun, on tank tracks
Same problem like P1000 only bigger

here more realistic design how the P1500 had look like
krupp-landkreuzer-p1500-monster-super-heavy-artillery.jpg
 
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There is one way this thing proves useful to the Germans. General Patton gets wind of this ridiculous contraption and decides that he simply must get a picture painted of him standing atop one of them, so when the Third Army reaches the AO of one of these things, it comes to a halt to allow the Americans to enter into negotiations with the German crew of the tank so they can be bribed into handing over the tank in one piece. Then the army sits idle for another few days while the portrait is painted. In all the P1000 manages to hold up the US army a full ten days but fails to get a single kill during this time.
 
My take:
Like all other 'magic weapons' of that time (last 5 months of the war) its main purpose was NOT to get built and crush the enemy but to give the brightest students at the university a 'meaningfull' employment in the defense industry instead of being sent to the front on the Hail Mary Brigades. In this the giant tank worked pretty well in giving both the NAZI brass happy dreams in the last days of the war and giving Germany the world's best washing machines in the 1950's.
 
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