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136-579: The KV tanks were practically immune to the 3.7 cm KwK 36 and howitzer -like, short-barreled 7.5 cm KwK 37 guns mounted, respectively, on the early Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks fielded by the invading German forces. Until the Germans developed more effective guns, the KV-1 was invulnerable to almost any German weapon except the 8.8 cm Flak gun . Prior to the start of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, about 500 of

272-627: A BergeTiger recovery vehicle. As many as three may have been built. It carried a demolition charge on a small crane on the turret in place of the main gun. It was to move up to a minefield and drop the charge, back away, and then set the charge off to clear the minefield. There is no verification of any being used in combat. Another variant was the Fahrschulpanzer VI Tiger tanks (driving school Tiger tanks). These tanks were Tigers with modified engines to run on either compressed Towngas gas (Stadtgas System) or wood gas (Holzgas System). This

408-601: A VK 45.01 (H) H1 with an 8.8 cm L/56 cannon, and a VK 45.01 (H) H2 with a 7.5 cm L/70 cannon. On 22 June 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union . The Germans encountered large numbers of Soviet T-34 medium and KV-1 heavy tanks. According to Henschel designer Erwin Aders , "There was great consternation when it was discovered that the Soviet tanks were superior to anything available to

544-468: A licorne , which remained in service for the next 100 years. In the mid-19th century, some armies attempted to simplify their artillery parks by introducing smoothbore artillery pieces that were designed to fire both explosive projectiles and cannonballs, thereby replacing both field howitzers and field guns. The most famous of these "gun-howitzers" was the Napoleon 12-pounder , a weapon of French design that

680-408: A 105 mm howitzer of the same weight could fire 15 kg shells. This is a matter of fundamental mechanics affecting the stability and hence the weight of the carriage. As heavy field howitzers and light siege howitzers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries used ammunition of the same size and type, there was a marked tendency for the two types to merge. At first, this was largely a matter of

816-507: A 16 by 18 in (410 by 460 mm) target at a range of 1,200 yards (1,100 m). Compared with the other contemporary German tank guns, the 8.8 cm KwK 36 had superior penetration to the 7.5 cm KwK 40 on the Sturmgeschütz III and Panzer IV but inferior to the 7.5 cm KwK 42 on the Panther tank under ranges of 2,500 metres. At greater ranges, the 8.8 cm KwK 36

952-582: A 38 cm (15 in) rocket launcher. A tank recovery version of the Porsche Tiger I ( Bergetiger ), and one Porsche Tiger I, was issued to the 654th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, which was equipped with the Ferdinand/ Elefant . In Italy, a demolition carrier version of the Tiger I without a main gun was built by maintenance crews in an effort to find a way to clear minefields. It is often misidentified as

1088-451: A Model 1941 and Model 1942, both of which received minor upgrades in their service, and both of which survived the war. Romanian forces captured one KV-1 as of 1 November 1942 and one more in March 1944. Howitzer The howitzer ( / ˈ h aʊ . ɪ t s ər / ) is an artillery weapon that falls between a cannon (or field gun ) and a mortar . It is generally aimed lower than

1224-666: A Panzer IV and four times as much as a StuG III assault gun . Partly because of their high cost, only 1,347 Tiger I and 492 Tiger II tanks were produced. The closest counterpart to the Tiger from the United States was the M26 Pershing (around 200 deployed to the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during the war ) and the IS-2 from the USSR (about 3,800 built during the conflict). From

1360-576: A Tiger I as another German tank of the period. When the improved Tiger II began production in January 1944, the Tiger I was soon phased out. In 1943, Japan bought several specimens of German tank designs for study. A single Tiger I was apparently purchased, along with a Panther and two Panzer IIIs, but only the Panzer IIIs were actually delivered. The undelivered Tiger was loaned to the German Wehrmacht by

1496-470: A base for the development of the IS (Iosif Stalin) series of tanks and self-propelled guns. After disappointing results with the multi-turreted T-35 heavy tank, Soviet tank designers started drawing up replacements. The T-35 conformed to the 1920s notion of a "breakthrough tank" with very heavy firepower though its armour protection was lacking and it suffered from poor mobility. The Spanish Civil War demonstrated

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1632-514: A dog the KV-1 really was". By 1942, when the Germans were fielding large numbers of long-barreled 5 cm Pak 38 and 7.5 cm Pak 40 anti-tank guns, the KV's armour was no longer impenetrable, requiring the installation of additional appliqué armour . The KV-1's side (favorable approach: 30° at 300–500 m distance), top, and turret armor could also be penetrated by the high-velocity Mk 101 30 mm cannon carried by German ground attack aircraft, such as

1768-453: A few Panzer IIIs armed with 37 mm KwK 36 L/46.5 guns. The German tank guns had neither the range nor the power of the 76 mm main gun of a KV-1, and the narrower track width of the German tanks caused them to become trapped in the swampy ground. When German forces used captured KV-1s, they were renamed as "Panzerkampfwagen KV-IA 753(r)" The Finnish forces had two KV-1s, nicknamed Klimi ,

1904-407: A fixed angle and were entirely dependent on adjustments to the size of propellant charges to vary range, howitzers could be fired at a wide variety of angles. Thus, while howitzer gunnery was more complicated than the technique of employing mortars, the howitzer was an inherently more flexible weapon that could fire its projectiles along a wide range of trajectories. In the middle of the 18th century,

2040-449: A fuel tank, radiator and fans) were floodable. However, this ability was found to be of limited practical value for its high cost and was removed from production lines in August 1943. As a result, only the first 495 units were fitted with this deep fording system; all later models were capable of fording water only two metres deep. The internal layout was typical of German tanks. Forward

2176-652: A lighter KV. The complete Object 237 was accepted into service as the IS-85 and was produced in the autumn and winter of 1943-44; they were sent to the front as of October 1943 and production of the IS-85/IS-1 was stopped by the spring of 1944 once the IS-122/IS-2 entered full-scale production. A new heavy tank design entered production late in 1943 based on the work done on the KV-13 . Because Voroshilov had fallen out of political favour,

2312-424: A medium-trajectory weapon for siege warfare , howitzers were valued for their ability to fire explosive shells and incendiary materials into fortifications. Unlike mortars, which had fixed firing angles, howitzers could be fired at various angles, providing greater flexibility in combat. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, howitzers evolved to become more mobile and versatile. The introduction of rifling in

2448-449: A mortar but higher than a cannon. With their long-range capabilities, howitzers can be used to great effect in a battery formation with other artillery pieces, such as long-barreled guns, mortars, and rocket artillery . The term "howitzer" originated from the Czech word houfnice , meaning "crowd", which was later adapted into various European languages. Developed in the late 16th century as

2584-422: A number of European armies began to introduce howitzers that were mobile enough to accompany armies in the field. Though usually fired at the relatively high angles of fire used by contemporary siege howitzers, these field howitzers were rarely defined by this capability. Rather, as the field guns of the day were usually restricted to inert projectiles (which relied entirely on momentum for their destructive effects),

2720-505: A separate shell and powder charge, resulting in a lower rate of fire and reduced ammunition capacity. While the 122 mm armour-piercing shell had a lower muzzle velocity than similar late German 7.5 cm and 8.8 cm guns, proving-ground tests established that the 122 mm could penetrate the frontal armour of the German Panther tank at 2500 metres and the HE shell would easily blow off

2856-556: A slow medium tank than a heavy tank), more modern tanks were already in sight. Up-arming the regular turret of the KV-1S with an 85 mm S-31 resulted in the KV-1S-85. This was rejected as it came with the unacceptable loss of a dedicated commander, reducing the turret crew to two (unlike the 3-man turret fitted to the T-34/85). However, the thinning-out of the armor called into question why the tank

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2992-465: A technical point of view, it was better than its contemporaries. Despite the low number produced, shortages in qualified crew and the considerable fuel consumption in the face of ever shrinking resources, Tigers (including Tiger IIs) destroyed at least 10,300 enemy tanks and 11,380 anti-tank guns and artillery pieces for the loss of 1,725 Tigers (including large numbers of operational and strategic losses, i.e. abandoned, broken down, etc.). Production of

3128-487: A varying thickness of 120 to 200 mm (4.7 to 7.9 in). The Tiger had 60 mm (2.4 in) thick hull side plates and 80 mm (3.1 in) armour on the side superstructure/sponsons, while turret sides and rear were 80 mm. The top and bottom armour was 25 mm (1 in) thick; from March 1944, the turret roof was thickened to 40 mm (1.6 in). Armour plates were mostly flat, with interlocking construction. This flat construction encouraged angling

3264-410: Is essential for the successful deployment of the Tiger, he must have a good technical training and has to keep his nerve in critical situations… The engine drove the front sprockets through a drivetrain connecting to a transmission in the front portion of the lower hull; the front sprockets had to be mounted relatively low as a result. The Krupp-designed 11-tonne turret had a hydraulic motor whose pump

3400-602: Is sometimes used for these (e.g., in Russia); many nations use "howitzer", while the UK (and most members of The Commonwealth of Nations ) calls them "guns", for example Gun, 105 mm, Field, L118 . Tiger I The Tiger I ( German: [ˈtiːɡɐ] ) was a German heavy tank of World War II that began operational duty in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union , usually in independent heavy tank battalions . It gave

3536-497: The Waffenamt-Prüfwesen 1 gave the calculated probability of perforation at range, on which various adversaries would be defeated reliably at a side angle of 30 degrees to the incoming round. The Wa Prüf report estimated that the Tiger's 88 mm gun would be capable of penetrating the differential case of an American M4 Sherman from 2,100 m (1.3 mi) and the turret front from 1,800 m (1.1 mi), but

3672-635: The German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted the 8.8 cm (3.5 in) KwK 36 gun (derived from the 8.8 cm Flak 36 , the famous "eighty-eight" feared by Allied troops). 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944. After August 1944, production of the Tiger I was phased out in favour of the Tiger II . While the Tiger I has been called an outstanding design for its time, it has also been called overengineered , using expensive materials and labour-intensive production methods. In

3808-597: The Heer ." Weight increase to 45 tonnes and an increase in gun calibre to 8.8 cm (3.5 in) were ordered for it on 26 May 1941. The due date for the new prototypes was set for 20 April 1942, Adolf Hitler 's 53rd birthday. Unlike the Panther tank , the designs did not incorporate sloped armour . Porsche and Henschel submitted prototype designs, each making use of the Krupp-designed turret. They were demonstrated at Rastenburg in front of Hitler. The Henschel design

3944-514: The Henschel Hs 129 . The KV-1's 76.2 mm gun also came in for criticism. While adequate against all German tanks, it was the same gun as carried by smaller, faster, and cheaper T-34 medium tanks. In 1943, it was determined that this gun could not easily penetrate the frontal armour of the new Tiger, the first German heavy tank, one of which was captured near Leningrad . The KV-1 was also much more difficult to manufacture and thus more expensive than

4080-559: The North African campaign ) at the UK's Tank Museum is the only example restored to running order. Henschel & Sohn began the development of a large tank design in January 1937 when the Waffenamt requested Henschel to develop a Durchbruchwagen ("breakthrough vehicle") in the 30–33 tonne range. Only one prototype hull was ever built, and it was never fitted with a turret. The Durchbruchwagen I's general shape and suspension resembled

4216-628: The Panzer III , while the turret resembled the early Panzer IV C turret with the short-barrelled 7.5 cm (3.0 in) L/24 cannon. Before Durchbruchwagen I was completed, a request was issued for a heavier 30-tonne class vehicle with thicker armour, the Durchbruchwagen II, which would have had 50 mm (2.0 in) of frontal armour and mounted a Panzer IV turret with a short-barrelled (24 calibres long) 7.5 cm KwK 37 gun. The overall weight would have been 36 tonnes. Only one hull

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4352-540: The Sherman Firefly tank, and self-propelled guns) firing its normal APCBC ammunition, would penetrate the turret front and driver's visor plate of the Tiger out to 1,900 yards (1,700 m). When engaging targets, Tiger crews were encouraged to angle the hull to the 10:30 or 1:30 clock position (45 degrees) relative to the target, an orientation referred to as the Mahlzeit Stellung . This would maximize

4488-472: The Soviet deep battle doctrine. In modern times, the distinctions between guns and howitzers have become less pronounced, with many artillery pieces combining characteristics of both. Contemporary howitzers are often self-propelled , mounted on tracked or wheeled vehicles, and capable of firing at high angles with adjustable propellant charges for increased range and accuracy. The English word howitzer comes from

4624-798: The 1860s, artillery officers discovered that rifled siege howitzers (substantially larger than field howitzers) were a more efficient means of destroying walls (particularly walls protected by certain kinds of intervening obstacles) than smoothbore siege guns or siege mortars. Thus, at the same time armies were taking howitzers of one sort out of their field batteries, they were introducing howitzers of another sort into their siege trains and fortresses. The lightest of these weapons (later known as "light siege howitzers") had calibers around 150 mm and fired shells that weighed between 40 and 50 kilograms. The heaviest (later called "medium siege howitzers") had calibers between 200 mm and 220 mm and fired shells that weighed about 100 kilograms (220 pounds). During

4760-531: The 1880s, a third type of siege howitzer was added to inventories of a number of European armies. With calibers that ranged between 240 mm and 270 mm and shells that weighed more than 150 kilograms, these soon came to be known as "heavy siege howitzers". A good example of a weapon of this class is provided by the 9.45-inch (240 mm) weapon that the British Army purchased from the Skoda works in 1899. In

4896-429: The 55 cm (22 in) disc. Klaue was acknowledged in the patent application that he had improved, it can even be traced back to British designs dating to 1904. It is unclear whether Klaue's patent ring brake was used in the Tiger brake design. The clutch-and-brake system, typical for lighter vehicles, was retained only for emergencies. Normally, steering depended on a double differential , Henschel's development of

5032-479: The 77 mm field gun adopted by the German Army in 1916 ( 7,7 cm Feldkanone 16 ) were often provided with carriages that allowed firing at comparatively high angles, and adjustable propellant cartridges. In the years after World War I, the tendency of guns and howitzers to acquire each other's characteristics led to the renaissance of the concept of the gun-howitzer. This was a product of technical advances such as

5168-580: The 8.8 cm KwK 36 gun could pierce the T-34/76 frontal beam nose from 1,500 m (4,900 ft), and the front hull from 1500 m. A hit to the driver's hatch would force it to collapse inwards and break apart. According to the Wa Prüf 1 report, the Soviet T-34-85's upper glacis and turret front armour would be defeated between 100 and 1,400 m (0.062 and 0.870 mi) at a side angle of 30 deg, while

5304-528: The British Merritt-Brown system first encountered in the Churchill tank . The vehicle had an eight-speed gearbox, and the steering offered two fixed radii of turns on each gear, thus the Tiger had sixteen different radii of turn. In first gear, at a speed of a few km/h, the minimal turning radius was 3.44 m (11 ft 3 in). In neutral gear, the tracks could be turned in opposite directions, so

5440-462: The British Army replaced both the 18-pounder field gun and the 4.5-inch howitzer . During World War II , the military doctrine of Soviet deep battle called for extensive use of heavy artillery to hold the formal line of front. Soviet doctrine was remarkably different from the German doctrine of Blitzkrieg and called for a far more extensive use of artillery. As a result, howitzers saw most of

5576-811: The British call them guns. The British had a further method of nomenclature. In the 18th century, they adopted projectile weight for guns replacing an older naming system (such as culverin , saker , etc.) that had developed in the late 15th century. Mortars had been categorized by calibre in inches in the 17th century, and this was duplicated with howitzers. U.S. military doctrine defines howitzers as any cannon artillery capable of both high-angle fire (45° to 90° elevation) and low-angle fire (0° to 45° elevation); guns are defined as being only capable of low-angle fire (0° to 45° elevation); and mortars are defined as being only capable of high-angle fire (45° to 90° elevation). The first artillery identified as howitzers developed in

Kliment Voroshilov tank - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-574: The Czech word houfnice , from houf , 'crowd', and houf is in turn a borrowing from the Middle High German word Hūfe or Houfe (modern German Haufen ), meaning 'crowd, throng', plus the Czech nominal suffix -nice . Haufen , sometimes in the compound Gewalthaufen , also designated a pike square formation in German. In the Hussite Wars of the 1420s and 1430s,

5848-506: The Dutch word houwitser , which led to the English word howitzer . Since World War I , the word howitzer has been changing to describe artillery pieces that previously would have belonged to the category of gun-howitzers – relatively long barrels and high muzzle velocities combined with multiple propelling charges and high maximum elevations. This is particularly true in the armed forces of

5984-528: The Finns and a request was made for a tank with a large howitzer. One of the rush projects to meet the request was to put the howitzer in a new turret on one of the KV tanks. Initially known as 'Malen'kaya Bashenka' (little turret) and 'Bol'shaya Bashnya' (big turret), the 76-mm-armed tank was redesignated as the KV-1 Heavy Tank and the 152 mm howitzer one as KV-2 Heavy Artillery Tank . KV tanks first faced

6120-450: The French invention of autofrettage just before World War I, which led to stronger and lighter barrels, the use of cut-off gear to control recoil length depending on firing elevation angle, and the invention of muzzle brakes to reduce recoil forces. Like the gun-howitzers of the 19th century, those of the 20th century replaced both guns and howitzers. Thus, the 25-pounder "gun-howitzer" of

6256-424: The German division's anti-aircraft battalion was moved about 730 m (800 yd) behind the tank but was knocked out by the tank gunner before it could score a hit. During the night, German combat engineers attempted to destroy the tank with satchel charges and failed, despite possibly damaging the tracks. Early on the morning of 25 June, German tanks fired on the KV from the woodland while an 88 mm targeted

6392-453: The Germans during the war. All tanks in the series were heavily based on the KV-1. A KV-1 or KV-2 tank (accounts vary) advanced far behind the German lines after attacking a column of German trucks. The tank stopped on a road across soft ground and was engaged by four 50 mm anti-tank guns of the anti-tank battalion of the 6th Panzer Division . The tank was hit many times but returned fire, disabling all four guns. A heavy 8.8 cm gun of

6528-475: The Germans in the Battle of Raseiniai , just after the start of Operation Barbarossa . On 23 June, over 200 German tanks advancing through Lithuania encountered Soviet armor, including KV-1 and KV-2 tanks. While their frontal armor was sufficient to deflect anti-tank fire, German troops were able to outflank them and destroy them with explosive charges or lure them to within point-blank range of direct-fire artillery. Of

6664-796: The Hussites used short-barreled houfnice cannons to fire at short distances into crowds of infantry , or into charging heavy cavalry , to make horses shy away. The word was rendered into German as aufeniz in the earliest attested use in a document dating from 1440; later German renderings include haussnitz and, eventually haubitze , from which derive the Scandinavian haubits , Polish and Croatian haubica , Estonian haubits , Finnish haupitsi , Russian gaubitsa ( гаубица ), Serbian haubica ( xаубицa ), Ukrainian ( гаубиця ), Italian obice , Spanish obús , Portuguese obus , French obusier , Romanian obuzier and

6800-580: The Japanese government. Many modifications were introduced during the production run to improve automotive performance, firepower and protection. Simplification of the design was implemented, along with cuts due to raw material shortages. In 1942 alone, at least six revisions were made, starting with the removal of the Vorpanzer (frontal armour shield) from the pre-production models in April. In May, mudguards bolted onto

6936-559: The KV-85 tremendously, only 148 were built between August and October 1943. Soviet industry was therefore able to produce a heavy tank as well armed as the Tiger I before the end of 1943. Although the KV-85 was an excellent opponent to the Tigers and Panthers, it was a stopgap and thus was built in small numbers. Its weight had climbed up again to about 47 tons, which negated the whole point of trying to make

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7072-586: The Meteor. The 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion ( sPzAbt 501 ) reported in May 1943: …Regarding the overheating engines, the HL 210 engine caused no troubles during the recent time. All occurring breakdowns resulted from the low quality of driver training. In several cases engine failures have to be put down to the missing remote engine thermometer. Five engines have reached more than 3,000 km without essential failures. A good driver

7208-504: The SMK independently drew up a single-turreted variant and this received approval at the highest level. Two of these, named after the People's Commissar for Defence , were ordered alongside a single SMK. The smaller hull and single turret enabled the designer to install heavy frontal and turret armour while keeping the weight within manageable limits. The KV was ordered right off the drawing board. When

7344-573: The Soviets entered the Winter War , the SMK, KV and a third design, the T-100 , were sent to be tested in combat conditions. The KV outperformed the SMK and T-100 designs. The KV's heavy armour proved highly resistant to Finnish anti-tank weapons, making it more difficult to stop. In 1939, the production of 50 KVs was ordered. During the war, the Soviets found it difficult to deal with the concrete bunkers used by

7480-656: The T-34 had a similar F-34 main gun), was built in large quantities and received frequent upgrades. When production shifted to the " Tankograd " complex in the Ural Mountains , the KV-2 was dropped. While impressive on paper, it had been designed as a slow-moving bunker-buster. It was less useful in the highly mobile, fluid warfare that developed in World War II. The turret was so heavy it was difficult to traverse on uneven terrain. Finally, it

7616-548: The T-34's 85 mm gun was estimated to penetrate the front of a Tiger between 200 and 500 m (660 and 1,640 ft) at a side angle of 30 degrees to the incoming round. Soviet testing showed that the 85 mm gun could penetrate the front of a Tiger from 1,000 m (3,000 ft) with no side angle At a side impact angle of 30 degrees the 120 mm hull armour of the Soviet IS-2 model 1943 would be defeated between 100 and 300 m (330 and 980 ft) at

7752-419: The T-34, its advantages no longer outweighed its drawbacks. Because of its initial superior performance, the KV-1 was chosen as one of the few tanks to continue being built following the Soviet reorganization of tank production. Due to the new standardization, it shared a similar engine and gun as the T-34 (the KV used a 600 hp V-2K modification of the T-34's V-2 diesel engine, and had a ZiS-5 main gun while

7888-450: The Tiger I began in August 1942 at the factory of Henschel und Sohn in Kassel , initially at a rate of 25 per month and peaking in April 1944 at 104 per month. An official document of the time stated that the first Tiger I was completed on 4 August. 1,355 had been built by August 1944, when production ceased. Deployed Tiger I's peaked at 671 on 1 July 1944. It took about twice as long to build

8024-414: The Tiger I pivoted in place. There was a steering wheel instead of either a tiller – or, as most tanks had at that time, twin braking levers – making the Tiger I's steering system easy to use, and ahead of its time. Powered turret traverse was provided by the variable speed Boehringer-Sturm L4 hydraulic motor, which was driven from the main engine by a secondary drive shaft. On early production versions of

8160-458: The Tiger I's suspension, providing a high uniform distribution of the load onto the track, at the cost of increased maintenance. Removing an inner wheel that had lost its solid rubber tire (a common occurrence) required the removal of up to nine other wheels first. During the rainy period that brought on the autumn rasputitsa mud season and onwards into the winter conditions on the Eastern front ,

8296-481: The Tiger hull roughly 30-45° when firing in order to increase effective thickness. The 56-calibre long 8.8 cm KwK 36 was chosen for the Tiger. A combination of a flat trajectory from the high muzzle velocity and precision from the Leitz Turmzielfernrohr TZF 9b sight (later replaced by the monocular TZF 9c) made it very accurate. In British wartime firing trials, five successive hits were scored on

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8432-449: The Tiger maximum turret traverse was limited to 6 degrees per second, whilst on later versions a selectable high speed traverse gear was added. Thus, the turret could be rotated 360 degrees at up to 6 degrees per second in low gear independent of engine rpm (same as on early production versions), or up to 19 degrees per second with the high-speed setting and engine at 2,000 rpm, and at over 36 degrees per second at

8568-461: The Tiger's 88 mm gun would not penetrate the upper glacis plate at any range assuming a side angle of 30 degrees. The M4 Sherman's 75 mm gun would not penetrate the Tiger frontally at any range, and needed to be within 100 m (300 ft) to achieve a side penetration against the 80 mm upper hull superstructure. The Sherman's upgraded 76 mm gun might penetrate the Tiger's driver's front plate from 600 m (2,000 ft),

8704-408: The Tiger, the tracks were 725 mm (28.5 in) wide. To meet rail-freight size restrictions , narrower 520 mm (20 in) wide 'transport' tracks ( Verladeketten ) could be installed. For Tigers equipped with rubber-tired wheels, this also required the outermost roadwheel on each axle (16 total) to be removed. The track replacement and wheel removal took 30 minutes for each side of

8840-458: The United States , where gun-howitzers have been officially described as howitzers since World War II . Because of this practice, the word howitzer is used in some armies as a generic term for any kind of artillery piece that is designed to attack targets using indirect fire . Thus, artillery pieces that bear little resemblance to howitzers of earlier eras are now described as howitzers, although

8976-600: The action on the Eastern front . Most of the howitzers produced by the USSR at the time were not self-propelled. Notable examples of Soviet howitzers include the M-10 , M-30 and D-1 . Since World War II, most of the artillery pieces adopted by armies for attacking targets on land have combined the traditional characteristics of guns and howitzers – high muzzle velocity, long barrels, long range, multiple charges and maximum elevation angles greater than 45 degrees. The term "gun-howitzer"

9112-568: The antitank guns until they had fired the first shot. We were often hit right away, if the antitank crew was on top of things, because we had run into a wall of antitank guns. It was then advisable to keep as cool as possible and take care of the enemy, before the second aimed shot was fired. Eager to make use of the powerful new weapon, Hitler ordered the vehicle be pressed into service months earlier than had been planned. A platoon of four Tigers went into action on 23 September 1942 near Leningrad . Operating in swampy, forested terrain, their movement

9248-627: The battle, the crew of No. 864 counted a total of 135 hits on their tank, none of which had penetrated the KV-1's armour. Lieutenant Kolobanov was awarded the Order of Lenin , while his Gunner Usov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner . Later, former Captain Zinoviy Kolobanov was again decorated by Soviet authorities, despite having been convicted and downgraded after the Winter War for "fraternizing with

9384-753: The contract was awarded to Henschel, they were used for a new turretless, casemate -style tank destroyer ; 91 hulls were converted into the Panzerjäger Tiger (P) in early 1943. The Tiger was still at the prototype stage when it was first hurried into service, and therefore changes both large and small were made throughout the production run. A redesigned turret with a lower cupola was the most significant change. The river-fording submersion capability and an external air-filtration system were dropped to cut costs. The Tiger differed from earlier German tanks principally in its design philosophy. Its predecessors balanced mobility, armour and firepower and were sometimes outgunned by their opponents. While heavy, this tank

9520-450: The course of World War I had longer barrels than pre-war howitzers. The standard German light field howitzer at the start of the war (the 10.5 cm leichte Feldhaubitze 98/09 ) had a barrel that was 16 calibers long, but the light field howitzer adopted by the German Army in 1916 ( 105 mm leichte Feldhaubitze 16 ) had a barrel that was 22 calibers long. At the same time, new models of field gun introduced during that conflict, such as

9656-409: The destruction of other tanks counted as a success. On the other hand, antitank guns counted twice as much to the experienced tanker. They were much more dangerous to us. The antitank cannon waited in ambush, well camouflaged, and magnificently set up in the terrain. Because of that, it was very difficult to identify. It was also very difficult to hit because of its low height. Usually, we didn't make out

9792-706: The drive sprocket and tread of the heaviest German tank or self-propelled gun . The IS-122 replaced the IS-85, and began mass production as the IS-2. The 85 mm gun saw service in the lighter SU-85 and T-34-85. The Soviets did not recognize different production models of KV-1 during the war; designations like model 1939 (M1939, Russian: Obr. 1939 ) were introduced later in military publications. These designations, however, are not strict and describe leading changes, while other changes might be adapted earlier or later in specific production batches. Designations like KV-1A were applied by

9928-406: The driver's front plate and nose. The IS-2's 122 mm gun could penetrate the Tiger's front armour from between 1,500 and 2,500 m (0.93 and 1.55 mi), depending on the impact angle. However, according to Steven Zaloga, the IS-2 and Tiger I could each knock the other out in normal combat distances below 1,000 m. At longer ranges, the performance of each respective tank against each other

10064-658: The early 20th century, the introduction of howitzers that were significantly larger than the heavy siege howitzers of the day made necessary the creation of a fourth category, that of "super-heavy siege howitzers". Weapons of this category include the famous Big Bertha of the German Army and the 15-inch (381 mm) howitzer of the British Royal Marine Artillery . These large howitzers were transported mechanically rather than by teams of horses. They were transported as several loads and had to be assembled at their firing position. These field howitzers introduced at

10200-402: The early period, the Tiger was prone to certain types of track failures and breakdowns. It was expensive to maintain, but generally mechanically reliable. It was difficult to transport and vulnerable to immobilisation when mud, ice, and snow froze between its overlapping and interleaved Schachtellaufwerk -pattern road wheels, often jamming them solid. The tank was given its nickname "Tiger" by

10336-400: The effective front hull armour to 180 mm and side hull to 140 mm, making the Tiger impervious to any Allied gun up to 152 mm. The Tiger's lack of slope for its armour made angling the hull by manual means simple and effective, and unlike the lighter Panzer IV and Panther tanks , the Tiger's thick side armour gave a degree of confidence of immunity from flank attacks. The tank

10472-399: The end of the 19th century could fire shells with high trajectories giving a steep angle of descent and, as a result, could strike targets that were protected by intervening obstacles. They could also fire shells that were about twice as large as shells fired by guns of the same size. Thus, while a 75 mm field gun that weighed one ton or so was limited to shells that weigh around 8 kg,

10608-503: The enemy." Lieutenant Kolobanov served in the post-war Soviet occupation zone in East Germany , where he was convicted again and transferred to the reserves when a subordinate escaped to the British occupation zone. Kolobanov's feat was so great that when telling his story after the war, civilians and military personnel alike did not believe him, sometimes laughing in disbelief while listening to his tale. A monument dedicated to this battle

10744-548: The era, being about twice as heavy as the heaviest German tank at that time (before the Tiger ). As appliqué armour and other improvements were added without increasing engine power, later models were less capable of keeping up to speed with medium tanks and had more trouble with difficult terrain. In addition, its firepower was no better than that of the T-34 . It took field reports from senior commanders "and certified heroes", who could be honest without risk of punishment, to reveal "what

10880-576: The few Tigers. A stopgap upgrade to the KV series was the short-lived KV-85 or Objekt 239. This was a KV-1S with the new turret from the Object 237 (IS-85) still in development, mounting the same 85 mm D-5T gun as the SU-85 and early versions of the T-34-85 (not yet in production at the time). The 85 mm proved capable of penetrating the Tiger I from 1000 m and the demand for it slowed production of

11016-516: The field howitzers of the 18th century were chiefly valued for their ability to fire explosive shells. Many, for the sake of simplicity and rapidity of fire, dispensed with adjustable propellant charges. The Abus gun was an early form of howitzer in the Ottoman Empire . In 1758, the Russian Empire introduced a specific type of howitzer (or rather gun-howitzer), with a conical chamber, called

11152-429: The first few months of World War I greatly increased the demand for howitzers that gave a steep angle of descent, which were better suited than guns to the task of striking targets in a vertical plane (such as trenches), with large amounts of explosive and considerably less barrel wear. The German army was well equipped with howitzers, having far more at the beginning of the war than France. Many howitzers introduced in

11288-432: The gun while the turret began moving again, the other five or six shots having not fully penetrated. Apparently, the KV-1 crew had remarkably only been stunned by the shots which had entered the turret. Afterwards, they were buried nearby with military honours by the German unit. On August 14, 1941, the vanguard of the German 8th Panzer Division approached Krasnogvardeysk ( Gatchina ) near Leningrad ( St Petersburg ), and

11424-459: The hull sides. The VK 36.01 (H) was intended to carry a 7.5 cm L/24, a 7.5 cm L/43, or a 7.5 cm L/70, or a 12.8 cm L/28 cannon in a Krupp turret that looked similar to an enlarged Panzer IV Ausf. C turret. The hull for one prototype was built, followed later by five more. The six turrets built were never fitted and were used as part of the Atlantic Wall . The VK 36.01 (H) project

11560-425: The late 16th century as a medium- trajectory weapon between that of the flat trajectory ( direct fire ) of cannon and the high trajectory ( indirect fire ) of mortars. Originally intended for use in siege warfare , they were particularly useful for delivering cast iron shells filled with gunpowder or incendiary materials into the interior of fortifications. In contrast to contemporaneous mortars, which were fired at

11696-451: The left of the gun, and the commander behind him. There was also a folding seat on the right for the loader. The turret had a full circular floor and 157 cm (62 in) headroom. Early versions of the Tiger I's turret included two pistol ports ; however, one of these was replaced with a loader escape hatch and the other was removed from later designs. Post-war testing by the Allies found

11832-428: The main stumbling block of the KV-1, and there was some truth to rumors of Soviet drivers having to shift gears with a hand sledge"; and the ergonomics were poor, with limited visibility. Furthermore, at 45 tons, it was simply too heavy. This severely impacted the maneuverability, not so much in terms of maximum speed, as through inability to cross many bridges medium tanks could cross. The KV outweighed most other tanks of

11968-471: The maximum allowable engine speed of 3,000 rpm. The direction and speed of traverse was controlled by the gunner through foot pedals, the speed of traverse corresponding to the level of depression the gunner applied to the foot pedal. This system allowed for very precise control of powered traverse, a light touch on the pedal resulting in a minimum traverse speed of 0.1 degrees per second (360 degrees in 60 minutes), unlike in most other tanks of

12104-424: The mid-19th century led to significant changes in howitzer design and usage. By the early 20th century, howitzers were classified into different categories based on their size and role, including field howitzers, siege howitzers, and super-heavy siege howitzers. During World War I and World War II , howitzers played significant roles in combat, particularly in trench warfare and artillery-heavy strategies such as

12240-618: The ministry for armament and ammunition by 7 August 1941, and the Roman numeral was added after the Tiger II entered production. It was classified with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 182 . The tank was later re-designated as Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausführung E (abbreviated as Pz.Kpfw. VI Ausf. E ) in March 1943, with ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 181 . Today, only nine Tiger I tanks survive in museums and private collections worldwide. As of 2021 , Tiger 131 (captured during

12376-399: The more than 200 Soviet tanks lost at Raseiniai, 29 were KVs. The KV's strengths included armor that was impenetrable by any tank-mounted weapon then in service except at point-blank range, that it had good firepower, and that it had good flotation on soft ground. It also had serious flaws: it was difficult to steer; the transmission (which was a twenty-year-old Holt Caterpillar design) "was

12512-532: The need for much heavier armour on tanks, and was the main influence on Soviet tank design just prior to World War II. Several competing designs were offered, and even more were drawn up prior to reaching prototype stage. All had heavy armour, torsion-bar suspension , wide tracks, and were of welded and cast construction. One of the main competing designs was the SMK , which in its final form had two turrets, mounting one 76.2 mm and one 45 mm weapon. The designers of

12648-656: The new heavy tank series was named the Iosif Stalin tank , after the Soviet leader Stalin . The KV-13 program's IS-85 prototype was accepted for production as the IS-1 (or IS-85, Object 237) heavy tank. After testing with both the 100 mm D-10 and 122 mm guns, the D-25T 122 mm gun was selected as the main armament of the new tank, primarily because of its ready availability and the effect of its large high-explosive shell when attacking German fortifications. The 122 mm D-25T used

12784-520: The new modifications could take several months. The humorous and somewhat racy crew manual, the Tigerfibel , was the first of its kind for the German Army and its success resulted in more unorthodox manuals that attempted to emulate its style. Among other variants of the Tiger, a heavily armoured casemate self-propelled rocket projector, today commonly known as the Sturmtiger , was built, which mounted

12920-524: The nose from 400 m (1,300 ft) and the turret front from 700 m (2,300 ft). The M3 90 mm cannon used as a towed anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun, and later mounted in the M36 tank destroyer and finally the late-war M26 Pershing , could penetrate the Tiger's front plate at a range of 1,000 m using standard ammunition, and from beyond 2,000 m (6,600 ft) when using HVAP. Soviet ground trial testing conducted in May 1943 determined that

13056-411: The only Soviet force available at the time to attempt to stop the German advance consisted of five well-hidden KV-1 tanks, dug in within a grove at the edge of a swamp. KV-1 tank no. 864 was commanded by the leader of this small force, Lieutenant Zinoviy Kolobanov . German forces attacked Krasnogvardeysk from three directions. Near Noviy Uchkhoz settlement the geography favoured the Soviet defenders as

13192-425: The only road in the region passed the swamp, and the defenders commanded this choke point from their hidden position. Lieutenant Kolobanov had carefully studied the situation and readied his detachment the day before. Each KV-1 tank carried twice the normal amount of ammunition, two-thirds being armour-piercing rounds. Kolobanov ordered his other commanders to hold their fire and await orders. He did not want to reveal

13328-459: The opportunity to destroy the second tank. Only then did the Germans realize they were under attack, but they failed to find the source of the shots. While the German tanks were firing blindly, Kolobanov knocked out the trailing German tank, thus boxing in the entire column. Although the Germans correctly guessed the direction of fire, they could only spot Lieutenant Kolobanov's tank, and now attempted to engage an unseen enemy. German tanks moving off

13464-411: The over 22,000 tanks then in Soviet service were of the KV-1 type. As the war progressed, it became evident that there was little sense in producing the expensive KV tanks, as the T-34 medium tank performed better (or at least equally well) in all practical respects. In fact the only advantage the KV had over the T-34/76 was its larger and roomier three-man turret. Later in the war, the KV series became

13600-455: The power output to 521 kW (699 hp). The engine was in V-form, with two cylinder banks set at 60 degrees. An inertia starter was mounted on its right side, driven via chain gears through a port in the rear wall. The engine could be lifted out through a hatch on the rear hull roof. In comparison to other V12 and various vee-form gasoline engines used for tanks, the eventual HL 230 engine

13736-408: The road bogged down in the surrounding soft ground, becoming easy targets. 22 German tanks and 2 towed artillery pieces fell victim to Kolobanov's No. 864 before it ran out of ammunition. Kolobanov ordered in another KV-1, and 21 more German tanks were destroyed before the half-hour battle ended. A total of 43 German tanks were destroyed by just five Soviet KV-1s (two more remained in reserve). After

13872-454: The roadwheels of a Schachtellaufwerk -equipped vehicle could also become packed with mud or snow that could then freeze. Presumably, German engineers, based on the experience of the half-tracks, felt that the improvement in off-road performance, track and wheel life, mobility with wheels missing or damaged, plus additional protection from enemy fire was worth the maintenance difficulties of a complex system vulnerable to mud and ice. This approach

14008-473: The same basic weapon being employed on two different mountings. Later, as on-carriage recoil-absorbing systems eliminated many of the advantages that siege platforms had enjoyed over field carriages, the same combination of barrel assembly, recoil mechanism and carriage was used in both roles. By the early 20th century, the differences between guns and howitzers were relative, not absolute, and generally recognized as follows: The onset of trench warfare after

14144-412: The same effects (such as firing over low walls) that previously required the sharply curved trajectories of smoothbore field howitzers. Because of this, military authorities saw no point in obtaining rifled field howitzers to replace their smoothbore counterparts but instead used rifled field guns to replace both guns and howitzers. In siege warfare, the introduction of rifling had the opposite effect. In

14280-457: The side of the pre-production run were added, while removable mudguards saw full incorporation in September. Smoke discharge canisters, three on each side of the turret, were added in August 1942. In later years, similar changes and updates were added, such as the addition of Zimmerit (a non-magnetic anti-mine coating), in late 1943. Due to slow production rates at the factories, incorporation of

14416-403: The side surfaces. Four prototype hulls were completed for testing. Two of these were later modified to build the " Sturer Emil " (12.8 cm (5.0 in) Selbstfahrlafette L/61) self-propelled anti-tank gun. The VK 36.01 (H) was intended to weigh 40 tonnes, with 100 mm (3.9 in) of armour on front surfaces, 80 mm (3.1 in) on turret sides and 60 mm (2.4 in) on

14552-444: The solely clutch and brake steering systems used by the Panzer III , IV and T-34 and previous KV tanks. Its reduced weight allowed it to achieve a top speed of 43.3 km/h. Over 1,300 were built before production ended in August 1943. Although the KV-1S was, according to some, the best of the KV tanks, overcoming its predecessors' problems (at a cost of losing the heavy armor that made the earlier tanks so valuable, making it more of

14688-419: The tank from its rear. Of several shots fired, only two penetrated the tank. German infantry then advanced, with the KV opening machine-gun fire against them. The tank's resistance was finally ended by grenades thrown into the tank's hatches. According to some accounts, the crew was buried by the German soldiers with full military honours; in other accounts, the crew escaped during the night. General Erhard Raus

14824-435: The tank held an engine compartment flanked by two separate rear compartments each containing a fuel tank and radiator. The Germans had not developed an adequate diesel engine, so a petrol (gasoline) powerplant had to be used instead. The original engine used was a 21.35 L (1,303 in ) 12-cylinder Maybach HL210 P45 developing 485 kW (650 hp) at 3,000 rpm and a top speed of 38 km/h (24 mph). It

14960-403: The tank to be uncomfortable and spartan. For example, the gunner suffered from clumsy controls and a cramped area. This was in contrast to German crews who found them to be spacious and comfortable. A substantial problem with the Tiger was that its production required considerable resources in terms of manpower and material, which led to it being expensive: the Tiger I cost over twice as much as

15096-432: The tank. However, in service, Tigers were frequently transported by rail with their combat tracks fitted, as long as the train crew knew there were no narrow tunnels or other obstructions on the route that would prevent an oversized load from passing, despite this practice being strictly forbidden. The Tiger tank's combat weight of 56 tons was often too heavy for small bridges which had 35 ton weight limits, so it

15232-474: The time (e.g., the US M4 Sherman or Soviet T-34) this allowed for fine laying of the gun without the gunner needing to use his traverse handwheel. The suspension used sixteen torsion bars , with eight suspension arms per side. To save space, the swing arms were leading on one side and trailing on the other side; this is called an H suspension setup. There were three road wheels (one of them double, closest to

15368-438: The total force, so only one exposed tank at a time would engage the enemy. On August 14, the German 8th Panzer Division's vanguard ventured directly into the well-prepared Soviet ambush, with Kolobanov's tank knocking out the lead German tank with its first shot. The Germans falsely assumed that their lead tank had hit an anti-tank mine and failed to realize that they had been ambushed. The German column stopped, giving Kolobanov

15504-472: The track's centre) on each arm, in a so-called Schachtellaufwerk overlapping and interleaved arrangement, similar to that pioneered on German half-tracked military vehicles of the pre-World War II era, with the Tiger I being the first all-tracked German AFV built in quantity to use such a road wheel arrangement. The wheels had a diameter of 800 mm (31 in) in the Schachtellaufwerk arrangement for

15640-602: Was accepted, mainly because the Porsche VK 4501 (P) prototype design used a troubled petrol-electric transmission system which needed large quantities of copper for the manufacture of its electrical drivetrain components, a strategic war material of which Germany had limited supplies with acceptable electrical properties for such uses. Production of the Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. H began in August 1942. Expecting an order for his tank, Porsche built 100 chassis. After

15776-468: Was already standard on German half-tracks such as the Sd. Kfz. 7 . The VK 30.01 (H) was intended to mount a low-velocity 7.5 cm L/24 infantry support gun, a 7.5 cm L/40 dual-purpose anti-tank gun, or a 10.5 cm (4.1 in) L/28 field gun in a Krupp turret. Overall weight was to be 33 tonnes. The armour was designed to be 50 mm (2.0 in) on frontal surfaces and 30 mm (1.2 in) on

15912-521: Was also immune to Soviet anti-tank rifle fire to the sides and rear. Its large calibre 8.8 cm provided superior fragmentation and high explosive content over the 7.5 cm KwK 42 gun. Therefore, comparing the Tiger with the Panther, for supporting the infantry and destroying fortifications, the Tiger offered superior firepower. The destruction of an antitank gun was often accepted as nothing special by lay people and soldiers from other branches. Only

16048-404: Was an open crew compartment, with the driver and radio-operator seated at the front on either side of the gearbox. Behind them the turret floor was surrounded by panels forming a continuous level surface. This helped the loader to retrieve the ammunition, which was mostly stowed above the tracks. Three men were seated in the turret; the loader to the right of the gun facing to the rear, the gunner to

16184-531: Was being produced at all, when the T-34 could seemingly do everything the KV could do and much more cheaply. The Soviet heavy tank program was close to cancellation in mid-1943. The appearance of the German Panther tank in the summer of 1943 persuaded the Red Army to make a serious upgrade of its tank force for the first time since 1941. Soviet tanks needed bigger guns to take on the growing numbers of Panthers and

16320-627: Was built, and no turret was fitted. Further development of the Durchbruchwagen was dropped in 1938 in favour of the larger and better-armoured VK 30.01 (H) and VK 36.01 (H) designs. Both the Durchbruchwagen I and II prototype hulls were used as test vehicles until 1941. The VK 30.01 (H) medium tank and the VK 36.01 (H) heavy tank designs pioneered the use of the complex Schachtellaufwerk track suspension system of torsion bar -sprung, overlapped and interleaved main road wheels for tank use. This concept

16456-418: Was carried on, in various forms, to the Panther and the non-interleaved wheel design for the Tiger II . Eventually, a new 80 cm diameter 'steel' wheel design with an internally sprung steel-rim tire was substituted. As these new wheels could carry more weight, the outermost wheel on each suspension arm was removed. The same wheels would also be used on the Tiger II. To support the considerable weight of

16592-459: Was commander of the Kampfgruppe of the 6th Panzer Division , the unit delayed by the lone vehicle. He described it as a KV-1 , which was damaged by several 8.8 cm anti-tank gun shots fired from behind the vehicle while it was distracted by Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65, and the KV-1 crew were killed by members of a pioneer unit who pushed grenades through two holes made by

16728-421: Was dependent on the crew and the combat situation. The British Churchill Mk IV was vulnerable to the Tiger from the front at between 1,100 and 1,700 m (3,600 and 5,600 ft) at a 30 degrees side angle, its strongest point being the nose and its weakest the turret. According to an STT document dated April 1944, it was estimated that the British 76.2 mm 17-pounder (used as an anti-tank gun, on

16864-414: Was designed to ford bodies of water up to 5 m (15 ft) deep. This required unusual mechanisms for ventilation and cooling when underwater. At least 30 minutes of set-up time was required, with the turret and gun being locked in the forward position, and a large snorkel tube raised at the rear. An inflatable doughnut-shaped ring sealed the turret ring. The two rear compartments (each containing

17000-740: Was discontinued in early 1942 in favour of the VK 45.01 project. Combat experience against the French SOMUA S35 cavalry tank and Char B1 heavy tank, and the British Matilda II infantry tanks during the Battle of France in June 1940 showed that the German Army needed better armed and armoured tanks. On 26 May 1941, Henschel and Ferdinand Porsche were asked to submit designs for a 45-tonne heavy tank, to be ready by June 1942. Porsche worked on an updated version of their VK 30.01 (P) Leopard tank prototype while Henschel worked on an improved VK 36.01 (H) tank. Henschel built two prototypes:

17136-440: Was due to shortages in fuel supply. They used a mixture of turreted and turretless hulls. They were used to train Tiger tank crews, and were not used in combat. Hitler's order, dated 27 February 1944, abolished the designation Panzerkampfwagen VI and ratified Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, which was the official designation until the end of the war. For common use it was frequently shortened to Tiger . A report prepared by

17272-521: Was expensive to produce. Only about 210 KV-2s were made, all in 1940–1941, making it one of the rarest Soviet tanks. The KV-1 continued to get more armor to compensate for the increasing effectiveness of German weapons. This culminated in the KV-1 model 1942 (German designation KV-1C), which had very heavy armor but lacked a corresponding improvement to the engine. It now weighed about 52 tons. Tankers complained that, although they were well-protected, their mobility

17408-493: Was extensively used in the American Civil War . In 1859, the armies of Europe (including those that had recently adopted gun-howitzers) began to rearm field batteries with rifled field guns. These field pieces used cylindrical projectiles that, while smaller in caliber than the spherical shells of smoothbore field howitzers, could carry a comparable charge of gunpowder. Moreover, their greater range let them create many of

17544-534: Was found to be underpowered for the vehicle from the 251st Tiger onwards. It was replaced by the upgraded HL 230 P45, a 23.095 L (1,409 in ) engine developing 521 kW (699 hp) at 3,000 rpm. The main difference between these engines was that the original Maybach HL 210 used an aluminium engine block while the Maybach HL 230 used a cast-iron engine block. The cast-iron block allowed for larger cylinders (and thus, greater displacement) which increased

17680-441: Was installed in the village of Noviy Uchkhoz in 1980, at the place where Kolobanov's KV-1 was dug in, due solely to the demands of the villagers. It was impossible to find a KV-1 tank, so an IS-2 heavy tank was installed there instead. The Soviet victory was the result of a well-planned ambush in advantageous ground and of technical superiority. Most of the German tanks in this battle were Panzer IIs , armed with 20 mm guns, and

17816-410: Was largely confined to roads and tracks, making defence against them far easier. Many of these early models were plagued by problems with the transmission, which had difficulty handling the great weight of the vehicle if pushed too hard. It took time for drivers to learn how to avoid overtaxing the engine and transmission, and many broke down. The most significant event from this engagement was that one of

17952-617: Was nearly 4 L (240 in ) smaller in displacement than the Allied British Rolls-Royce Meteor V12 AFV power plant, itself adapted from the RR Merlin but de-rated to 448 kW (601 hp) power output; and the American Ford-designed precursor V12 to its Ford GAA V-8 AFV engine of 18 litre displacement, which in its original V12 form would have had the same 27 L (1,600 in ) displacement as

18088-547: Was not slower than the best of its opponents. Although the general design and layout were broadly similar to the Panzer IV medium tank, the Tiger weighed more than twice as much. This was due to its substantially thicker armour, the larger main gun , greater volume of fuel and ammunition storage, larger engine, and a more solidly built transmission and suspension. The Tiger I had frontal hull armour 100 mm (3.9 in) thick, frontal turret of 100 mm and gun mantlet with

18224-450: Was poor and they had no firepower advantage over the T-34 medium tank. In response to criticisms, the lighter KV-1S was developed, with thinner armor and a smaller, lower turret in order to reclaim some speed. The KV-1S had a commander's cupola with all-around vision blocks. It also had a sophisticated planetary transmission that significantly increased the reliability, and allowed use of more efficient regenerative geared steering, unlike

18360-509: Was powered by mechanical drive from the engine. A full rotation took about a minute. Another new feature was the Maybach-Olvar hydraulically controlled semi-automatic pre-selector gearbox . The extreme weight of the tank also required a new steering system. Germany's Argus Motoren , where Hermann Klaue had invented a ring brake in 1940, supplied them for the Arado Ar 96 and also supplied

18496-465: Was superior in penetration and accuracy. British trials found the gun took from 6 to 16 seconds to reload varying on turret position and consequently which storage bin was being used. The ammunition for the Tiger had electrically fired primers. Four types of ammunition were available but not all were fully available; the PzGr 40 shell used tungsten, which was in short supply as the war progressed. The rear of

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