Panzerkampfwagen VI iger Tiger heavy Tank

 

  As far back as 1938 it has been realized that the PzKpfw IV tank would have to
be replaced by a more modem design some time in the future. Various prototypes
were built by a number of German companies, but none was placed in production.
 
   In 1941 an order was placed with Henschel for a 36-ton tank called the VK3,601
which was required to have a maximum speed of 40 km/h (25 mph), good armour protection
and a powerful gun. A prototype of this tank was built but further work was stopped as
an order was placed in May 1941 for a 45-ton tank called the VK4501. This was to be
armed with a tank version of the dreaded 88-mm (3.46-in) AA anti-tank gun, which had
then become the scourge of European armies. It was required that the prototype be ready for
testing on Hitler's next birthday, 20th April 1942. As time was short Henschel incorporated
ideas from the VK3601 and another tank called the VK 3001 (H).

   The end product was the VK4501 (H), the letter suffix standing for Heschel Porsche also
went ahead with its own design and built the VKVK4501 (Porsche) to meet the same
requirement. Both prototypes were completed in time to be demonstrated on on Hitler's
birthday, and the Henschel design was selected for production in August 1942 under
the designation PzKpfw VI Tiger Ausf E (SdkFZ 181).

   The Tiger was in production from August 1942 to August 1944, a total of 1,350 vechicles
being built. It was then succeeded in production by the Tiger II or King Tiger for which there
is a separate entry. In case trials proved the VIK4501 (H) a failure, a batch of 90 VK 4501 (P)
tanks was ordered, and these were subsequently completed as 88-mm (3.46-in) tank destroyers
under the designation Panzerjager Tiger (P) Ferdinand (SdKfz 184). The vehicle was named after
 its designer, Dr. Ferninand Porsche.

   There were three variants of the Tiger, these being the Tiger command tank (Befehlspanzer Tiger)
which was the basic gun tank with its main armament removed, but fitted with a winch but no crane,
and the Sturmtiger which had a new superstructure fitted with a 38-cm [14.96-in] 1"), Type 61 rocket-
launcher with limited traverse; only 10 of the last were built.

   For its time the_ Tiger was an out-standing design with a powerful gun and good armour,
but it was also too compicated arid therefore difficult to produce. One of its major drawbacks
was its overlapping wheel suspension which became clogged with mud and stones. On the Eastern Front  this could he disastrous as during winter nights the mud froze and by the morning the tank had been immobilized, often at the exact time the Soviets would attack, When the vehicle traveled on roads
a 51.5-cm [20.3-in] wide track was fitted, while a 71,5-cm [28,1-in) wide track was used for travel
across country or in comhat as this gave a  lower ground pressure and so improved traction.

   Main armament comprised an 88-mm (3.46-in) KwK 36 gun, with a 7.92- mm (0.31-in) MG34 machine-gun co-axial with e main armament and a similar weapon hall-mounted in the hull front on the right, Totals of 84rounds of 88-mm (3.-16-in) and 5:850 rounds of_machine-gun ammunition were carried.

The Tiger was first encountered in Tunisia by the British army and from
then on appeared on all of the German fronts.

Specification
PzKpfw V1 Tiger AusfE Y1 Tiger AusfE
Crew:5
Weight: 55000 kg (121,250 lb)
Dimensions: length (including armament: 8,24m (270ft )in): length
(Hull): 6.20m (20ft 4 in)
(Width 3.73m (12ft 3in)
(Height): 2.86m (9ft.25in)
[h1.1l26;2[JmL2(J ft-1 in); widLh3.T;3[m
[12 31n];he1ght2.S6m[9ft3.2>1n]

Powerplant: one Maybach HL 230P45
12 Cylinder petrol engine developing 700hp (522kW)
Performance: maximum road speed38 KM (24 mph)
maximum range road 100Km (62 miles)
fording 1.2m (3ft 11in)
Gradient 60 per cent
Vertical obstacle 0.79m (2ft 7in) Trench 1.8m (5ft ll-in).

Flakpanzer IV/2cm Vierling

 

Other designation: Wirbelwind, Pz Fgst IV/3

Type: Anti-aircraft tank on obsolete tank chassis.

Manufacturer: Ostbau

Chassis Nos:   82001 - 90000

86 converted from Pz Kpfw IV from July to November 1944.

1 prototype converted in May 1944.

Crew 5

Weight:  22 tons

Length:  5.92 metres

Width:    2.9 metres

Height:   2.76 metres

Engine:    Maybach HL120TRM

Gearbox: 6 Forward  1 Reverse

Speed:     38  (km/hr)

Range:    200 (km)

Radio:      FuG5+FuG2

Armament: One 2cm Flakvierling

                   One 7.92mm MG34 38

Tranverse:              360⁰ (hand)

Elevation:             -10⁰ +90⁰

Sight:  Flakvisler   38/40.   KgZF2

Ammunition           3.200   1,350

Armour (mm/ angle)

                                Front.      Side.        Rear.       Top/Bottom

Turret.                   16/25⁰       16/36⁰      16/22⁰      -22⁰  open

Superstructure.      80/10⁰       30/0⁰        20/11⁰       12/85⁰ -90⁰

Hull.                      80/12⁰       30/0⁰        20/9⁰         10/90⁰

Gun Shield.           10/round

History: The Wirbelwind was developed as a mount for anti-aircraft guns on Pz Kpfw IV chassis which had been returned from the front for major overhaul. They were intended to supplement production of the Mobelwagen. In the autumn of 1944 production of the Wirbelwind ceased since the 2cm Flakvierling was not proving so effective as the 3.7cm Flak.

Specific features: The turret was removed  from normal Pz  Kpfw IV and replaced by an open-topped turret, in which the Flakvierling 38 was mounted. Some vehicles had only 50mm frontal armour since early Ausf F to G were converted for use as the chassis.

Combat service:  Issued to the Flugabwehzug (AA platoons) of Panzer regiments in Panzer divisions

Pannzerkampfwagen I Ausf A ohne Aufbau.:

Pannzerkampfwagen I Ausf A ohne Aufbau.:

Other designation: Krupp Traktor LaS
Type: Light armoured tracked vehicle for training use.
Manufacturer: Henschel, MAN Daimler - Benz Rheinmetall-Borsig
Chassie Nos: 8011-9000
15 produced from February to April 1934
Crew 2
Engine Krupp M305
Gearbox 5 Forward/ 1 Reverse
Speed. 37 (km/hr)
Range. 145 (km)
Weight: 3.5 (tons)
Length: 4.02 (Metre)
Width: 2.06 (Metre)
Height: 1.15 (Metre)

Armor (mm/angel) Front. Side
Hull. 13/27⁰ 13/0⁰
Rear. Top/Bottom
13/15⁰ 6/90⁰

History: Prevented by the Treaty of Versailles from possessing of manufacturing tanks or similarly designed armoured fighting vehicles, Germany skirted the treaty restrictions by producing fifteen tank hulls without superstructure, turrets or armaments. To speed production experience as far as possible, five companies had been selected in 1933 to produce three vehicles each. The official designation, 'Land-wirtschaftlicher Schlepper' (agricultural tractor) helped disguise the fact that any type of tracked armoured vehicle was being manufactured.
Specific features: This vehicle had fully-tracked armoured hull. The suspension consisted of a sprocket, 4 road wheels, a fifth larger road wheel (also acting as an idler) and 3 return rollers. The forward road wheel was cushioned by a coil spring and hydraulic shock absorber. The other 4 road wheels were mounted in pairs, cushioned by leaf springs supported by a girder. This girder was all that remained of a suspension design which back to development from a Carden-Lloyd design.
Combat service: Designed as a training vehicle, the turretless Krupp Traktor was not intended for combat. In the Spring of 1934, it was issued to the first Panzer regiments. Kraftfahrlehrkommando (Motorization Instructional Command) Zossen und Ohrdruf to give the troops their first experience of driving a fully tracked armoured vehicle.

 

From the horse to the Tank

 

The new Cavalry

Cavalry - 'an army mounted on horseback, which comes from the Italian word Cavalleria which may mean either "Cavalry or Chivalry'. Two earlier meaning of Cavalry in English are now both obsolete were 'horsemanship' and 'Knighthood'. Another word associated with Cavalry is 'Yeomanry' which was the mounted component of the British Volunteer Corp, a military auxiliary established in the late 18th century amid fears of invasion and insurrection during the French revolutionary war.

Usually when we think of the Cavalry our minds are cast to the likes of the failed military action involving the British Light Brigade at the battle of Balaclava on the 25th October 1854 during the Crimean war.
We also remember the US 7th Cavalry with General Custer and his defeat at the battle of Big Horn by the Sioux Native Americans.

During the first world war "British Field Marshal Sir John French apparently stated" The machine gun, has no stopping power against the horse. With their equine mobility, with their swords and lances, and the power of a massed charge, the cavalry could continue to rule the battlefields of the Great war as it had for Napoleon, certainly, generals and cavalrymen believed this in 1914, and the early battles of war saw cavalry squadrons play a role. But the machine-guns did kill horses and their risers, with heavy losses.

The first world war became a war that was fought in trenches, the role of the Cavalry came to an end, those cavalry men were then became placed among the infantry, being sent to the trench and hold the line. Some remaining generals continued to believe in the horse and kept a few regiments ready to ride.

During world war I,  the trenches were fortified with lines of barbed wire, and machine-gunners at the ready. No man's land was a place of craters from exploded shells, that resembled the surface of the
moon. Some very deep holes, with stagnant water, and walls of slippery mud.
This made the Cavalry obsolete in this warfare.

While the war seemed to be a looming stalemate, those deeper thinkers, those employed to busy themselves, and bring about an end to the war, and break the current situation.

The British conceived the idea of the tank, a means that could break the stalemate of trench warfare and bring the make the war shorter. The tank was an armored vehicle that could roll over both wire and trenches, and also be impenatrable to small arms fire

By 1918, many teething problems of the had been ironed out, such as constantly breaking down, and also the heat and fumes inside the vehicle that choked the crew. This is what stopped the breakthrough at Cambrai in 1917.

Enemy artillery specialized as anti tank guns which could knock out a tank. But the confidence, the effect on morale, this huge beast firing its machine guns, and crushing everything in its path.

Even the staunch brave kraut at seeing these on coming metal monsters approaching, and flattening everything in its path, soon ran and fled.
These advancing Tommy's moving forward behind these armored beasts, having the air of being unconquerable.

The great war demonstrated that the age of the horse has had its use, a bygone time of the gallant horse and rider, swords drawn and the charge towards the enemy had come to an end. The as mentioned the riders became lost among the infantry and the horses demoted to pulling wagons, and artillery.

During world war II, Germany still continued to rely on horses, but for the United Kingdom, the Cavalry shed its flesh for a coat of metal armo
r, and the legs became caterpillar tracts. These give the new army versatility over many different terrains on the battlefield.

Cavalry and Yeomanry are still very much used today with the tank replacing the horse. A fine example is the North Irish Horse which was formed in the aftermath
of the second  Boer war. During world war two North Irish had the Churchill tank which can be seen in Carrickfergus, in Northern Ireland.