pst wwii german kwk-40 heavy main battle tank

Wartime pressures including fuel shortages and Allied air raids crippled the flow of trained crews to the Panzerwaffe. I don’t know how many times I have read some variation of “the Germans should have made more low quality tanks instead of a few high quality ones”.įirst, who would crew these tanks? Despite the Allied bombing campaign and the huge stresses on German industry, towards the end of the war there were always more tanks available than crews to fill them. This is the murkiest myth to debunk against the Tiger II as it does include a bit of subjectivity. Under more normal circumstances, the Tiger II's fuel consumption would not have been such an acute weakness. The truth is that after Romania fell, German AFVs of all shapes and sizes were lost due to fuel shortages towards the end of the war. While the Tiger II is often singled out as a fuel hog, the reality is that its fuel consumption was in line with other vehicles of its size. Here are fuel consumption rates of some common late war tanks. While indeed high at 4.9 l/km, the Tiger II’s consumption was not inordinately so. This criticism has some basis, but has been blown way out of proportion. Statistics from 15 March 1945 compare the availability of Tiger IIs with respect to other tanks: 62 percent of Panzer IVs, 59 percent of Tiger IIs and 48 percent of Panthers were operational by this period of the war. Reliability was improved over time with the continuous introduction of modified seals, gaskets and drive train components, driver training, and sufficient maintenance. Obviously, the Tiger II was not a slow tank by any objective standards. (Apologies for not having detailed speed information on road speed and cross-country speed for these models.) Sherman - 38-46 km/h (dependent on the variant) StuG - Maximum Speed = 40 km/h, Road Speed = 20 km/h, Cross Country Speed = 12-15km/hįor comparison, the top speeds of the main Allied medium tanks were: Pz.IV - Maximum Speed = 38-42 km/h, Road Speed = 25 km/h, Cross Country Speed = 20 km/h Panther - Maximum Speed = 46 km/h, Road Speed = 30-35 km/h, Cross Country Speed = 20 km/h Tiger II - Maximum Speed = 41.5 km/h, Road Speed = 38 km/h, Cross Country Speed = 15-20 km/h This is probably the most propagated, yet demonstrably false, myth about the Tiger II (and Tiger I btw).ĭespite being a heavy tank, the Tiger II was as fast as the Panther and faster than all other German AFVs. Despite this, the King Tiger is often criticized incorrectly on a number of factors.

Pst wwii german kwk-40 heavy main battle tank