Jagdtiger

Overview
The Jagdtiger (Or Hunting Tiger) was a German Heavy Tank destroyer produced during WWII. The vehicle consisted of a heavily-armored slightly sloped casemate placed on top of a lengthened Tiger II chassis. The Jagdtiger mounted the same 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 gun as the experimental Super-Heavy Tank Maus! The Tank Destroyer was the largest and heaviest armored vehicle to ever enter serious production, as only two Maus tanks were ever built. It saw limited service from 1944 to the end of the war, and proved itself capable to taking out any allied vehicles then fielded. Despite this capability, the Jagdtiger was something of a disaster, with a weak engine, huge bulk, and mechanical unreliability as well as excessive fuel consumption. Currently three Jagdtigers survive around the world. One is at the U.S. Army Ordinance Museum, another is at the Bovington Tank Museum in the U.K., and the last is at the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia.

Design
Many Tank Destroyers built on tank hulls were successes for Nazi Germany. Examples include the Hetzer, the StuG III and StuG IV, and the Jagdpanther. In 1942 the German high command decided to have a Tank Destroyer created using these tried and tested methods, but in a different league in terms of power. The vehicle was to mount the 128 mm naval gun, and would boast very heavy armor. The Tiger I and Panther chassis were considered, but no tank was shown to be suitable for the gigantic weapon. That changed in 1943, with the development of the Tiger II tank. Two prototypes were built, one with a Porsche suspension pattern that consisted of eight wheels, and one with Henschel nine-wheel pattern, the one used on the Original Tiger II. Both vehicles were finished in 1944, and were given the designation 'Jagdtiger'.

The Jagdtiger mounted a boxy, fixed casemate at the center of a lengthened King Tiger chassis, similar to what was mounted on the Tiger (P) to produce the Ferdinand. This casemate featured very heavy armor, about 250 mm thick on the front, while the glacis plate featured the standard Tiger II 150 mm layout. This heavy armor added serious weight to the vehicle, and the 690 hp Maybach V12 engine proved very underpowered, resulting in a poor power-to-weight ratio. This in turn strained parts and caused poor speed and off-road capability, as well as reliability and efficiency. These problems were so severe that the majority of vehicles lost were due to these problems, rather than enemy fire.

The armament of the Jagdtiger was the immensely powerful 128 mm naval gun, which was 55 calibers long. The gun fired separate-loading ammunition, which made a second loader necessary. The cannon fired AP shells, which used their sheer kinetic energy to penetrate and smash enemy vehicles. The weapon was mounted on a limited-traverse.

The German army ordered around 150 Jagdtigers, however only 80 were produced. Production ran from December of 1944 to April of 1945, and vehicles were produced at the Nibelungenwerk facility in St. Valentine. 11 tanks were produced with Porsche suspension, and all the rest were made with the Henschel system.

Action
Only two heavy tank-hunter battalions received the vehicle. These were the 512th Heavy Panzerjager Battalion and the 653rd Heavy Panzerjager Battalion. About 20% of the Jagdtigers supplied to these units were lost due to fuel shortages and the vehicle's mechanical unreliability. One Jagdtiger commander, Otto Carius, lead a company of the 512th battalion. He stated in his memoirs that operation of the vehicle was difficult due to the fact that allied air superiority rendered any movement dangerous, especially due to the Jagdtiger's size. The 128 mm gun needed to be re-calibrated continually, as even the shortest movements off-road would jar the cannon on its brackets, rendering firing inaccurate. The limited-traverse made it necessary to turn the whole 72 ton tank destroyer for movements outside the gun's range, which was hard on tracks, and the differentials and transmission were very fragile and unreliable.

More Problems
Another problem for the Jagdtiger was poor crew training and morale, especially towards the very end of the war. Drivers were not well trained in terms of maneuvering the vehicle, and many Jagdtiger commanders had a poor understanding of how to use the vehicle's armor to their advantage. Carius noted that several vehicles were lost to friendly fire, and one drove into a bomb crater at night. Eventually Carius and his men destroyer their Jagdtigers and surrendered to American forces in the Ruhr pocket. However when used properly, the Jagdtiger proved to be a worthy opponent. In January of 1945, some Jagdtigers attacked a line of secure bunkers. A bunker was destroyed as well as a Sherman tank. No Jagdtigers were lost. In another case a Jagdtiger destroyed an American vehicle through a wall with an Armor-Piercing round. In April of 1945, 1st company of the 512th engaged an American column of tanks and trucks. Over 40 tanks and other vehicles were destroyed by the Jagdtigers, which had adopted hull-down positions. Some allied tanks were knocked out at ranges of over 3500 meters. Eventually, allied P-47 fighter bombers arrived, and after destroying five more Sherman tanks, the Germans surrendered.