KONIGSTIGER TIGER II
Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B, with the ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 182. It is also known under the informal name Königstiger (the German name for the "Bengal tiger"), often translated by the Americans as King Tiger, and by the British as Royal Tiger.
The model followed the same concept as the Tiger I, but was intended to be even more dreaded. The Tiger II combined the massive armor of the Tiger I with the sloped armor of the Panther. The panzer weighed roughly seventy metric tons, was protected by 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in) of frontal armor, and was fitted with the 8.8 cm Kampfwagenkanone 43 L/71 gun. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turret less tank destroyer.
Development of a heavy panzer structure had been initiated in 1937; the initial structure contract was awarded to Henschel. Another contract followed in 1939, and was given to Porsche. Both prototype series used the same turret structure from Krupp; the main differences were in the hull, transmission, suspension and automotive features.
The Henschel version used a conventional hull style with sloped armor resembling the layout of the Panther tank. It had a rear mounted engine and used nine steel-tired overlapping road wheels with internal springing per side, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the original Tiger. To simplify upkeep, yet, the wheels were overlapping rather than interleaved as in the Tiger I.
The Porsche hull model s included a rear-mounted turret and a mid-mounted engine. The suspension was the same as on the Jagdpanzer Elefant. This had six road wheels per side mounted in paired bogies sprung with short longitudinal torsion bars that were integral to the wheel pair; this saved internal space and facilitated repairs. One Porsche version had a gasoline-electric hybrid power system; two separate drive trains in series, one per side of the panzer, each consisting of a hybrid drive train; gasoline engine – electric generator – electric motor – drive sprocket. This method of propulsion had been attempted before on the Tiger (P) (later Elefant prototypes) and in some U.S. style s, but had never been put into development. The Porsche suspension were later used on a few of the later Jagdtiger tank hunters. Another proposal was to use hydraulic drives. Dr. Porsche's unorthodox model s gathered little favor.
Henschel won the contract, and all Tiger IIs were produced by the firm. Two turret design s were used in fabrication vehicles. The initial layout is sometimes misleadingly called the "Porsche" turret due to the belief that it was layout ed by Porsche for their prototype; in fact it was the initial Krupp design for both prototypes. This turret had a rounded front and steeply sloped sides, with a difficult-to-manufacture curved bulge on the turret's left side to accommodate the commander's cupola. Fifty early turrets were mounted to Henschel's hull and used in action. The more common "development" turret, sometimes called the "Henschel" turret, was simplified with a significantly thicker flat face, no shot trap (created by the curved face of the initial-type turret), less-steeply sloped sides, and no bulge for the commander's cupola.
The turrets were model ed to mount the 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 gun. Combined with the Turmzielfernrohr 9d (TZF 9d—turret telescopic sight) monocular sight (which all but a few early Tiger II's used), it was a very accurate and deadly weapon. During practice, the estimated probability of a first round hit on a 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high, 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) wide target only dropped below 100 percent beyond 1,000 m (0.62 mi), to 95–97 percent at 1,500 metres (0.93 mi) and 85–87 percent at 2,000 m (1.2 mi), depending on ammunition type. Recorded combat performance was lower, but still over 80 percent at 1,000 m, in the 60s at 1,500 m and the 40s at 2,000 m. Penetration of armored plate inclined at 30 degrees was 202 and 132 mm (8.0 and 5.2 in) at 100 and 2,000 m (0.062 and 1.2 mi) respectively for the Panzergranate 39/43 projectile (PzGr—armor-piercing shot and shell), and 238 and 153 mm (9.4 and 6.0 in) for the PzGr. 40/44 projectile between the same ranges. The Sprenggranate 43 (SpGr) high-explosive round was available for soft targets, or the Hohlgranate or Hohlgeschoss 39 (HlGr—HEAT or High explosive anti-tank warhead) round, which had 90 mm (3.5 in) penetration at any range, could be used as a dual-purpose munition versus soft or armored targets.
High speed turret traverse was provided by a hydraulic motor linked to the main engine; a full rotation could be achieved in nineteen seconds at engine idle, and inside ten seconds at the maximum allowable engine speed. Motor traverse was used to quickly get the target within the field of view of the gun sights, but fine adjustments of traverse and elevation were achieved with the gunner's hand wheels. If power was lost, the turret could be slowly traversed by hand, assisted by the loader who had an additional wheel.
Like all German tanks, it had a gasoline engine; in this case the same 700 PS (690 hp, 515 kW) V-12 Maybach HL 230 P30 which powered the much lighter Panther and Tiger I tanks. The Tiger II was under-powered, like many other heavy tanks of World War Two, and consumed a lot of fuel, which was in short supply for the Germans. The transmission was the Maybach OLVAR EG 40 12 16 Model B, giving eight forward gears and four reverse, which drove the steering gear. This was the Henschel L 801, a double radius design which proved susceptible to failure. Transverse torsion bar suspension supported the hull, and nine overlapped 800 mm (31 in) diameter road wheels with rubber cushions and steel tyres rode inside the tracks on each side.
Like the Tiger I, each panzer was issued with two sets of tracks: a normal "battle track" and a narrower "transport" version used during rail transport. The transport tracks reduced the overall width of the load and could be used to drive the tank short distances on firm ground. The crew were expected to change to normal battle tracks as soon as the tank was unloaded. Ground pressure was 0.76 kg/cm2 (10.8 psi).
Panzerbefehlswagen variants
Two command versions of the Tiger 2, Panzerbefehlswagen (Pz.Bef.Wg. Tiger Ausf. B) were planned to be manufactured. These carried only 63 rounds of 8.8 cm ammunition to provide room to accommodate the extra radios and equipment. The Sd.Kfz. 267 was to have used FuG 8 and FuG 5 radio sets, with the most notable external changes being a 2 metre long rod antenna mounted on the turret roof and a Sternantenna D ("Star antenna D"), mounted on an insulated base (the 104mm Antennenfuss Nr. 1) which was protected by a large armoured cylinder. This equipment was located on the rear decking in a position originally used for deep-wading equipment. The Sd.Kfz. 268 used FuG 7 and FuG 5 radios with a 2 metre rod antenna mounted on the turret roof and a 1.4 metre rod antenna mounted on the rear deck.
he Tiger II was developed late in the war and made in relatively small numbers - 1,500 Tiger IIs were ordered, but the manufacturing was severely disrupted by Allied bombing. Among others, five raids between 22 September and 7 October 1944 destroyed 95 percent of the floor area of the Henschel plant. It is estimated that this caused the loss in production of some 657 Tiger IIs. Only 492 units were produced: 1 in 1943, 379 in 1944, and 112 in 1945. Full manufacturing ran from mid-1944 to the end of the war.
The Tiger II served as a basis for one fabrication variant, the Jagdtiger, and a proposed Grille 17/21/30/42 self-propelled mount for heavy guns that never reached manufacture.
The heavy armor and powerful long-range gun gave the Tiger II an advantage against all opposing Western Allied and Soviet tanks attempting to engage it from head on. This was especially true on the Western Front, where neither the British nor U.S. forces had brought heavy tanks into service. Only two weapons were available on the western front that were capable of penetrating the Konigstiger from the front. The British 17 pdr anti-tank gun using APDS shot was theoretically capable of penetrating the front of the Tiger II's turret and nose (lower front hull) at 1,100 and 1,200 yd (1,000 and 1,100 m) respectively. The other gun capable of penetrating it from the front was the American M1 90mm cannon when firing HVAP rounds. Flanking maneuvers were used against the Konigstiger to attempt a shot at the thinner side and rear armor, giving a tactical advantage to the Tiger 2 in most engagements. Moreover, the main armament of the Konigstiger was capable of knocking out any Allied tank frontally at ranges exceeding 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi), beyond the effective range of Allied tank guns.
Red Army wartime testing
During August 1944, a number of Tiger II panzers were captured by the Russians near Sandomierz and were soon moved to their testing grounds at Kubinka. The Russian team gave the opinion that the tests revealed the tanks to be severely defective; the transmission and suspension broke down very frequently and the engine was prone to overheating and consequential failure. Additionally, the Red Armys opinion was of deficiencies in the armor after firing many anti-tank rounds at the same target. Not only did they report that the metal was of shoddy quality (a problem not particular to the Konigstiger—as the war progressed, the Germans found it harder and harder to obtain the alloys needed for high-quality steel), but the welding was also, despite "careful workmanship", extremely poor. As a result, even when shells did not penetrate the armor, there was a large amount of spalling, and the armor plating cracked at the welds when struck by multiple heavy shells, rendering the panzer inoperable.
There were two main mechanical reasons for the initial unreliability of the Tiger II, leaking seals and gaskets, and the overburdened drivetrain which was originally intended for a lighter vehicle. The double radius steering gear was particularly prone to failure. Lack of crew training could amplify this problem; drivers originally given only limited training on other tanks were often sent directly to operational units already on their way to the front.