SdKfz 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger (PzKpfw VI)

The Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Heavy Tank saw combat action on all fronts in World War Two.

Designation: SdKfz 181 Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger (PzKpfw VI)
Classification Type: Heavy Tank
Contractor: Henschel - Germany
Country of Origin: Nazi Germany
Initial Year of Service: 1942
Number Built: 1,350

The PzKpfw VI Tiger began as a Henschel design of several other heavy tanks meeting specified German requirements based on speed, armor protection and a powerful main gun. Pitted against a Porsche offering, both prototype tanks were demonstrated purposefully on Adolph Hitler's birthday in 1942 with the Henschel Panzerkampfwagen VI selected ahead of Porsche's offering.

The Tiger design proved to be a success in terms of lethality. Though not of the mobile variety, the system housed the power 88-mm main gun (designated as the "KwK 36") that was a common anti-aircraft gunnery system. The weapon proved to be a bane in the planning of all Allied war planners as the weapon could defeat any armor in existence. Armor protection was good, particularly from the front, and most disabling of the Tiger came from well-placed shots to the rear engine area. Additional weaponry consisted of a 7.92mm coaxial machine gun in the turret and another 7.92mm MG34 mounted in the front hull. Ammunition counts for main gun and machine gun amounted to 84 and 5,850 respectively.

A major drawback of the Tiger system proved to be in production. The complicated subsystems and construction of the Tiger meant that it would not provide much in terms of availability during wartime - especially when fighting on two fronts. Another major drawback lay in the overlapping suspension system that did not take particularly well to the harsh Soviet winters in the East.

Three variants of the Tiger tank were produced in a run that amounted to roughly 1,350 vehicles between August of 1942 through August of 1944. The variants included the basic gun tank armed with the formidable "88", a command tank (know as the "Befehlspanzer Tiger") that fitted a winch to the system but was without the standard gunnery armament and, strangely enough, a battlefield crane system to support the winch offered. Lastly, the "Sturmtiger" was provided as a battlefield support weapon mounting a Type 61 rocket launcher.

The Tiger went on to see combat action on all fronts, appearing first in the North African campaigns against British forces. Not particularly agile, the Tiger was nonetheless a successful battlefield tank design by the Germans, proving that like the machine gun in World War One, a single effective battlefield system such as the heavily-armed and armored Tiger, could easily change any individual battle in the Tiger's favor.