Infantry and armor either fled before the Tiger's advance, or died where they stood. As the core of an assault force, they had no peers, as they showed in campaigns like the Battle of the Bulge and in many battles in the East. A force of these tanks, when properly led in open country, was virtually unstoppable. Only by maneuvering for flank shots could an enemy hope to thwart the big cat. In head to head engagements, there was virtually nothing on the battlefield that could penetrate its thick hide from the front. The King Tiger owed its success to its massive armor plating and its powerful gun. The King Tiger fought to the bitter end the last German tank destroyed in the war was a King Tiger on May 10, 1945. In April 1945, for instance, a single King Tiger crew in eastern German destroyed 39 Soviet tanks in a single encounter. The heavy tank battalions equipped with King Tigers often racked up amazing kill ratios against opposing armor. Though slow, it was heavily armored and fearsomely armed-a true monarch of the battlefield. Introduced in 1944 and weighing in at more than ten tons heavier than the original Tiger, the royal cat specialized in crushing enemy armor and terrorizing opposing infantry with its long 88mm cannon. As awesome as it was, though, it paled in comparison to its big brother, the King Tiger. Designed to spearhead assaults and anchor impenetrable defenses, only about 500 were ever built, but still the big cat inspired fear and awe wherever it roared. Perhaps the most famous armored fighting vehicle in history, Germany's Tiger tank was the terror of the battlefield in WWII.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |