Jagdtiger -hunter of the plains

The Jagdtiger-or as the Germans so easily called it "Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf. B" was a tank destroyer that was based on a lengthened King Tiger chassis. It was the heaviest armoured vehicle used in combat in WW2. It had a MASSIVE 128mm gun that could flatten any allied vehicle from a distance of over 3500 metres!  The Jagdtiger was only produced in small numbers-around 80 was built, and many of them was destroyed by one crew due to mechanical failure or loss of fuel supplies.

Due to its enormeous weight, it ha problems with gear, engine and of course-just simply driving forward on most terrain types...

Only two heavy antitank battalions (schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung), numbered 512 and 653 were equipped with Jagdtigers, with the first vehicles reaching the units in September 1944. One Jagdtiger was even destroyed by the handheld Panzerfaust by own Volkssturm (Volkssturm was at the end of the war often involved in battles they werent ready for) , as the Volkssturm have never seen a Jagdtiger before...

The Jagdtiger never saw much of the action it was bulit for- tankbattles where it could take out enemy tanks from a distance, but at one occasion it proved that at least the gun worked properly- During April 1945, s.Pz.Jäg.Abt.512 saw a great deal of action, especially on 9 April, where the 1st company engaged an Allied column of Sherman tanks and trucks from dug-down positions, and took out 11 tanks and over 30 soft-skins,  some of the enemy tanks having been knocked out from a distance of more than 4,000 m. The combat unit only lost one Jagdtiger in this incident as Allied ground attack P-47appeared

 Numbers:
Weight: 72 tons
Length: 10.65 metres including gun
Width: 3.6  metres
Height: 2.8 metres
Armour: up to 250 mm of steel....
Armament: 128 mm PaK
Speed: 34 km/h (road)

Surviving units:
There are 3 Jagdtigers in museums today- these ale located at the museums in England (Bovington Tank Museum), USA (National Armor and Cavalry Museum) and Russia (Kubinka Tank Museum)




That jeep looks like a toy doesnt it...

Massive gun...

Jagdtiger captured by the americans

Another spoil of war (Sorry for  the swastika...)

Jagdtiger today at Bovington Museum