German Panzer in WW2: Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf.E -ruler of the battlefield info photos and video

The Tiger Tank as it is most known as, or in the usual light german language "Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf.E" , is one of the most known tanks from WW2-if not the best known. The reason of course is that it was an absolutely masterpiece of engineering, and head to head swept all other tanks away from the moment it began hitting the battlefields of Europa in 1942.

Brief background history:
The Tiger was the german response to russian tanks-especially the great T-34- giving up a much better fight than expected in the inasion of Russia fra 22.june 1941. The germans soon realised they needed a bigger tank. Actually they needed a bigger gun-but to hold a bigger gun-you need a bigger tank-and the Tiger was the answer. The best gun against the russian big tanks was the 88gun, wich was actually a flak gun but proved for a fantastic anti-panzer gun as well. The Tiger was the first tank equipped with the 88mm gun. Production began in 1942 and ended in 1944, when it was faded out for the Tiger 2-or the King Tiger as most call it. (more on that beast in another article!)

Fun fact:
The Bovington Tank Museum has a running Tiger tank, the only one in the world! The tank numbered 131 was captured in Tunisia in 1943. See video and the bottom of this article

Fun fact 2:
Because of its weight naturally the Tigerhad problems with sinking into...well-mostly everything. The recomended test for the crew was this: TAke one of the other crewmembers on your back and stand on one fot. If your fot sinks in, so will the Tiger

Numbers:
Weight:56.9 tons
Length:6.3 metres
Width:3.7 metres
height: 3.0 metres
Main armament: 88mm
Secondary armamaent: 2*7.92 MG
Speed: 38km/h
Armour: Up til 120mm at the turret, 100mm in the front-this was strong enough to resist a direct hit frem the american Sherman tanks 75mm guns, its main opponent at the western front.

About 1300 Tigers were produced from 1942 til 1944.

Problems:
Even a Tiger have problems- for the Tiger tank this was mainly related to the fact that it was timeconsuming and expencive to produce. While russian factories were pouring out T-34`s many of the Tigerparts had to be handmade, it also used a lot of fuel (which became a big issue for Germany as the war starting going poorly) and there was also some problems with traction and transportation.

Despite this problems, the Tiger was the most feared sight on the battlefields in 1942-1944, a fully working Tiger tank was almost impossible to destroy for enemy tanks, and it kill-.death ratio on the battlefield was legendary. In the largest tank battle in history-the battle of Kursk in russia, the Tigers fell as often to mechanical problems as they did to enemy fire.

Tiger Ace:
Michael Wittman is the most famous tank commander from the Tigers, involved in panzer battles from the invasion of Poland (not in a Tiger then of course) and until 1944 when he was killed in France. He is most known from the Battle of Villers-Bocage, when he from a Tiger tank destroyd 14 enemy tanks, 15 personel carriers and 2 anti-tank guns. In 15 minutes-with a little help of course....

This is how this column of british vehicles looked after Wittmann had a go at them from a single Tiger...