Elefant -with a killing trunk

The Elefant was a german tank-destroyer based on the Tiger-chassis, its official german name was Panzerjäger Tiger (P) called Ferdinand at first, but after modifications it was renamed" Elefant" (german for elephant)

The origin for the Elefant was 100 chassises made for the Porsche-version of Tiger. When this version was discarded, it was decided to use these 100 chassises to build an anti-tank with the new 88mm Pak anti-tank gun. 91 were built during a few months in early 1943.

In action, several flaws were discovered, and in september 1943 the 50 surviving  units were called back for modifications. After the modifications ( which in short was adding a MG, adding Zimmerit and wider tracks) the germans ended up with the version we call "Elefant".

Action:
When the first version was thrown into battle, it was almost without testing, and the battle of kursk sonn showed big problems-they were to vulnerable to infantry! Later, the Elefant saw action mainly in Italy, but even if it had an enormeous firepwer compared to most allied armoured vehicles, its weight and mechanical issues reduced its effect on the battlefield.

Even so-during the Battle of Kursk, the 653rd Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion (German: schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung, sPzJägAbt) claimed to have taken out  320 enemy tanks, for the loss of 13 Ferdinands. This impressive average ratio was due to its extreme firepower and protection, which gave it an enormous advantage when used in head-on combat or a static defensive role. In fact, most Ferdinands/Elefants were lost due to small problems with tracks, fuelshortage etc which forced the crew to destroy&abondon them.


Surviving units:
Only two Elefants survived the war- one is in the Kubinka Tank Museum in Russia, the other one is at the United Staes Army Ordnance Museum at Fort Lee Virginia USA.

Numbers:
Weight: 65 tons
Length:8.14 metres
 Width: 3.38 metres
Height: 2.97 metres
Armour: up to 200 mm of steel....
Armament: 88 mm PaK or 43/2 L71
Speed: 46 km/h (road)

Eye of the Tiger -Tank ace Kurt Knispel

Kurt Knispel is widely recognized as the number one tank-ace of WW2, he had 168 confirmed kills with his tank, some sources as high as 195-Knispel wasnt known for being to occupied with numbers and didnt quarrel if there was debate around a destroyd vehicle. (Note-kills here do not mean confirmed people killed, but vehicles destroyed!)

Kurt Knispel was from Czechoslovakia but enrolled in the german army in 1940. He received basic training with Panzer I-IV before being sendt to action in summer of 1941. He took part in Operatin Barbarossa-the attack on the Soviet Union and variuous other campaigns on the eastern front. In 1943 Knispel was sendt back to Germany to train with the new Tiger tanks, at that time he had "only" 12 confirmed kills, but Knispel soon felt very familiar in the new Tiger, which many allied tanks would experience...

Allied tanks was soon being blown away from the map by Knispel and his Tiger-and later King Tiger, one soviet T-34 heavy-tank was destroyed from a distance of about 3000m-while driving..... Knispels skills as gunner was unparallelled.

Unfortunately for Knispel-his behaviour was not up to the same standard-at least not from the Nazi-point of view. Long hair,goatee- beard, unwillingness to obey orders he disagreed with was one thing, refusing to take part in attacks on civilians was another. On one occiasion he attacked an officer from a "Einsatzgruppe" when he saw him mistreating soviet POW`s.

Even if he received the Iron Cross I and II class, the Panzer Badge and the German Cross in Gold he never got the same honours as many of the other german war-aces-not that he cared, by his fellow soldiers he stood in the highest regards.

Knispel was killed ten days before the war ended in a battle with overwheliming soviet forces near Wostitz. In 2013 his body-still with the dog-tags- was  recovered behind a  church wall in Urbau in Czechia.