Blitzkrieg Mod Forum

The Tiger tank saw combat in 42 in North afrika and Russia and became quickly the most feared unit of the WWII, all started during the first introduction of this 57 tons beast in North Africa and during the first Leningrad campaign in russia, there is a lot of discussion about what was the best tank during this period, Tigers? Panthers? T-34? KV-1? if we are talking as "single" unit and not in "mass production" the Tiger will surely win the medal of the most respected and feared tank during WWII even if the soviet T-34/KV-1 was far more advanced in design.

This rolling bunker equipped with the deadly and well known 88 gun went in action December 42 near "Tebourba" during the Tunisian campaign with the Rommel Afrika korps, the "Tiger phobia" started from this moment among British troops when an entire British armor battalion engaged 3 Tigers and Panzer III's from the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion "Kampfgruppe Lueder", the result of the battle was catastrophic for the British, for a total 182 British tanks engaged, 134 were lost, a single Tiger unit knocked out 44 British armor in a single day, all started from there, The "Tiger phobia" was born and will spread among allies divisions like a unstoppable contagious plague, the axis lost their first Tiger on January 20 th 1943 only one month later by a British 6 pdr shot at short range from the rear/side, but the psychologic damage was done and the Tiger phobia will haunt allies tank commanders until the end of the war, no tanks has been feared and loved so much by their fanatic owners during the WWII that the Tiger tank even if his mechanic was far from being perfect, the psychology impact was so great that when a Tiger tank was spotted the allies armor had to withdraw as quicker possible and called artillery or tank hunter fighters to deal with it.

The psychology impact of the Tiger during WWII had no equivalent, no allies tanks could handle direct hits as much the Tiger could, one of the most vivid exemple is coming from the eastern front when one Tiger has been hits 27 times by Russians Anti tank guns (2 times by 45mm/ 14 times by 57mm/ and 11 times by the new russian 76mm!, adding on top of that 227 times by Anti tanks rifles, and still was able to run 76 km more and refit... no wonder that "panzer aces" were coming mostly from Tigers units.

Later the allies aerial superiority will stop this rolling nightmare for allies armored divisions and end for good the Tiger supremacy on the battlefied.

More detailed informations for this unit here: http://www.alanhamby.com/

Tiger's were awesome tanks, they still are.

The first proper effort into a successful Heavy Tank, though it would have lasted longer if it's engine had more capacity, so more armour could be installed without causing the engine to burst into flames.

It's weapon was excellent, gun sights also excellent, and it had reasonable armour, though a better engine would have allowed for more, Stand-off Plates would have helped against normal rounds and Shaped Charge.

V13dweller wrote:Tiger's were awesome tanks, they still are.

The first proper effort into a successful Heavy Tank, though it would have lasted longer if it's engine had more capacity, so more armour could be installed without causing the engine to burst into flames.

It's weapon was excellent, gun sights also excellent, and it had reasonable armour, though a better engine would have allowed for more, Stand-off Plates would have helped against normal rounds and Shaped Charge.

in 42 and 43 it was an unmatched tank. Western allis had motsly only 2 and 6 pounder (57 mm) and tanks like crusaders and crommwells. Russia had only first t-34/76 and it should be said that the 47 mm had better pen stats than the 76 mm zis. The zis was multipurpose and light gun with easy handling and large numbers (103k) and simply the number of shots (direct and indirect) stopped the tigers earlier or later.


The shown stats are cool and i would like to know how many of these 1715 lost Tigers had been destroyed by their own crews or due to engine failures etc. Also Kills/losses of each year would be interessting and maybe also which types of tanks. Also include those 9850 kills light tanks like stuart as well or other russian light tanks?


For the game i think we are not far away from the performence if it is not even better considering that in game engine failures do not exist and also having lower price compared to other tanks as it actually had. It shouldnt be much of an issue to claim up to 5 kills with a tiger, esspecially if those would be sherman (75), crusader and cromwell tanks (and stuarts) in BK

Yeah, I know.

I am very in touch with the Second World War, I have studied the topic extensively for many years.

Speaking of 47mm guns, the Czech 4,7cm KPÚV vz. 36 could penetrate 60mm at 1200 meters (Meet 90 degrees) and 51mm at 700 yards (640 meters) which is pretty impressive for a weapon of this class.

Germany made many mistakes in WWII, and the engine problems could have been out of the picture, had diesel engines advanced further, and faster, the Kharkiv V-2 was an excellent Diesel engine which powered many tanks, if only Germany had an engine that was reliable for many vehicles, instead of the overburdened Maybach 210's and 230's, designed for lighter vehicles.

A better engine could allow for up-armouring, which other tanks with superior engines could handle.