Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

From early 1943 to mid-1944, the main opponents of the Tiger on the Eastern Front were the assault guns based on T-34 and KV-1 chassis. When it was discovered that the existing SU-76 and SU-122 types could not penetrate the Tiger’s armour at any distance under 1,000 meters, the Soviets decided to create a new assault gun, the SU-85, armed with an adaptation of the 85mm anti-aircraft gun. Production of the SU-122 was stopped and the SU-85 was adopted in its place. It was later followed by the SU-100 medium assault gun. By mid-1943, SU-152 heavy assault gun entered service. The SU-152 was based on the KV-1 heavy tank and was armed 152mm howitzer. It was nicknamed Zveroboi (Animal Killer). At the end of 1943, a new assault gun, the ISU-152, based on IS-2 heavy tank was produced. It was armed with a very powerful 152mm howitzer. The shell of this gun could penetrate any part of the Tiger’s armour and even cut the turret from the hull. The ISU-152 was nicknamed “Animal Hunter”. The weight of the AP (Armour Piercing) shell was 48kg, while the high explosive shell was 41kg.

Using assault guns to their maximum ability, the Red Army fought as best as it could against the formidable Tiger. The new heavy tank the IS-1 was developed at the end of 1943. The Red Army received its first IS-1 tanks in February of 1944. This was followed by the IS-2 heavy tank. The IS tanks had a low profile, lower than the Tiger or the Sherman. The turret and front armour plate were 100mm thick. The side armour plates were 75mm. The IS-1 tank was armed with an 85 mm D-5T and the IS-2 with a more powerful 122mm D-25T gun that had a 16-foot-long barrel. The downside of the D-25T was that it used a separate shell and powder charge, resulting in a lower rate of fire and reduced ammunition capacity due to having to carry a charge and projectile, which put the IS-2 at a disadvantage. Soviet proving-ground tests claimed that the D-25 could penetrate the frontal armour of a Panther tank at 1.5 miles.

The IS tanks had a great advantage in comparison to the Tiger I because of their sloped armour plates that gave them better penetration resistance. With these tanks, the Red Army finally had armour that was better than the Tiger and equal to the King Tiger. During March 1944, the first IS-2s were tested in action and proved their power. More than 3,000 IS-2 tanks were produced by the end of the war. In the opinion of Hasso von Manteuffel, it was the best tank of WW II. Although others state it was the Panther or Tiger.

CHAPTER SEVEN – Valley High

March 1943

German armour on the other side of the valley opened up, bringing down an intense barrage of fire on the group of T-34s.The first T-34 was just about to move out of sight, though still advancing towards the German armour. It was letting off rounds, which hit the Tigers frontal area and just bounced off. The Tiger fired back and the shells slammed into the turret knocking it clean off. Behind the first T-34 was a second T-34 advancing towards the German permission and firing at the same time. One of it shells hit a Marder III and blew the gunner clean out of the open top gunner’s position. His body was ripped in two by the force of the blast. The Marder III was a tank destroyer with a captured Soviet 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun or German 7.5 cm PaK 40, in an open-topped cupola on top of a Panzer 38(t) chassis. They offered the crew very little protection and the thin armour made them vulnerable but they proved to be very reliable. The Pak 40 gun was originally an anti-tank gun developed in 1939-1941 by Rheinmetall. The Pak 40 formed the backbone of German anti-tank guns for the latter part of World War II, mostly in towed form mounted on a various chassis as the Marder I, II and III. The Marder I was built on the base of the Tracteur Blindé 37L (Lorraine), a French artillery tractor/armoured personnel carrier of which the Germans had acquired more than three hundred after the Fall of France in 1940. Mounted with the same Pak 40 gun. The Marder II used either captured and re-engineered Soviet 7.62 cm guns firing German ammunition or the Pak 40 gun and was mounted on a Panzer II chassis.