Tiger Heat: German Panzers on the Eastern Front

The MG gunner’s in the King Tigers continued to fire their MGs spitting out thousands of rounds at the fleeing Red Army. Just then, an anti-tank rocket flew from a fleeing Red Army soldier in a long trail of fire and exploded against one of the wheels of a King Tiger. This caused the wheel to fly off and land the other side of the street propped up against a wall. The commander grabbed his MP 40 and joined in laying down fire – as the gunner moved the turret round to the fleeing Red Army. Using the last of his HE rounds, he fired into the centre of the swarming mess. The round exploded and Red Army soldiers were thrown up into the air, their contorted bodies silhouetted against the bright flash from the HE round. This caused the Red Army soldiers to move in all directions trying to make it to the nearest available cover. The Tigers continued to move up and fire off their remaining rounds, stopping at the edge of the Town as fuel and ammunition supplies were nearly exhausted.

The Red Army had been repelled for now, but this would be one of the last victories the German Army would have, before performing a fighting retreat all the way back to Berlin and the fall of the Third Reich. The Tigers had proven themselves to be a great tank and more than a match for the finest Soviet tanks. Tank technology had moved forward immensely during WWII and what had been learnt on the battlefields of the Eastern and Western Front would still be relevant to modern tank battles of today.

TANK PROFILES

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN II – The PzKpfw II was in an interim light tank ordered in 1934 to bridge the gap between the Panzer I and new armoured fighting vehicles the PzKpfw III and PzKpfw IV. The specification called for a ten-ton armoured fighting vehicle with a 20-mm gun in a fully revolving turret. Henschel, Krupp and MAN of Augsburg all responded. Krupps proposal was the simplest. Involving the mounting of a 20-mm cannon and machine gun in the existing PzKpfw I, but it was the tank developed by MAN that was selected for production. MAN produced several prototypes under the cover-name Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper (industrial tractor) and the tank was accepted for production. MAN was responsible for the chassis and Daimler-Benz for the superstructure. The first production Ausfuhrung A tanks were delivered in 1935 and production continued well into 1942, despite the experience of the French campaign in 1940 showing that the tank was obsolete. Several variants were produced, one of the most interesting being an amphibious version intended for the invasion of England in 1940. The Panzarkamfwagen II was powered by a six cylinder Maybach HL62TR 140hp petrol engine. With a top speed of 24 mph and a range of 124 miles. It weighed 9.5 tons.

PANZRKAMPFWAGEN III – The PzKpfw II came about as the German Army decreed that each armoured battalion should be equipped with three companies of relatively light medium tanks and one company of heavier more powerful support tanks (the latter becoming the Panzer IV). The Panzer III tanks was designed because of this. While the Panzer IV was designed for infantry support role, the Panzer III was intended to fight and destroy other tanks. Mass production of the tank began in 1939. The first three production models Ausfuhrungen A, B and C were built in relatively small numbers and were used during the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The D model which came next had thicker armour and a revised cupola. In 1940, Ausfuhrung F entered production. This last production variant had a 50mm gun and was fitted with just six road wheels. The Ausfuhrung G had similar armament, but was fitted with a more powerful engine. By mid-1941 the Panzer III was the most popular German tank and most of the Panzer IIIs had been fitted with a 50mm gun. It was used successfully against the British Army in North Africa in 1941, when every type of British tank was outgunned. The F model was fitted with a Maybach HL120 V-12 300hp petrol engine. It had a top speed of 25 mph and a range of 102.5 miles. It weighed 19.2 tons.