Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf E (Tiger I)
Service, specifications, statistics and 3D model of the heavy German Tiger tank of World War II.
Combat service
Table of Contents
The first unit, which was equipped with the Tiger tank was the first platoon of 502 heavy Panzer Abteilung (detachment), which was hurriedly assembled and rushed in action to the Leningrad area in August 1942. Personally planned by Hitler in detail, the operation ended in disaster, and the Russians were early informed about the new German heavy tank.
Despite this, its appearance for the Allies was a shock, and the Tiger tank soon earned the reputation of being the greatest threat on the battlefield. For example, in 1944 in France, the single Tiger tank of Michael Wittmann stopped a whole division and knocked-out 25 Allied tanks before being destroyed.
In general, the Tiger tank was more effective in the defense instead of attack, because the great power of the gun over long distances combined with good armor was the full potential.
Usually the Tiger I was the equipment of special heavy tank detachments with 30 vehicles each. But the Pzkpfw VI Tiger I was also issued to the heavy tank detachments and heavy tank companies of three Waffen-SS divisions, and to the Grossdeutschland Division. Still in service at the end of the war, the Tiger tanks had taken a heavy toll of enemy armor on all fronts.
When wiped out artillery, AT guns, AFVs, infantry soldiers, as well as other equipment and weapons are listed, the Tiger I tank most likely done the best kill-to-loss ratio of any tank in modern military history. There’s no question that the Tiger tank’s triumph had been mainly because of its effectively all-round protection; and not just a good frontal armor like the Panther tank for example.
For comparison, average number of hits to knock out each type of tank:
Tank Type | Average number of hits | Average number of penetrations |
|---|---|---|
4.2 | 2.6 |
|
2.55 | 1.9 |
|
1.63 | 1.55 |
|
1.2 | 1.2 |
Comprehensive investigation displays the Tiger I in fact gained a better Kill-to-loss-ratio compared to the King Tiger. But this had been as a result of strategic circumstance in 1945, which ended in numerous King Tiger’s being wrecked by their crews to avoid capture or abandoned.
Users: Germany.
Animated 3D model PzKpfw VI Tiger I
Specifications Tiger tank
Specifications:
PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I | Specification |
|---|---|
Type | heavy battle tank |
Engine | Maybach HL210P45 (later HL230P45) V-12, water-cooled gasoline engine with 700 hp |
Gearbox | 8 forward, 4 reverse |
Crew | 5 |
Length | 27 ft 8.68 in |
Width | 12 ft 1.67 in |
Height | 9 ft 7.35 in |
Weight | 57 tons |
Maximum Speed | 23.6 mph |
Cross-country speed | 12.4 mph |
Fuel consumption per 100 miles | 912 litres on road, 1,360 litres cross-country |
Fuel | 534 litres |
Road radius | 87 miles |
Cross-country radius | 62 miles |
Vertical obstacle | 2 ft 7.5 in |
Trench crossing | 5 ft 10.9 in |
Fording depth | 3 ft 11.2 in |
Turning circle | 2 ft 20.5 in |
Climbing power | 35° |
Armor:
PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I | mm | angle |
|---|---|---|
Turret front | 100 | 8° |
Turret side | 80 | 0° |
Turret rear | 80 | 0° |
Turret top | 25 | 81-90° |
Superstructure front | 100 | 10° |
Superstructure side | 80 | 0° |
Superstructure top | 25 | 90° |
Hull front | 100 | 24° |
Hull side | 60 | 0° |
Hull rear | 80 | 8° |
Hull bottom | 25 | 90° |
Gun mantlet | 100-110 | 0° |
Armament and Equipment:
PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I | Specification |
|---|---|
Main armament | 8.8 cm KwK36 L/56 |
Rounds | 92 |
Traverse | 360° |
Elevation | -9° to +10° |
Muzzle velocity Pzgr39 | 773 m/s |
Muzzle velocity Pzgr40 | 930 m/s |
Shell weight Pzgr39 | 22.49 lbs |
Shell weight Pzgr40 | 16.09 lbs |
Secondary armament | 7.92mm MG 34 in hull front (traverse 15° left to 15° right, elevation -7° to +20°), 7.92mm MG 34 coaxially to gun (together 4,800 rounds), later additional anti-aircraft machine-gun on the cupola |
Radio | FuG5 (upt to 2.5 miles range) |
Telescopic sight | TZF9b, later TZF9c (up to 2.5 miles aiming) |
Penetration mm at 30° armour plates of 8.8 cm KwK36 L/56:
Range | Pzgr39 | Pzgr40 (limited numbers) |
|---|---|---|
Penetration 100 meters | 120 mm | 171 mm |
Penetration 500 meters | 110 mm | 156 mm |
Penetration 1,000 meters | 100 mm | 138 mm |
Penetration 1,500 meters | 91 mm | 123 mm |
Penetration 2,000 meters | 84 mm | 110 mm |
Production:
PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I | figures |
|---|---|
Production | from July 1942 to August 1944 |
Price per unit | RM 260,000 RM (RM 300,000 fully equipped) = c.$ 117,000 ($ 135,000) = c. £ 29,250 (£ 33,750 ) |
Total production figure (all) | 1,354 |
Service statistics of PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I:
Year | Available | Production | Losses |
|---|---|---|---|
pre 1939 | - | - | - |
1939 | - | - | - |
1940 | - | - | - |
1941 | - | - | - |
1942 | - | 77 | 3 |
1943 | 65 (1.1.) | 647 | 307 |
1944 | 395 (1.1.) | 623 | 783 |
1945 | 245 (1.1.) | - | 62 (only Jan.) |
TOTAL | - | 1,343 "1 | 155" |
Monthly production figures PzKpfw VI Ausf E Tiger I:
Month | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
|---|---|---|---|
January | - | 35 | 93 |
February | - | 32 | 95 |
March | - | 41 | 86 |
April | - | 46 | 104 |
May | - | 50 | 100 |
June | - | 60 | 75 |
July | - | 65 | 64 |
August | 8 | 60 | 6 |
September | 3 | 85 | - |
October | 11 | 50 | - |
November | 25 | 60 | - |
December | 30 | 65 | - |
Total | 78 | 649 | 623 |
Video of a Tiger I H1 in action with computer games
In addition, the following video of action with the Tiger I H1 in a ‘Realistic Ground Battle’ of the free2play game War Thunder:
Who does not know the F2P tank and plane war game War Thunder can download it from here for free:
References and literature
Encyclopedia of German Tanks of World War Two (P.Chamberlain, H.L.Doyle)
Kraftfahrzeuge und Panzer der Reichswehr, Wehrmacht und Bundeswehr (Werner Oswald)
Krieg der Panzer (Piekalkiewicz)
Operation Barbarossa: the Complete Organisational and Statistical Analysis, and Military Simulation, Volume I – IIIB (Nigel Askey)
Panzer und andere Kampffahrzeuge von 1916 bis heute (Christopher F. Foss, John F. Milsom, Colonel John Stafford Weeks, Captain Georffrey Tillotson, Richard M. Ogorkiewicz)
The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II (Chris Bishop)
Operation Goodwood: July 1944 – A Corridor of Death (P.Moore)
Tigers in Combat I + II (W. Schneider)
Sledgehammers: Strength and Flaws of Tiger Tank Batailions in WWII (C.W.Wilbeck)
Elefant – Jagdtiger – Sturmtiger (Wolfgang Schneider)
Tiger tanks (Michael Green)
Your claims for the Tiger’s kill counts are bogus.
More than enough work has been done to argue the contrary:
>forum.worldoftanks.com/index.php?/topic/393107-tackling-the-tigers-killloss-ratio/
>panzerworld.com/german-tank-kill-claims
The Tiger was not as effective as your article portrays it. Not even close.
I guess you should read some good standard reference books like ‘Soviet tanks’ (J.Zaloga), Operation Barbarossa Vol. I (Nigel Askey) or Tiger tanks (Michael Green) before you claim such dubious claims with references to trash forums or dubious websites.
These claims are so likely as the Soviets claimed to knock out 700 Tigers alone during the Battle of Kursk (=) or British Typhoon pilots reported 252 Panzers destroyed during Operation Goodwood, but Allied research teams later found just 10 knocked-out by planes.
For this reason, all successes reported by crews or subunits on enemy vehicles destroyed were reduced by a factor based on experience. These reduced figures were then included in the statistics issued to the higher military staffs for their work – and not for war propaganda!
Unfortunately, there are always contemporaries – especially on the Internet – who want to distort or question facts and statistics with hypocritical argumentation in order to make themselves interesting, rehash old familiar facts or pursue other interests.