The Tiger II is a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182.. It was also known informally as the Königstiger. Contemporaneous Allied soldiers usually called it the King Tiger or Royal Tiger.
The Panzer I was a light tank/tankette produced in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Its name is short for Panzerkampfwagen I, abbreviated as PzKpfw I. The tank's official German ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 101.
The Panzer II is the common name used for a family of German tanks used in World War II. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen II.
The Panzerkampfwagen IV, commonly known as the Panzer IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed, the turret being attached before the testing grounds were captured by advancing Soviet military forces.
The Panther tank, officially Panzerkampfwagen V Panther with ordnance inventory designation: Sd.Kfz. 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to the end of the war in May 1945.
Nazi Germany developed numerous tank designs used in World War II. In addition to domestic designs, Germany also used various captured and foreign-built tanks.
The German Panzerkampfwagen Neubaufahrzeug, abbreviated as PzKpfw Nb.Fz, series of tank prototypes were a first attempt to create a medium tank for the Wehrmacht after Adolf Hitler had come to power. Multi-turreted, heavy and slow, they were not considered successful, which led to only five being produced. These were primarily used for propaganda purposes and training, though three took part in the Battle of Norway in 1940. Pictures of the Neubaufahrzeuge were displayed with different turret models and orientations to fool allied spies; American and Soviet agents independently reported that the Germans had two new heavy tanks, the Panzer V and VI. In reality, these tanks were far from the Panzer V Panther and the Panzer VI Tiger.
The Panzerkampfwagen I was a light tank produced in Germany in the 1930s. The Panzer I was built in several variants and was the basis for a number of variants listed below.
The Sonderkraftfahrzeug 8, usually abbreviated to Sd.Kfz. 8, was a German half-track designed by Daimler-Benz that saw widespread use in World War II. Its main roles were as a prime mover for heavy towed guns such as the 21 cm Mörser 18, the 17 cm Kanone 18 and the 10.5 cm FlaK 38, however it was also capable of serving as an infantry transport. Approximately 4,000 were produced between 1938 and 1945. It was used in every campaign fought by the Germans in World War II, notably the Invasion of Poland, the Battle of France, the Balkans Campaign, the Eastern Front, the North African Campaign, the Battle of Normandy and the Italian Campaign.
This article deals with the tanks serving in the German Army throughout history, such as the World War I tanks of the Imperial German Army, the interwar and World War II tanks of the Nazi German Wehrmacht, the Cold War tanks of the West German and East German Armies, all the way to the present day tanks of the Bundeswehr.
The 3.7 cm Flakzwilling auf Panther Fahrgestell or Flakpanzer 341 was a German self-propelled anti-aircraft gun designed by Rheinmetall during World War II. It was intended to be armed with two 3.7 cm Flak 341 gun in a fully enclosed, rotating turret on the hull of a Panther medium tank. In the end, only a wooden mock-up of the turret on a Panther chassis was built.
The VK 30.01 (P) was the official designation for a heavy tank prototype proposed in Germany. Only two prototype chassis were built. The tank never entered serial production, but was further developed into the VK 45.01 Tiger (P). Porsche called it the Typ (Type) 100.
The Kama tank school was a secret training school for tank commanders operated by the German Reichswehr near Kazan, Soviet Union. It operated from 1929 to 1933. The school was established in order to allow the German military to circumvent the military restrictions on tank research spelled out in the Treaty of Versailles. Apart from Kama, for the same reason Germany also operated the Lipetsk fighter-pilot school (1926–33) and a gas warfare facility, Gas-Testgelände Tomka (1928–31).
The Leichttraktor (Vs.Kfz.31) was a German experimental tank designed during the Interwar Period.
The VK 45.01 (P), also informally known as Tiger (P) or Porsche Tiger, was a gasoline-electric drive heavy tank prototype designed by Porsche in Germany. Losing to its Henschel competitor on trials, it was not selected for mass production and the Henschel design was produced as the Tiger I. Most of the already produced chassis were rebuilt as Elefant tank destroyers.
The VK 20 series were the proposed replacements of the Panzer IV and Panzer III tanks with entries by MAN, Krupp and Daimler Benz. It was initially projected to weigh 20 tonnes, but grew to 24 tonnes. By November 1941, the designs almost reached completion but against the professional judgement of Wa Pruef 6, political interference in December 1941 led to all of the designs being dropped. The root of this adverse decision came from encounters with increasing numbers of T-34 and KV-1 tanks. Reichsminister Fritz Todt declared that a new tank, 30 tons in weight should be designed and produced. Oberst Fichtner argued that time would be lost developing this new 30 ton tank, the number produced would be reduced and engineer bridges could not support such a tank. This new tank chosen from the VK 30 series would become the Panther, replacing the VK 20 series. This decision would place the rushed MAN Panther into production as Germany's new standard medium tank, which was plagued with issues never fully addressed especially those caused by MAN's final drive. It would also arrive too late, with Germany's position in a steep decline, having lost the initiative.
The Schmalturm was a tank turret designed for use on the Panther Ausf. F medium tank. There was a Krupp proposal to fit it onto the Panzer IV medium tank as well. The turret's shape resembled the Soviet T-34 tank turret with a narrow conical gun mantlet resembling German Jagdpanzer mantlets. It featured a narrow front to maximize protection while minimizing weight. It was both lighter and easier to manufacture than the standard Panther turret. The turret had a stereoscopic rangefinder with lenses on either side of the turret, located in spherical bulges. No Schmalturms entered series production.
The Panzerkampfwagen II Ausf. L "Luchs" is a German light tank from the Second World War, developed between 1940 and 1942 by Daimler-Benz and MAN. The Luchs was the only Panzer II design with the Schachtellaufwerk overlapping/interleaved road wheels and "slack track" configuration to enter series production, with 100 being built from September 1943 to January 1944 in addition to the conversion of the four Ausf. M tanks. Originally given the experimental designation VK 13.03, it was adopted under the alternate name Panzerspähwagen II and given the popular name Luchs. The Luchs was larger than the Panzer II Ausf. G in most dimensions. With a six speed transmission, it could reach a speed of 60 km/h (37 mph) with a range of 290 km (180 mi). The FuG 12 and FuG Spr radios were installed, while 330 rounds of 20 mm and 2,250 rounds of 7.92 mm ammunition were carried.
