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Elefant (German for "elephant") was a heavy tank destroyer (self propelled anti-tank gun) used by German Panzerjäger (anti-tank units) during World War II. Ninety-one units were built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand (after its designer Ferdinand Porsche) using VK 45.01 (P) tank hulls which had been produced for the Tiger I tank before the competing Henschel design had been selected.
The Pak 43 was the most powerful anti-tank gun of the Wehrmacht to see service in significant numbers, also serving in modified form as the 8.8 cm KwK 43 main gun on the Tiger II tank, the open-top Nashorn and fully enclosed, casemate-hulled Elefant and Jagdpanther tank destroyers.
To replace the first generation tank transporter then in use, as well as to be able to haul the armoured vehicles then in service (among them the Leopard 1 Main Battle Tank), the German Army asked Faun GmbH to develop a new all-terrain heavy tractor, and in parallel Krupp was asked to develop the tank transport semi-trailer.
In addition to the Panzer IV, 576 self-propelled guns (Sturmgeschütz IV and Jagdpanzer IV) were produced and the factory also converted the Porsche version of the Tiger I to the Elefant. The Nibelungenwerk was the only German tank factory which had a well-structured assembly line, with main and secondary lines.
Excluding Czech-built tanks, on 1 September 1939 the invasion of Poland was undertaken with the German armoured force of 3,195 tanks evenly split between the Pz I training tank and the Pz II light tank; of the main battle tanks, only 98 Pz IIIs were in service during the invasion of Poland, along with 211 Pz IVs, with 215 tanks of various ...
The next day, the 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion, equipped with Elefant tank destroyers, was attached to the 508th. [ 5 ] Between 21 and 24 February, the battalion claimed twenty US tanks; [ 5 ] seventeen while using small elements to support several unsuccessful attempts to reduce the beachhead from Aprilia, and three M4 Shermans which had ...
OSLO/BERLIN (Reuters) -France's decision to send light AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles to Ukraine prompted renewed calls from within German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition for Berlin to send ...
A few Porsche Tigers were made, with a different chassis and hybrid gasoline-electric powerplant, but these were not as reliable as the Henschel model. Many of the Porsche chassis were converted into tank destroyers, known as Ferdinand then rebuilt as Elefant. Variant: Sturmtiger was armed with a 380 mm rocket.