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The Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger"; officially designated Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf. B [ citation needed ] ) is a German casemate -type heavy tank destroyer ( Jagdpanzer ) of World War II . It was built upon the slightly lengthened chassis of a Tiger II .
The Jagdtiger was the heaviest armoured fighting vehicle produced during the war, mounting a 128 mm main gun inside a 79-tonne chassis. [3] It was only produced in very small numbers - around 80 were built - and would only be issued to two units; the 512th and the 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion.
The 12.8 cm Pak 44 ended up becoming the standard main armament for the Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyer and a tank gun variant was the planned main armament for many future super-heavy tank designs in development during the last months of World War II, including the fully turreted Panzerkampfwagen Maus and E-100, as the 12,8 cm KwK 44 L/55 main gun.
A few examples of the Tiger II-based Jagdtiger were also completed with the 8.8 cm weapon due to a shortage of the 12.8 cm Pak 44, but these tank destroyers are not believed to have seen operational service. Pak 43 on cruciform mount, in towing configuration 8.8 cm Pak 43/41 at US Army Ordnance Museum
The gutted wreck of a destroyed Jagdtiger of the 653rd's 1st Company in Lorraine, France, in January 1945. The 3rd Company, meanwhile, returned west to rejoin the 1st Company, which had withdrawn to Vienna with only four operational Elefants. In September, both companies were issued with newly-fielded Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyers. [2]
It was armed with the long barrelled (71 calibres) 8.8 cm KwK 43 anti-tank cannon. [b] The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless Jagdpanzer anti-tank vehicle. [13] The Tiger II was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army and the Waffen-SS.
The complete vehicle was 10.2 m (33 ft) long, 3.71 m (12.2 ft) wide and 3.63 m (11.9 ft) high. Weighing about 188 metric tons, the Maus's main armament was the Krupp-designed 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 gun, based on the 12.8 cm Pak 44 towed anti-tank gun also used in the casemate-type Jagdtiger tank destroyer, with a coaxial 75 mm KwK 44 L/36.5 gun.
At 6.24 m (20.5 ft), the length of the KwK 43's barrel was over 1.3 metres longer than of that of the 8.8 cm KwK 36 used for the Tiger I.The cartridge of the KwK 43's shell was also considerably longer (at 82.2 centimetres (32.4 in)) and wider than that of the KwK 36's, meaning that the KwK 43 allows for more room for a heavier propellant charge in its cartridge case than the KwK 36 could.