Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 VK 45.02 (P) was the official designation for an unsuccessful heavy tank project designed by Ferdinand Porsche in Nazi Germany during World War II to compete with Henschel's design. [1] Development of this vehicle started in April 1942, with two design variants (Ausf. A and Ausf. B) incorporating different features.
The VK 45.01 (P) chassis was later chosen to be the basis of a new heavy Jagdpanzer (although designated a Panzerjäger) which would eventually be called the Ferdinand and mount the new, longer, 88 mm Pak 43/2. [3] Only one tank went into service as a command tank in the Ferdinand unit, and served in Panzerjäger Abteilung 653. [4]
The 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion (German: Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653) was a tank destroyer unit of the German Wehrmacht active during World War II. It was equipped with Ferdinand and later Jagdtiger tank destroyers. Elements of the battalion served on the Eastern, Western, and Italian fronts between 1943 and 1945.
A tank recovery version of the Porsche Tiger I , and one Porsche Tiger I, was issued to the 654th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, which was equipped with the Ferdinand/Elefant. In Italy, a demolition carrier version of the Tiger I without a main gun was built by maintenance crews in an effort to find a way to clear minefields.
The Jagdpanther was preceded by two attempts at mounting an 8.8 cm gun as a self-propelled anti-tank weapon; Ferdinand - also known as Panzerjäger Tiger (P) - using the ninety-one leftover Porsche-built VK 45.01 (P) chassis from the Tiger tank competition it lost to Henschel in 1942, and the Nashorn on the Geschützwagen III/IV (which used a ...
The first tank type produced was the two-man, Panzer I light tank, designed and produced by the Krupp works as a training vehicle. [6] It was not designed for use in combat; instead, the main battle tank of the German army was to be the Panzer III but delays in its development and manufacture led to the production of an interim vehicle, the ...
The Czech LT-38 tank, then in production, was produced for German use as the Panzer 38(t) ("t" standing for tschechisch, German for Czech). By the start of the war, 78 Panzer 38(t) tanks had been produced. Germany continued producing the Panzer 38(t) during the war. By early 1942, it was clearly obsolete.