Yes, you read that right, anti-aircraft gun. The Tiger also sported a 88mm KwK 36L/56 anti-aircraft gun. That meant, to kill it, you would have to fire a round at the rear of the Tiger, and that’s not mentioning the fact that you had to get to the rear first. The Tiger had 120mm thick armor on the front, with 80mm thick armor on its sides. Yet, with increased weight, comes increased armor and firepower. This increased weight slowed it down considerably, and it also limited the type of terrain the tank could fight on, since some bridges were not designed to hold up something that heavy. Now, to figure out how the Tiger could be so effective in such a short time, let’s look at the specifications of the tank.

Impressive stat line for a tank unit using a fairly new tank, which was used in large numbers at the Battle of Kursk…which started on July 5th, 1943. As noted by Marcus Cowper and Christopher Pannell, a German tank unit, the 503 Schwere Panzer Abteilung, claimed to have destroyed 501 enemy tanks, 388anti-tank guns, 79 artillery pieces, and 7 airplanes, starting from July 5th, 1943 until September 21, 1943.

The Tiger was meant to handle both Soviet models, which it did with brutal efficiency. The Panther was also designed to combat the T-34, but that was mentioned in my earlier post. This iron war monger was designed and created as the Germans response to the emergence of the Soviet T-34 and KW tank series. More specifically, the Tiger I Heavy Tank.

Tiger tank versus t34