Top Ten Tanks- #3: Tiger

With just the mention of its name the Tiger becomes one of the most feared tanks of all time!

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[Theakker3B]

3:32 I agree that the Tiger had a lot of problems, but there is no way I would call it "totally useless." It caused a shitload of death and destruction.

[The155mmHowitzer]

It's funny they compare it to an elephant.

The Elefant/Ferdinand was a German WWII tank destroyer (ca 200mm front armour).

[Nanovirus5995]

You just cut the elephant. Lots and you're done.

[weirdguy564]

Something tells me that if you took a Panzer Tiger vs a Carthaginian elephant, the Tiger would win.

[LaughingGravy31]

@Dreachon

Yep.

Encounters with the Tigers in Tunisia were the reason why the British were desperate to put the 17 pounder gun on a tank.

[Dreachon]

@LaughingGravy31

For the british you can actually ask why they were so franticly trying to cram that 17 pounder on almost any chassis they had in order to get it mobile, look at the archer, M10C, A30 challenger, A30 avenger, A34 comet, frantic attempts to get it in a churchill.

[LaughingGravy31]

@Dreachon

Good points Dreachon.

If the Tiger was such a disaster then why the the Soviets become desperate enough to come up with the SU-152, the SU-85, T-34/85 and finally the IS-2 and why did the British come up with the Firefly and Centurion and the Americans the Sherman 76mm, M36 and finally the Pershing.

The Tiger scared ALL three major allied powers into trying to counter it with bigger or better AFVs.

[Dreachon]

@tyskbulle

For a disaster the Tiger did force both the western allies and the russians to rethink about their own guns and tank design.

The tiger directly forced both of them to look for new weapons and tactics to combat the both the Tiger and the german heavy tank formations.

It was the Tiger that forced the russians to restart working on a new heavy tank, it was the Tiger that forced them to discard the 85mm gun and install the 122mm.

[LaughingGravy31]

@tyskbulle

Not long after the Panther was declared 'fully combat capable' by Guderian in Feb 1944 the Tiger I ceased being produced.

You may argue that the King Tiger was probably not needed seeing as the Panther was fully functional by then but the Tiger I was a valuable and very worthy tanks to have on the battlefield in 1943 and the first half of 1944.

The Panther's loss rate from Kursk to early 1944 was very high and often the Tigers were the tanks to pull German ass out of the fire.

[LaughingGravy31]

@tyskbulle

""But the Panther tank, whitch was better then the tiger whit its speed, is a perfect example of german engineering that was cheap and superior""

Did you know that the Panther tank wasn't declared combat ripe until February 1944 by Guderian? The Panther throughout the second half of 1943 was seen as a disappointment and it took a long time to iron out it's teething problems. The Tiger had already been in combat for a year and half and proving it's worth by then.

[LaughingGravy31]

""Most historians agrees whit me""

Most 'historians' who agree with you are not specialists in armour or experts on the Tiger battalions themselves. They have a peripheral knowledge and not a specialised one. Most of them repeat tired old cliches.

Those who comment in the video above are a case in point.

Please, tell me what they should have done if they built zero Tigers? What would they have built instead?

[LaughingGravy31]

@tyskbulle

""The allies proved in France that the M4 Shermans shear numbers could just by pass most of the german armor.""

The Battle of Villers Bocage put the allied drive on Caen back almost another month.

""And the fear factor didnt stop engagements.""

The fear factor actually made allied advances slower and much more cautious.

The Tiger tanks slowed down and prolonged the allied advance in WW2. That is not opinion but a fact. It did so on the eastern front as well.