Elephant (tank destroyer)

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Panzerjäger Tiger (P) "Ferdinand / Elefant"
A restored Elefant tank destroyer

A restored Elefant tank destroyer
General properties
crew 6th
length 8.14 m
width 3.38 m
height 2.97 m
Dimensions 65 t
Armor and armament
Armor 80-200 mm
Main armament 8,8 cm PjK 43/2 L / 71
Secondary armament 1 × 7.92mm MG 34
agility
drive Electric drive:
two Siemens-Schuckert motors
with a maximum output of 230 kW each.
Generator drive: two Maybach
twelve-cylinder - Otto engines 120 TRM each with 195 kW (265 hp) of the type HL
continuous power
Top speed 20 km / h
Power / weight 8.15 hp / t
Range 150 km

The tank destroyer Tiger (P) "Ferdinand" , later " Elefant ", ( Sd.Kfz. 184) was a heavy tank destroyer of the Wehrmacht in World War II .

history

development

Based on a design by Ferdinand Porsche , the elephant was again an improvisation and followed the Marder I , II and III tank destroyers, which were only makeshiftly built on different chassis . Porsche had 100 chassis built for its Tiger prototype; his model was rejected in favor of Henschel's draft ( Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger ) in October 1942, so that the 91 remaining drives were not used for the time being. In February 1943, Adolf Hitler ordered that these landing gears should serve as the basis for a tank destroyer .

A special feature of the vehicle was its gasoline-electric drive: two generators powered by gasoline engines supplied electricity for the two electric motors that acted on the rear drive wheels; an idea that Porsche first realized in 1901 as an automobile designer (patent 1896, details here ). However, this complicated hybrid drive turned out to be prone to failure, and the energy losses caused by the drive concept resulted in particularly high fuel consumption. As armament was obtained from the experiences with the successfully used also in the bottom insert 8.8 cm Flak advanced 8.8 cm Pak 43 provided with their 71 caliber lengths achieved an enormous projectile velocity and by their penetrating power of the strongest anti-tank guns of Second World War counted. Since Hitler absolutely wanted to use the new tank destroyer in the battle in the Kursk Bogen , the hasty development took place without sufficient testing by the Heereswaffenamt .

production

In November 1942, the Nibelungenwerk received the order to manufacture 90 ready-to-drive chassis. The Tiger (P) chassis had to be modified extensively to compensate for the overhang of the gun barrel of the over-long 8.8 cm cannon. As a result, the superstructure was attached very far back, which in turn entailed relocating the drive system. Then the further assembly of the vehicles should be carried out by Alkett . However, the renovation was delayed by supply bottlenecks, so that Reich Minister Albert Speer also awarded the Nibelungenwerke the production order for the construction. This eliminated the time-consuming transport of the chassis to Berlin to the Alkett company, which in turn could now concentrate on the increased production of the Sturmgeschütz III . On May 8, 1943, the last “Ferdinand” rolled off the production line in the Nibelungenwerk, as planned, and was delivered to the army . On May 6, 1943, the Krupp company , which also supplied the 8.8 cm L / 71 PaK, received an order for the production of additional spherical bezels for the gun. Krupp was able to hand over this additional armor to the troops on May 13, 1943. A total of 90 Ferdinands were built. One vehicle was given to the weapons testing office for testing, which was later returned to the troops.

commitment

Originally the 90 Ferdinands should be placed under the control of the General of the Artillery and 30 each should go to the assault gun departments 190, 197 and 600. This was changed by Heinz Guderian before their delivery on March 19, 1943 , so that the 90 vehicles were split half between the heavy tank destroyer division 653 and the heavy tank destroyer division 654 .

The Ferdinands were used for the first time at the Citadel company . This took place on a company-by-company basis, sometimes in platoons, with infantry or battle tanks having to cover the flanks. The tank destroyers had enormous firepower due to their powerful cannon and were able to destroy the Soviet standard tank T-34 at a distance of 3500 m head-on, but this first mission failed due to an incorrect deployment strategy, as the vehicles were not on the defensive, but in the offensive were used:

  • Already after the first four days of the attack, around half of the tank destroyers in use had failed due to mechanical problems, as the new drive concept, the steering and the gearbox proved to be unreliable.
  • In addition, the mobility of the vehicle was severely restricted due to the very high ground pressure due to the weight and the high consumption of up to 1000 liters of gasoline per 100 km at a top speed of only 10 to 15 km / h in the field.
  • The vehicles, which were heavily armored with 200 millimeters at the front and 80 millimeters at the side, were able to break through the enemy front and could hardly be destroyed by artillery, but under the barrage of enemy artillery, other units could not follow them, and the isolated and isolated ones in the enemy Slow vehicles wandering around the terrain could then be specifically switched off.

If it came to close combat, Ferdinand had no chance, as he did not have a machine gun for close defense and his barely pivoting cannon was completely unsuitable for defending against individual infantrymen: soldiers from the anti-tank units worked their way up to the tank in the blind spot of the gun and attached or detained explosive charges waited until the loading gunner opened the ejection hatch at the stern to eject cartridges and then hurled an incendiary bottle into the fighting compartment.

In the course of Soviet counterattacks, more than 20 vehicles had to be abandoned and blown up due to technical defects or other reasons.

As a defensive weapon, the Ferdinands' combat value was very high; a single gun near Kursk could destroy 22 enemy tanks in one morning, which due to the great distance actually thought they were safe. Despite the high technical failure rates, for example, the heavy tank destroyer detachment 653 was able to score a total of 320 kills with 13 losses from the start of the offensive until July 27th.

Overall, the two departments destroyed more than 500 enemy tanks, 20 anti-tank gun and 100 guns.

The remaining tank destroyers were used on the Dnepr front until autumn 1943 , but then deported for technical overhaul. Despite the increase in combat value and basic repairs, the technical problems could not be completely eliminated.

From February 1944 the tank destroyers came to Italy under the name "Elefant" , where they were used against the Allied landing operation at Anzio / Nettuno , among other things . They proved to be technically more sophisticated, but had problems with roads and bridges due to their size and their 70 t weight, the large and slow vehicles were targeted by enemy fighter-bombers , their operational readiness suffered from a constant lack of spare parts. As a result of the recurring faults in the drive area as well as the lack of spare parts and fuel, many vehicles were abandoned and blown up by their crews. Direct kills were rather rare due to the strong armor, failures due to mine or chain damage and air attacks were more frequent.

In October 1944 the heavy tank destroyer company 614 was formed, equipped with fourteen tank destroyers Elefant of the 2nd / heavy tank destroyer division 653 and relocated to the Eastern Front. In April 1945, the unit fought with four Elefant tank destroyers near Zossen south of Berlin and then went down with the 9th Army .

Naming

On February 6, 1943, the name "Ferdinand" was officially confirmed for the creative work of Ferdinand Porsche at a leadership conference. After the Battle of Kursk, 48 of the 50 remaining vehicles were retrofitted and modernized between October 1943 and early 1944. The retrofitting included a MG 34 as a bow MG, changes or reinforcements in the armor protection, wider chains to reduce ground pressure, installation of a commander's cupola and improvement of the drive. After the upgrade, the name was officially changed to "elephant". Thus the name "Ferdinand" describes the early version and the name "Elefant" describes the late version of the Tiger (P) tank destroyer.

Technical specifications

A "Ferdinand", the original form of the "elephant", in the Kubinka tank museum
Panzerjäger "Elefant" (model)
Damaged "Elephant" near Nettuno, Italy 1944
German infantrymen pass a broken "elephant"
Technical data of the tank destroyer Elefant
0 General characteristics
Weight 65 t
length 8.14 m
width 3.38 m
height 2.97 m
crew 6th
number of pieces 91
0 armament
Main armament 8.8 cm piece 43/1 L / 71
Secondary armament 1 × MG 34 (retrofitting 1943)
Ammunition supply StuK: 55
MG: 600
Armor
Bug 100 + 100 mm
pages 80 mm
Rear 80 mm
Driver front 200 mm
agility
Otto engines
(generator drive) 		Two water-cooled twelve-cylinder - V-engine
type Maybach HL 120 TRM (per 265 hp at 2600 min -1 )
Overall performance 530 HP (continuous output)
Generators two SSW aGV with 500 volts each
Electric motors (drive) two SSW D1495a with 230 kW each
Speed ​​limit road 20 km / h
Top speed terrain 15 km / h
Fuel supply 1020 l
Fuel consumption 700 l / 100 km road
Driving range 150 km (road)
90 (terrain)
Ground clearance 48 cm
Fording depth 100 cm
Max. Trench width 264 cm
Climbing ability 78 cm
Climbing ability up to 22 °

Notes on the "Technical data" table

  1. ↑ High-performance engine, 11.9 l displacement , dry sump lubrication , magneto ignition .

Preserved copies

Two copies have been preserved.

  • There is a Ferdinand version in the Kubinka tank museum .
  • The tank in the United States Army Ordnance Museum , moving from Aberdeen (Maryland) to Petersburg (Virginia) since 2010, was captured in Italy in 1944. Its exterior was renovated in 2006 and the camouflage paint used in Italy was restored. Two shrapnel from an M61 shell, which was used by several American tanks such as the M4 Sherman or M10 Wolverine , were found on a drive wheel. From December 2016 to January 2019 it was on loan at the Bovington Tank Museum (Great Britain).

See also

literature

  • Walter J. Spielberger: Heavy tank destroyers: development - production - use. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01517-X .

Web links

Commons : Jagdpanzer Elefant  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hartmut Knittel: Tank production in the Second World War. Mittler Verlag, 1988, ISBN 3-8132-0291-7 , p. 101.
  2. ↑ Memories of a Soldier. Autobiography. Original 1951 published by K. Vowinckel Verlag, reprint 18th edition: Motorbuch, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-87943-693-2 .
  3. ^ A b MGFA: The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 8, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , pp. 162-163.
  4. ↑ cf. Specific information on fighting the Ferdinand / Elefant tank destroyer to US soldiers in the "Journal of Recognition", February 1944 ( online )
  5. ↑ Andrew Devey: Jagdtiger The Strongest King. Podzun-Pallas Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-7909-0722-7 .
  6. ^ Walter J. Spielberger: Heavy tank destroyers: Development - Production - Use. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01517-X .
  7. ↑ Tank Museum's Elefant is returning to USA. www.bournemouthecho.co.uk, accessed July 6, 2020 .