K-Wagen (Großkampfwagen)

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K-Wagen (Großkampfwagen)
Development project

Development project

General properties
crew 27 (commander, artillery officer, 2 drivers, 2 machinists, 12 gunners, 8 machine gunmen, 1 signalist)
length 13 m
width 6.1 m
height 3 m
Dimensions 120 t
Armor and armament
Armor 30 mm
Main armament 4 on-board cannons 7.7 cm
Secondary armament 7 MG 08
agility
drive 2 × V6 Daimler-Benz
955 kW (1300 hp)
Top speed 8 km / h
Power / weight 8 kW / t (11 PS / t)
Range km

The K-Wagen (Kolossal-Wagen, also Großkampfwagen) was a German tank project from the First World War .

history

Its development began before the first A7V was completed. The order was placed on March 31, 1917, and the construction of the K-car took place at Wegmann & Co. in Kassel . The design of the large combat vehicle was worked out by Joseph Vollmer , a captain of the reserve and engineer of the traffic engineering examination commission, and a captain Weger. The large combat vehicle was originally supposed to be around 13 m long and weigh more than 100 t, be powered by two engines of 200 hp each and have a crew of 27 men ( commander , artillery officer, two drivers, two machinists, twelve gunners, eight machine gunmen and a signalist). The armor should be up to 3 cm thick. Four 77 mm cannons and seven machine guns were planned as armament (initially two flamethrowers were planned). In the course of the development, the weight increased to 140 to 150 t, the engine was increased to 650 HP each. By shortening the vehicle, the weight was reduced to 120 t. Due to constant delays, none of the ten planned vehicles were completed. One was almost ready for delivery and another was almost ready, but without motors. The (provisional) German leadership of the post-war period asked the Allies for a test drive, but had to have both tanks scrapped.

K car

literature

  • Wolfgang Schneider and Rainer Strasheim: Waffen-Arsenal Volume 112 German combat vehicles in World War I , Podzun-Pallas Verlag GmbH, 1988, ISBN 3-7909-0337-X .

Web links

Commons : K-Wagen  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files