Tiger Attack
- Episode aired 2003
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
7
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The history of the German Tiger tank and its role within the panzer forces.The history of the German Tiger tank and its role within the panzer forces.The history of the German Tiger tank and its role within the panzer forces.
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Big!
This was quite a device. It was the biggest, heaviest, best-armored, best-armed, clumsiest tank of the war. It was designed by Henschel and the 88 mm. gun -- the best artillery piece of the period -- came from Krupp. It might bog down, break through bridges, and its engine might fail, but no other tank could penetrate its steel hide. None of the Allied tanks -- the Russian T-34 or the Sherman M-4 -- could get close enough to try.
At the beginning of the war, during the "Blitzkrieg", German tanks were no better than their French or British adversaries, nor more numerous. They succeeded because their use was tactically different. It's curious that the Allies did with their tanks precisely what the Union Army did with its cavalry in the early stages of the American Civil War. They dispersed their mobile units, tanks or horses, and used them as reconnaissance or infantry support, much as Napoleon had done. The Confederate Army and the Wehrmacht used them as independent strike forces.
As the war progressed, both German and Allied tanks were upgraded somewhat but after the Germans ran into the Russian T-34 -- the best medium tank of the war -- Hitler demanded a monster that was unstoppable and he got it. He didn't get many, but every one was awesome. The range of fire for the Tiger was twice that of the T-34 and the shell was larger. Infantry, artillery, and supply units were used in support of the tanks, not the other way round. And fuel was vital. The Tiger consumed two and a half gallons of gasoline per mile. If it didn't get it, it stopped, and as the war dragged on the fuel supply became increasingly problematic.
The Tigers were finely engineered, expensive to build, and required 300,000 man hours of labor each. Too few were built to change the outcome of the war, and they had their flaws, but they became legends on both sides.
At the beginning of the war, during the "Blitzkrieg", German tanks were no better than their French or British adversaries, nor more numerous. They succeeded because their use was tactically different. It's curious that the Allies did with their tanks precisely what the Union Army did with its cavalry in the early stages of the American Civil War. They dispersed their mobile units, tanks or horses, and used them as reconnaissance or infantry support, much as Napoleon had done. The Confederate Army and the Wehrmacht used them as independent strike forces.
As the war progressed, both German and Allied tanks were upgraded somewhat but after the Germans ran into the Russian T-34 -- the best medium tank of the war -- Hitler demanded a monster that was unstoppable and he got it. He didn't get many, but every one was awesome. The range of fire for the Tiger was twice that of the T-34 and the shell was larger. Infantry, artillery, and supply units were used in support of the tanks, not the other way round. And fuel was vital. The Tiger consumed two and a half gallons of gasoline per mile. If it didn't get it, it stopped, and as the war dragged on the fuel supply became increasingly problematic.
The Tigers were finely engineered, expensive to build, and required 300,000 man hours of labor each. Too few were built to change the outcome of the war, and they had their flaws, but they became legends on both sides.
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- rmax304823
- Jun 30, 2015
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