Tiger II

"You shall not catch zhis tiger by it's toe!"

The Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B (Sd.Kfz. 182), has several names: the Tiger II by many contemporary Axis personnel, the King Tiger by the Allies, the Konigstiger (German for Royal or Bengal Tiger) by the Germans post-war, and the Panzer VII for those slotting it into the production-series for 'common' Axis tanks.

It was the heaviest conventional battle tank deployed by the Wehrmacht during World War II. It is notorious for being one of largest wastes of war material during the war, perhaps beaten out only by the Ferdinand assault gun and the Pz. VIII Maus project.

It was also stupidly effective, both as a tank and as the production-variant, the JagTiger tank destroyer. Just ask Otto Carius.

IRL

A predator in the fog

The concept for heavy German tanks such as the Tiger originates in 1937, when initial concepts and prototypes were initially floated about the various design firms, but nothing really came of it until around 1940, when the performance of the Char 1B and British Matilda tanks impressed Hitler so much that he ordered a similar German tank developed by 1941 and in production by 1942. Porsche and Henschel competed for the contract, with Porsche's design being rejected as too complex. In essence, this is the origin of the base Tiger I tank.

In January of 1943, specifications for a new heavy tank for the Wehrmacht were released and fulfilled by the Henschel firm, perhaps due to the relative success of the Tiger I, the fact that everything the Porsche group turned out was considered "mad science" even by the Nazi standards (**cough** Thule Society **cough**), or that much of the core concept had still been worked on by Henschel over years since the original 1937 planning.

The major differences between the plebian Tiger and the Royal King were the incorporation of sloped armor on parts of the vehicle, as well as additional armor in general, and a slightly more effective cannon. The Tiger II's KwK 43 was slightly too long and large to fit into the Tiger I's turret. So for the Tiger I, they went with a shorter barrel, which consequently produced a lower velocity. Having a longer barrel to maintain gas pressure, The King Tiger shot its 88mm shells at a slightly faster velocity and thus a higher energy state. In short, thicker and sloped armor and a better (not bigger) gun than the Tiger I.

On the other hand, the King Tiger was a pain in the balls to manufacture and maintain. It cost more than three times the cost of a Tiger I (themselves the cost of two PzIVs or Panthers), sucked down a massive amount of then-short-supply materials, and on top of that, due to the late war material quality, was arguably made out of inferior metal to its Tiger I predecessor. It used the same engine as the Tiger I, despite being almost 20 tons heavier, so it was as slow as a snail in a Nurgle army. Because of the complexity of its mechanisms, it would frequently break down. It was too heavy to cross pretty much any bridge, and guzzled fuel like a Squat does alcohol. The far more common Tiger I was statistically superior in terms of weight of vehicles killed to weight of tank, was still superior to most of the tanks fielded even late-war, was more **snerk** fuel-efficient and easier to get around. Strategically and logistically, it made almost no sense to be used, with the only justification being that the larger Soviet Tanks necessitated its production (although let's all be honest here, Adolf had a thing for big German things...)

So why make it? For all of its shortcomings, the thing was just short of impervious to anything the allies could field to meet it. Anything that could penetrate its armour generally had to be within 500m and even then it could take several hits on the same location to pop welds and induce spalling; the Tiger II's 88, on the other hand, could reliably kill pretty much every tank it saw at 2000m with one or two shots. It was a massive morale boost to friendly troops in the field, and a massive morale shock to any enemy that happened to be on the business end of its 88mm cannon. The tank was so reviled by the allies that they were apprehensive of the thing being present right up until the end of the war, inducing panic in the field and extreme caution by command when seen. In fact, the King Tiger was often only defeated by being outmaneuvered, mechanical failure, or getting absolutely pounded by aircraft and artillery. They were present in recognizable quantities during the Battle of Berlin, acting quite effectively as turreted pillboxes and generally scaring the shit out of anything in a two-kilometer radius.

Although it's not in Flames of War (on paper), it's also what gave us the JagTiger. Because who doesn't want to kill enemy tanks by shooting through an entire brick building. (**Hint, hint, Battlefront...**)