Sturmtiger

Sturmtiger

Two armored vehicles designed and manufactured during World War II can serve as an example of gigantomania and lack of knowledge of the tactics of using armored weapons on the battlefield. The super-heavy tank “Maus” and the self-propelled (assault) gun “Sturmtiger”.

In an order of August 5, 1943, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of a heavy self-propelled gun intended for combating strongly fortified points of resistance. This was not the first design of this type in the German army, because earlier, in the spring of 1942, design work was carried out on a new assault gun of the “Bar” type armed with a 305 mm howitzer, which could move vertically in the range of 0 to 70. It was planned to use a slightly modified chassis of the “Tiger” tank in this design. However, the vehicle was not completed even in the form of a prototype. Lighter vehicles were produced on the chassis of the PzKpfw III Sd Kfz 141 (e.g. Sturmgeschutz III/40) and PzKpfw IV Sd Kfz 161 tanks.