Adnan

Nazi Germany (1944) Super heavy tank – 2 prototypes Genesis of a monster This was, by far, the heaviest battlefield monster to have ever been built. In the Panzer tree line, it was meant to be number VIII. The Maus was in line with the German trend of making bigger and bigger tanks, and another good example is the heaviest AFV in service during WWII, the Jagdtiger, based on the Königstiger chassis. The latter was quite impressive, with its 71 ton weight and 128 mm (5.04 in) gun. But the VK 100.01 Porsche Type 205, as it was known, was a project drawn as early as 1942, and suggested to Hitler by Ferdinand Porsche in June that year. As it perfectly matched the Wagnerian visions and obsessions of Hitler, it was immediately approved and the contract granted, with the objective of building the first operational machine by March 1944. However, this was really a monster of a tank, stretching all previous technological achievements to the very edge. Thanks to Porsche’s en...

IS-3 tank Posted on December 15, 2016 ‘And for sheer visual impact, I would recommend anyone stand in front of the IS-3 at Aberdeen and contemplate what it would have meant to have that pike’s head coming at you. The IS-3, by the way, was not a very good tank, but it sure looks potent.’ – Robert Slayton The final Soviet heavy tank of the war was the IS-3, with the same 122 mm gun, but completely redesigned hull and turret armor. Peter Gudgin, in his _Armoured Firepower_, (Sutton, 1997) comments that “its appearance in the Berlin Victory Parade in September 1945, however, caused considerable shock to Western observers who knew that nothing as powerfully armed or well armoured existed in the inventories of their own armies.” The IS-3 was not a terribly successful design, by most accounts. While it represented a revolutionary design in armour configuration it suffered from, even by Soviet standards, poor crew accommodation and “fightabili...