Tiger I

Roaring beast or lazy tabby?

A Tiger I tank covered in Zimmerite coating against magnetic mines
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

Few World War II tanks enjoy as much recognition even among laymen as the German Tiger heavy tank, and even fewer have such a divisive reputation. Was it really the pinnacle of German engineering? Was it an unstoppable beast impervious to Allied guns? Did it take five Shermans to destroy one Tiger? Or was it an overengineered nightmare prone to constant breakdowns? Was it a mistaken waste of resources? Our article will try to present a fair view of the famous Tiger.

Save 20 to 40%!

V-E Day Promotion

Book your tour now
Loading shells into a Tiger before the Battle of Kursk
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

Let’s quickly put a legend to rest, the one about needing five Shermans (The M4 Sherman) to a Tiger. As far as we can tell, this myth is derived from the fact that the smallest official unit of tanks in the U.S. Army was the platoon, which comprised five tanks. So, you needed five Shermans because Shermans were supposed to travel in groups of five. In this sense, you also needed five Shermans to destroy a Panzer IV (The German Workhorse: Panzer IV), a StuG III (The StuG), or a half-track armed with machine guns. Reality is more complex than “five of these is worth one of those.” A Sherman with a 75 mm gun wouldn’t penetrate the front armor at all with most types of shells; one with a 76 mm one might penetrate the same plate from 656 yards (600 m); a Sherman Firefly firing its standard ammunition might penetrate at ranges up to 2,190 yards (2,000 m). The type of gun you have, who ambushes whom and who gets to fire and hit first can matter far more than just numbers!
 
But back to Tiger. The need for a better armed and armored thank than the Panzer III and IV was already apparent to the German military when those tanks were still new. The Wafffenamt, the German Army Weapons Agency, requested the Henschel corporation to design a heavy Durchbruckwagen (“breakthrough vehicle”) in 1937. The project never got farther than a half-finished prototype, but lived on in three new projects for heavy tanks in the 30-33, 36 and 45-ton range. The projects took various lessons from each other, and the last one eventually yielded the Panzer VI, better known as the Tiger, which weighed in at 60-63 U.S. tons (54-57 metric tons).

A Tiger I captured by U.S. forces I Tunisia
(Photo: Idaho Military History Museum)

The invasion of France in May 1940 revealed that the Panzer III and IV were not quite adept at taking on the British Matilda II and French Char B1 tanks, which had relatively thick armor by the standards of the time. The development of a German heavy tank only became genuinely urgent, however, after the June 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. The Russian T-34 medium and KV-1 heavy tanks clearly outclassed anything Germany had, and a counter was needed quickly. Henschel and Ferdinand Porsche, who was on good terms with Hitler, were asked to submit prototypes of a new heavy tank for an inspection on Hitler’s next birthday, April 20, 1941.
 
The Henschel version was a real rush job: working around the clock, engineers and technicians finished assembly with 40 minutes to spare before placing the vehicle on the trailer. The rush job had a slew of mechanical problems such as slipping clutches, overheating radiators, and poorly adjusted brakes. Meanwhile, Porsche, who was confident he would win the tender, already set up a production line for 100 chassis of his “Porsche Tigers.”

Minister for Armaments and War Production Albert Speer and Ferdinand Porsche having a conversation atop an early prototype that has concrete slabs simulating the weight of the turret. Interestingly, the prototype is the Henschel type, not Porsche’s.
(Photo: tanks-encyclopedia.com)

Porsche was the favorite, but trials showed that his petrol-electric transmission system was very temperamental, and also needed a grade of copper that was in short supply. Despite its teething problems, the Henschel prototype was selected. Most of Porsche’s 100 hulls were later converted into the Elefant tank destroyer, also known as Ferdinand after its designer, and used in the Battle of Kursk. (The Largest Tank Battle in History) Since it was badly needed on the Eastern Front, the Tiger was rushed into service and many changes and improvements were only introduced during its production run.
 
The Tiger I had a frontal hull armor of 3.9 inches (100 mm), a frontal turret armor of the same thickness, and a gun mantlet (the plate protecting the gun) of 4.7 to 7.9 in (120-200 mm). The hull and the superstructure were 2.4 and 3.1 in (60 and 80 mm) on the sides. The top and bottom armor were only 1 in (25 mm) thick, though the former was increased to 1.6 in (40 mm) in 1944 to better protect against plunging artillery fire and aircraft. The design did not use the concept of sloped armor (prominent on the Sherman, the Tiger II or the Panther) which would have forced incoming fire to hit the armor at an angle, making the hull effectively thicker; instead, it retained a boxy appearance similar to the Panzer IV with most surfaces being horizontal or vertical.

A Tiger crew working on the engine through an access hatch
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

The Tiger’s main gun was the 8.8 cm (56-caliber) KwK 36, based on the fearsome 8.8 cm flak gun that also turned out to be great at anti-armor duty. It came with four types of shells: one armor-piercing, one high explosive, one incendiary shrapnel, and another, sub-caliber armor piercing type. This last one was very effective, but required tungsten to make; with dwindling stockpiles as the war progressed, this shell type was often unavailable.
 
The turret was powered by a hydraulic motor driven from the main engine. On early models, the turret could only rotate at a stately 6° per second, making a full rotation in one minute. (For comparison, the Sherman did it in 15 seconds.) Later versions introduced a secondary system controlled by the gunner’s foot pedals. Depending on the strength with which the pedals were pushed and the current rpm of the engine, the turret could make a full rotation in as little as 10 seconds (at maximum engine rpm), or much slower, allowing for fine control.

The sides and rears of several Tiger I turrets being bent into shape by a giant press
(Photo: tanks-encyclopedia.com)

The Tiger’s armament was supplemented by two machine guns, and a third one could be attached as an anti-aircraft weapon. A smoke grenade launcher was also added in 1942, but was removed the next year because enemy gunfire could set the grenades off and blind the crew. A roof-mounted grenade launcher capable of firing in 360° was also introduced to prevent enemy infantry from climbing the tank. During the Battle of Kursk, some Tigers were covered in barbed wire for the same purpose.
 
The tank’s theoretical road speed was 28.2 mph (45.4 km/h), and its cross-country speed 12-16 mph (20-25 km/h). This was rarely reached in practice, as an engine governor limited the maximum rpm to give the engine a longer lifespan. All in all, the Tiger was slower than most of its contemporaries, but not very much so.

Construction of the Tiger I’s interleaved roadwheels
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

In order to avoid sinking into soft ground, the Tiger was equipped with unusually wide (28.5 in, 725 mm) tracks. These, however, did not fit rail-freight size restrictions, so narrower, 20 in (520 mm) “transport tracks” were also provided. In practice, train and tank crews usually ignored the strict regulations and just transported the tanks with their combat tracks as long as they knew there were no narrow tunnels or other obstacles along the way.
 
The Tiger used torsion bars for suspension, a German staple that gave the vehicle rather smooth ride over rough terrain. The great weight of the vehicle and the width of the tracks necessitated the distinctive interleaved pattern of roadwheels that overlapped with each other. This system helped distribute the weight across the entire track, but was a maintenance nightmare: if an inner wheel lost its rubber tire (a common event), it was necessary to remove up to nine other wheels just to get to it. (The rubber tires were eventually removed in favor of all-steel wheels.) On the eastern front, mud and snow often clogged up the space between the wheels then froze solid at night, rendering the tank immobile until the blockage was melted with a blowtorch.

The wheels of a Tiger I under repair
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

The Tiger was too heavy for many small bridges, and originally came with a complex fording system. Ventilation and cooling mechanisms, a long snorkel and a rubber tube to waterproof the turret ring allowed it to cross water up to 15 ft (5 m) deep, but was discarded in 1943 to save on costs.

The result of a Tiger trying to cross a bridge not designed for it
(Photo: unknown photographer)

Speaking of costs, the Tiger was very expensive, costing over twice as much as a Panzer IV and four times as much as a StuG III assault gun. It was partly because of the cost that only 1,347 Tiger Is and 492 Tiger II’s were ever built.
 
Rushed into service, the Tiger first saw action on 23 September 1942 near Leningrad. (
900 Days of Starvation) Four Tigers were deployed – unfortunately for them in an area of swampy forests, where they were confined to roads and tracks, where the Soviets could ambush them easily. One of the Tigers got stuck in soft ground, and was captured by the Soviets for study.

The first Tiger I tank to be captured by the Allies (the Soviets, specifically)
(Photo: unknown photographer)e

Early experience with the tanks involved numerous breakdowns involving the transmission and the engine, giving the Tiger a reputation for poor reliability. German studies during the war, however, concluded that the problem lay with inexperienced drivers who handled the transmission too hard and let the engine overheat.
 
The Western Allied first encountered the beast in North Africa, when three Tigers attacked an olive grove on December 1, 1942. The thick grove limited engagement ranges, and several M3 Lee tanks (
The M3 Medium Tank) managed to hit the tanks from a range of 260 to 330 ft (80-100 m), without success. 
 
Later in the war, Tigers most notably fought at Kursk (
The Largest Tank Battle in History) and in Normandy after the Allied landings. Armed with a heavy gun and protected by thick armor, it earned a fearsome reputation. “Tiger phobia,” a fear of the Tiger tank, was a common occurrence among Allied tank crews and infantrymen, and so was the overreporting to Tiger kills. To be fair, the Tiger looks rather similar to a Panzer IV from a distance (only larger); Allied tankers, already on the edge and seeing the battlefield through tiny visors amid heavy smoke or at night could easily mistake a Panzer IV for a Tiger as an honest mistake.

A Tiger I being evacuated by ferry from Sicily to mainland Italy during Operation Husky
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

One example of just how destructive the Tiger could be under the right circumstances was the Battle of Villers-Bocage (The Battle of Villers-Bocage) in Normandy on June 13, 1944. Getting the jump on unprepared British forces, a single Tiger tank commanded by German tank ace Michael Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns before withdrawing.
 
Though the Tiger’s massive weight and complexity did cause problems, the lack of proper support went far in exacerbating those. The vehicle was designed as a breakthrough tank: a short sprint across enemy lines, then a lengthy period of maintenance. By the second half of the war, however, it had to fulfill the opposite role: defense. It was constantly rushed from one hotspot to another to blunt the never-ending Allied attacks, with no time for proper repairs. The constant movement also guzzled up enormous quantities of gasoline (NOT diesel, as the popular myth has it), far more than what was available, causing many Tigers to be simply abandoned once they ran out of fuel.

A Tiger camouflaged in a defensive position
(Photo: Bundesarchiv)

Though produced in relatively limited numbers and hampered by mechanical complexity, the Tiger was still a fearsome enemy and forced the Allies to adapt. Its presence on the battlefield prompted the Soviets to develop the SU series of tank destroyers and assault guns, and the IS (“Joseph Stalin”) series of heavy tanks. In the west, the British 17-pounder gun was used as a suitable counter, either as an anti-tank gun or the armament of the Sherman Firefly or one of several other vehicles.
 
The Germans, too, were trying to stay abreast in the arms race. An improved version of the Tiger was proposed in 1942, incorporating design elements from the first Tiger, the Panther and the later Tiger II, but never left the drawing board. The true successor, however, was the Tiger II, also known as Königstiger, King Tiger or Tiger B. It deserves its own article in the future, but it came too late (in 1944) to make a difference and only 492 were built.
 
The Tiger I also served as the basis for a number of modified vehicles. These included a command tank with additional radio equipment; the Sturmtiger assault gun that fired a rocket-propelled mortar (
A Heavyweight Big Cat), and the mysterious vehicle dubbed Bergetiger by the Allies. The latter is often described as a tank recovery vehicle, but other theories claim it was either a mine-clearing vehicle or one used to place explosives.

The Sturmtiger
(Photo: author’s own)

Very few Tiger I tanks have survived to this day. The most famous is Tiger 131, which was captured by British forces in North Africa when a hit bounced off its turret armor and into the turret ring, jamming it. It was long believed that the shot was a 6-pounder anti-tank gun, but new evidence arising in 2019 proved that it was actually a Churchill tank (The Tortoise in the Race) that disabled the vehicle. It is now on display in the Bovington Tank Museum which we visit on our Britain at War Tour; it’s the only Tiger in running order, and played a role in the 2014 film Fury.

King George VI inspecting Tiger 131 in Tunis. The tank is painted with the badge of the British First Army.
(Photo: Imperial War Museums)

Another Tiger I you can see with us is the “Vimoutiers Tiger” named after the location where it’s on outdoor display and which we visit on our Highlights of Normandy Tour. A third one is in the Munster Tank Museum in Germany, included in our Third Reich Tour. Interestingly, the museum had loaned its original, real Tiger for a while several years ago; while it was away, it was replaced by a life-sized and very convincing replica made almost entirely of plastic, hence its nickname “Plastiger.”

The “Plastiger” in the Munster Tank Museum
(Photo: author’s own)
Save 20 to 40% with our V-E Day Promotion
On the occasion of the upcoming 80th anniversary of V-E Day, we are excited to offer exclusive discounts on all our available tours until May 8, 2025. The tour price is refundable up until 90 days before departure.
20% off if you book and pay in full a tour for 2025.
30% off if you book and pay in full a tour for 2026.
40% off if you book and pay in full a tour for 2027.
• Or, save 10% by simply paying the registration fee now and transferring the remaining balance 90 days before your tour.
Please note: This offer is valid only for new bookings and cannot be combined with any other promotions.
Book now
Facebook Facebook
Instagram Instagram
Website Website
YouTube YouTube
X X
Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved.
*|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|*

Our mailing address is:
*|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|*
Save
35%Now
Beaches of Normandy Tours review
"It was truly amazing, I would definitely recommend BoN"Mr. John Fullinwider
Beaches of Normandy Tours review
"It was everything I could have hoped for and more"Shelby Ayars
Beaches of Normandy Tours review
"I would recommend it to anyone..."BoN Passengers
Total:
4.9 - 464 reviews