German Heavy Tanks, Prototypes, VK4501(P), VK4502(P), Maus and E-Series
Source: Some information found on other websites (internet) and some drawings by hand of Hilary L. Doyle
The list below is from the book mentioned not once here, "Combat History of Schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653" by Karlheinz Munch, it is on page 214 in the chapter "Operations in the Soviet Union, 2. and 3./schwere Panzerjager-Abteilung 653(April to October 1944)"
"Missing Lynx.com"
"Track-Link"
"www.panzer-modell.de"
"strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us"
Built model by Zhenmin Han - 1/72 scratchbuild
"Calum Melrose; www.flickr.com"
The initial concept work for the new Panzer started on the 23rd March 1942 and initially it was proposed that the chassis design for the VK4502 could be
adopted from the VK4501 with very little modification aside from that needed to fit the new turret and ammunition stowage. But as time went on, views on
what was needed on future battle fields caused significant changes to be initiated in armour protection for the tank and it was not until late may early
July 1942 that the hull design was finalised. The hull design consisted of sloping plates for increased projection, the 80mm glacis plate was sloped at
55 degrees, 80mm superstructure side plates at 15 degrees, 80mm hull side plates 0 degrees vertical, 80mm upper tail plate at 60 degrees, 80mm lower tail
plate at 25 degrees and 40 to 25mm deck plates at 90 degrees horizontal and 20mm belly plate at 90 degrees horizontal. The drive train consisted of two
Porsche Type 101/3 10 cylinder engines connected to electric generators providing power to a pair of electric motors, one for each sprocket. The running
gear and tracks for the VK4502 were identical to the VK4501 range of tanks. The expected top speed of the tank was 35 Kph and the combat weight was
expected to be 45 tonnes.
The turret for the VK4502 was also designed by professor Porsche and would mount the 8.8cm Kw.K. L/71. 68 rounds for this gun were carried in the
tank 42 in horizontal panniers along the superstructure sides, 10 horizontally on the floor and 16 rounds stored horizontally in the turret.
Production contracts for manufacture were given to Fried.Kruppe AG Essen on the 4th of February 1942 for 100 VK4502 armour shells along with 100 turret
shells. The armour hulls were to be delivered to the Nibelungwerk GmbH, St. Valentin for assembly and the turrets to Fried.Kruppe AG Ruhr for assembly.
Kruppe was to begin production of the armour as soon as they completed work for the 100 VK4501 hulls currently under manufacture. On the 17th of April
1942 a verbal extension to this contract would see the number of tanks hulls ordered increased to 200 units with a chassis numbers of 150101 - 150300.
During a visit to Krupp in May 1942 Dr. Porsche was told that the first four hulls would be ready in October instead of August 1942. Also at this time
to enhance the ability to modify the hull and their interior components Krupp was ordered only to complete 30 Type 180 Hulls and only prepare plates for
the rest.
In July 1942 Krupp contacted the Nibelungenwerk confirming that delivery of the first 30 hulls were expected on time and that material for 50 hulls
had already been prepared and in the most part rolled out. Krupp estimated a delivery of 15 hulls per months to the Nibelungwerk.
The project however took a serious setback that same month when the Porsche designed 101/3 engine failed during its testing. This lead Wa J Rue on the
3rd of November 1942 to informed Krupp that the contracts for the VK4502 Hulls and turrets were terminated and in its place a separate contract for only
three Versuchs-panzers was placed.
A Krupp report dated the 15th of January 1943 reported that 20 Armour turret bodies for the VK4502 had already been manufactured and around 40 to 50
were under construction at the time of cancellation with an additional 50 turrets worth of individual plates available for assembly.
On the 25th January 1943 permission was given to Krupp to assemble three operational turrets for the VK 4502. A further report sent this time from
Krupp on the 28th January reported that the three hulls for the VK4502 had been delivered to the Nibelungwerk. This was confirmed by a letter from
Dr Porsche dated 17th February 1943 stating that three Tiger P2 VK4502 with electric drives are being completed at the Nibelungwerk. The letter goes
on to state that production vehicles would feature new hydraulic drives, a new suspension system and an air-cooled diesel engine.
Nothing more is heard about the fate of the VK4502 until 25th April 1944 when Krupp reported that one of the turrets for the tank was completed and
the other two were close to completion. Then on the 22nd of August 1944 at the request of Wa Pruef 6 the remaining turrets were converted for use on
the Henschel chassis.
Sadly no more documentation on the VK4502 being completed at the Nibelungwerk have survived the war and no photo have ever surfaced, BUT the story does not end there as the focus shifts onto late war reports from the Wehrmacht weapons testing grounds at Kummersdorf.
Additional detail text has been added into original this is highlighted by
[ ] = added text from web as more detailed than book
{ } = Detail taken from Tigers in Combat II Stackpole Books P335
By the spring of 1945 Germany had become a battleground. At the Wehrmacht weapons testing grounds at Kummersdorf the various test departments began evacuating important materials and documents and burning the rest. At the beginning of March 1945 the "Kummersdorf Panzer Battalion" was formed from elements of the Technischen Versuchs Kompanie "Technical Test Company" it had a mixed complement of vehicles.[On the 14 March 1945, part of the panzer battalion Kummersdorf was absorbed into I./Panzer-Regiment 29 which was part of the newly formed Panzer-Division "Muncheberg" a division which itself was formed on the 5th of March 1945. An OKH order dated 18 April 1945 shows that the Kummersdorf Abteilung and the 1/29 Panzer Regiment were organized into an ad-hoc regiment. The Kummersdorf or 1st battalion had a staff, a staff company, a Tiger Company (formerly 3/Kummersdorf Panzer Battalion), a Panther company, a mixed Panzer company, and a supply company.]
The Inspector-General of Armoured Forces mentioned the formation of Kummersdorf panzer company {new unit, formed out of the logistics
battalion at Kummersdorf.} during the course of a meeting of a briefing at Fuhrer Headquarters on 31 March 1945. It was organised into three
tank platoons (partially mobile), one armoured reconnaissance platoon (not mobile). The vehicles were taken from those kept on hand for test purposes.
They included a Panzer VI Tiger II (Sd.Kfz. 182), a Jagdtiger, two American Sherman tanks, an Italian P 40(i) tank, and several B IV heavy explosive
charge carriers armed with machine guns.{one Tiger II, one Jagdtiger, four Panthers, two Panzer N, one Panzer III, one Nashorn, one Hummel, two Sherman's, and one immobile Porsche Tiger
8.8-centimeter L/70 main gun }
According to a priority telex message dated 4 April 1945, at least part of the panzer company was supposed to be transferred into the Dresden area.
{A report on the 19 April 1945 stated the Kummersdorf panzer company was on the march to Luchau. A final report dated 21 April 1945 stated the battalion
staff and the company had been attached to Kampfgruppe MOWS.} The non-mobile elements of Kummersdorf panzer company, including a Tiger tank with
the Porsche turret {Porsche Tiger 8.8-centimeter L/70 main gun} saw action at the end of April in the fighting south east of
the proving ground.
Another tank unit was formed at Kummersdorf using the civilian drivers, including Behnisch, whose name appears several times. According to a note dated
21 April 1945, this unit was supposed to go into action south of Zossen as part of Kampfgruppe Kaether. With a total of 42 vehicles, including at least
one Panzer V Panther, it set out in the direction of Baruth. Troops of the 1st Ukrainian Front advancing from Golssen had to be held up. A battle
developed near Baruth in which the makeshift tank unit was completely wiped out.
(Baruth is approximately 7 kilometers from village of Horstwalde following text must be dated on or about the 21st April 1945)
At Kummersdorf the battle commander of Kummersdorf put together a Volkssturm unit from the remaining men. It saw action on the road to Horstwalde. A damaged Tiger was hauled out of the garages of the Verskraft to bolster its strength. There was a brief exchange of fire with red army troops during which a T34 was knocked out. Fighting was also recorded in the area of the army workers settlement, where 88-mm anti-aircraft guns destroyed another tank. Members of the Volkssturm wielding Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons destroyed several Russian tanks on the road from Scönefled to Gottow. (Approximately 3km East of Horstwalde village) The defensive ring around Kummersdorf, which had been broken in several places, disintegrated.
BUT to this day no Russian Army photographs of the knocked out VK4501 command tank have ever surfaced. This one off rare tank lost in 1944 you would
have thought would have been photographed even if it was just a wreck.
It's very likely that once engaged the single tank defending Horstwalde would have been destroyed, if the tank had been wrecked then perhaps the
remains may well have been over looked by the Russians just like the VK4501, especially when you consider that the Maus V1 prototype and blown up
V2 were lying just kilometres a few away.
"Sandman & Overlords - smallscaleafvforum.com"
"www.hsgalleries.com"
"www.hsgalleries.com"
"www.hsgalleries.com"
Modeller unknown
Shortly time ago I have become pictures from some other models that pretent to be also a "JagdSturmtiger" concept. Who can inform me, or this are fake models and only brain models from the modeller or based on a original concept, drawing or prototype etc.
JagdSturmtiger German heavy antitank SPG - (Model by Kevin Adams - pictures from Track-Link Website)
JagdSturmtiger German heavy antitank SPG - (Modeller unknown) - (This models likes me a fake model, there the fightingcompartment is used from the Jagdtiger II, see overlap enginedeck)
JagdSturmtiger German heavy antitank SPG - (Modeller Fred Kiteiro) - (Pictures from Photobucket.com)
"www.panzer-modell.de"
"www.hsgalleries.com"
"www.panzer-modell.de"
"www.hsgalleries.com"
The development of super heavy tank started as early as 1941, when Krupp started the studies of superheavy Soviet tanks.
In November of 1941, it was specified that the new heavy tank was to have 140mm front and 100mm thick side armor. The vehicle was to be operated by 5
men crew - 3 in the turret and 2 in the hull. This new panzer was to have maximum speed of some 44km/h being powered by 1000hp Daimler-Benz marine
engine used in Schnellboot (torpedo boat). The main armament was to be mounted in the turret. The weight was to be up 90 tons.
In the early months of 1942, Krupp was ordered to start the process of designing new heavy tank designated PzKpfw VII Lowe (VK7201). Its design was
based on previous project by Krupp designated VK7001 (Tiger-Maus) and created in competition with Porsche's designs (including first Maus designs).
VK7001 was to be armed with either 150mm Kanone L/37 (or L/40) or 105mm KwK L/70 gun. Lowe was to utilize Tiger II's components in order to simplify
the production and service.
Designers planned to build two variants of this streamlined vehicle with rear mounted turret. Light (leichte) variant would have frontal armor
protection of 100mm and it would weight 76 tons. Heavy (schwere) variant would have frontal armor protection of 120mm and it would weight 90 tons.
Both variants would be armed with 105mm L/70 gun and coaxial machine gun.It is known that 90ton schwere Lowe was to have its turret mounted centrally
and in overall design resembled future Tiger II.Variants of Lowe were both to be operated by the crew of five. It was calculated that their maximum
speed would range from 23km/h (schwere) to 27km/h (leichte).Mbr>
Adolf Hitler ordered that the design Leichte Lowe was to be dropped in favour of Schwere Lowe. Lion was to be redesigned in order to carry 150mm
L/40 or 150mm L/37 (probably 150mm KwK 44 L/38) gun and its frontal armor protection was to be changed to 140mm. In order to improve its performance,
900-1000mm wide tracks were to be used and top speed was to be increased to 30km/h.
In late 1942, this project was cancelled in favour of the development of the Maus. During the development of Tiger II, designers planned to build
redesigned version of Lowe (as suggested by Oberst Fichtner), which would be armed with 88mm KwK L/71 gun and its frontal armor protection would
be 140mm (as planned before). Redesigned Lowe would be able to travel at maximum speed of 35km/h and it would weight 90 tons. It was to be powered
by Maybach HL 230 P 30, 12-cylinder engine producing 800hp. Lowe would be 7.74 meters long (with the gun), 3.83 meters wide and 3.08 meters high.
Lowe would be operated by the crew of five. It was planned that Lowe would eventually replace Tiger II.
From February to May of 1942, six different designs were considered, all based on the requirements for Lowe. On March 5/6th of 1942, order for
heavier tank was placed and project Lowe was stopped in July of 1942.
Lowe project never reached the prototype stage but it paved the way for its successor's development - Porsche's Maus.
Source : www.achtungpanzer.com
Model built by Calum Melrose
"Calum Melrose; www.flickr.com"
Built model by Zhenmin Han - 1/72 - Maus with test-turret
Pictures from Internet - Modeller unknown
The E-10 was one of a series of new concept tanks which was meant to simplify production. It was to be a turretless kight tank destroyer/recce vehicle, designed by the firm Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz, wich up to this time did not have much experience of building AFV's. The enigine was to be a rear mounted Maybach HL 100 of 400 HP or an air cooled Argus of 350 HP. The combined hydronamic transmission and steering unit was to be made by Voith and was also at the rear of the tank, easing removal and servicing. This would also free up space in the fighting compartment. The engine deck and rear plates could all be removed to allow access and the engine and transmission could be removed as a single unit. It was expected that the top of speed of the tank would be 65-70km/h. Even though the E-10 designation would suggest a weight of 10 tonnes, the combat weight would probably have been about 16 tonnes.
The gun was to be the 7.5cm Pak 39 L/48, in a mount similar that of the Hetzer. It may have been replaced on the production lines by rigid mounted (Starr) version of the same weapon. The suspension was by bolt on external units which used Belleville washers as the spring medium. There were four units per side, each fitted with a single 1000mm diameter steel tyred wheel. The wheels were alternately offset on the axles to straddle a single guide tooth track. One feature of the tank was the ability to reduce its height. This was achived by rotating the pivot points of the suspension units via cranks driven by hydrolic actuators. The vehicle height could be reduced from 1760mm to 1400mm. The armour was to be 60mm thick on the upper glacis plate, 30mm on the lower glacis plate and the rest all 20mm.
The E-10 did not go into production and its projected role was to be undertaken by the similarly sized but mechanically simpler Jagdpanzer 38(d), based on a re-engined and lengthened version of the venerable Panzer 38(t) chassis.
Website "Panzerpunkt.info" page E-10The German E series of simplified development tanks designed towards the end of the war. The vehicle is the E-25, a squat, ugly little tank somewhat reminiscent in shape to the Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer which it was designed to replace, along with the Jagdpanzer IV Lang, the other Panzer III/IV based Sturmgeschutz/Panzerjager types and all other self propelled anti-tank gun chassis in service. Most of these vehicles carried out roughly the same task but were vastly different in design and construction and the E-25 would have rationalised them down to just one simple vehicle. As usual the information available is minimal.
Work on the E series started in 1943 under the direction of Waffenprufamt 6 (WaPruAmt 6) headed by General H.E. Kniepkamp, a capable and prolific engineer and good administrator. A direct translation of this organisation is "Weapon test establishment, section 6". The firms involved in the E series were Klockner-Humbolt-Deutz of Ulm, makers of the Diesel powered RSO/03, Argus of Karlsruhe, Adler of Frankfurt, and Weserhuette of Bad Oeyenhausen. They were to design respectively tanks in the 10, 25, 50, and 75 ton weight brackets. Adler were also directed to design a super heavy tank in the 100 ton class, which was actually built.
Website "Panzerpunkt.info" page E-25
E-50 with 88mm Schmalturm as Panther
E-50 with 88mm Krupp Schmalturm - (Cromwell Models)
E-50 with Twin 3.7cm Flak - (Cromwell Models)
E-50 with Twin 5.5cm Flak - (Cromwell Models)
Website "Panzerpunkt.info" page E-50
For it's initial tests, a Tiger II Maybach HL230P30 engine had been fitted. This engine, of course, was far too weak to properly power the 140 ton E-100. The production engine was to be the Maybach HL234. The HL234 developed 800hp, which is only 100hp better than the HL230P30. Some sources indicate that a Diamler-Benz diesel which developed 1000hp would have ultimately been used.
The Maus mounted the 12.8cm KwK 44 L/55 found in the Jagdtiger. Using the same turret, the E-100 was initially slated to use the 15cm KwK44 L38, but provision was made to eventually up-gun the vehicle with a 17cm KwK 44.
The E-100 was very conventional in its architecture. The standard rear-engine / front-drive layout was maintained. The engine deck of the Tiger II was also carried over into this design (rather than the updated design of the E 50/75). The suspension was characteristic of the E-series, however, in that it was of the externally-mounted Belleville Washer type. While the engine-deck layout of the prototype was taken directly from the Tiger II, it is entirely possible that it would have been changed to match the E 50/75 had production of the E-series actually began to allow for maximum commonality of components.
The armor on the E-100 was designed to withstand hits from just about any anti-tank round of the day. Armor on the turret ranged from 200mm on the sides and rear to 240mm on the front. The turret roof was protected by a seemingly paltry 40mm of armor. Unfortunately, the round shape of the turret front could have deflected shots downward into the top of the superstructure. Armor protection on the superstructure varried from 200mm on the front to a total of 180mm on the sides and 150mm on the rear. The top of the superstructure was protected by the same 40mm of armor found on the turret. The hull had 150mm of armor on the front and rear and 120mm on the sides behind the suspension. Protection on the bottom of the hull was good at 80mm.
Given the armored protection of the E-100, most tanks would have needed a shot to deflect into the top of the superstructure from the turret front to knock it out. The vehicle would have, however, been highly vunerable to air attack as the angles presented to dive bombers or fighter/bombers would have been protected to only 40mm. This protection is comparable to the Tiger II in the same areas.
Website "Panzerpunkt.info" page E-100
Note: To become a valid e-mail address, replace in email address (at) with @
E-mail to HenkofHolland