It has become a running joke that German
tanks were prone to mechanical failures. This certainly has some truth to it with one
prime example being the final drives on early Panthers being exceptionally fragile. However one
vehicle and its variants have become the primary target of many of these jokes largely due to
its rivalry with the famous Henschel Tiger. Our focus today is on the lesser known German
Heavy known as the Porsche Tiger or Tiger(P). Often we have heard the story of this tank
and its unreliable electric transmission which caused it to easily catch fire. What if I told
you that neither of those issues were actually true? The tank certainly wasn't perfect but
stay tuned to learn the real story behind this heavy tank and how it failed for different
reasons than you may have previously believed. As I mentioned in the intro, tanks and
other armored vehicles are often prone to breakdowns as well as being fairly supply heavy to
operate. Whether it be spare parts or fuel tanks, and particularly heavy tanks, are hungry beasts.
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Thanks again to them for both the delicious food and for supporting my content now let's get
back to what you clicked on this video for. Living in the shadow of its cousin the Henschel
Tiger, the Porsche Tiger is often dismissed as little more than a failed rival of the more
iconic design. This in many ways is true with Porsche being contracted to create a 25 to 30
ton tank design several years after Henschel had already been hard at work on vehicles like
the Durchbruchswagen. However, the competition between the two firms was hardly one sided and the
Tiger we know today did not win by a landslide. Although it would not be born for another
several years, the Porsche Tiger’s conception can be traced back to late 1939. At that time
the requirements were a vehicle in the 25 to 30 ton weight class fitting a 7.5cm Kw.K. L/24
or a larger 10.5cm cannon if possible. From the very start Porsche’s tank was to be different
with him deciding a mechanical transmission would not be enough for such a heavy beast and instead
electric generators and hydraulic drives would be necessary. This would result in the first ancestor
to the Porsche Tiger, known as the Type 100, with a sketch completed on the 9th of December
1939. This vehicle would be 8 meters long, 3 meters wide, with a height of 2.25 meters.
Over the course of development this tank, like many German vehicles, would be referred to
by a variety of names. Most recognizable to the casual viewer would probably be “VK 30.01(P)”
with the 30 referring to its weight which unsurprisingly was around 15 tons under the
vehicle's actual weight. The tank would ride atop Porsche's take on the torsion bar system
which unlike other German designs used bogey pairs mounted externally rather than internal
ones like those found on the Panther or Tiger. By early 1941 contracts were awarded for
production of three test vehicles with Krupp to provide hulls, Steyr to provide
engines, and Siemens-Schueckert to provide the electrical components. It was also around
this point that the armament was increased to the 8.8cm Kw.K L/56 making the Porsche design the
first to utilize this armament. On a side-note, it is often said that the invasion of the Soviet
Union was what drove the Germans to move to the more powerful 88mm to deal with T-34s and KVs.
In reality the capabilities of that armament were already clear and the need for more powerful
cannons had been shown during the invasion of France with vehicles like the Char B1 and
Matildas. Even for the Tiger program itself the “T-34 shock” did play a role in increasing
the development and production speed of the vehicles but these designs predated the invasion.
Back to the VK 30.01 (P), it was powered by twin V-10 gasoline engines. With this the tank had
a total of 420 horsepower which would power the electric generators. These in turn would provide
power to the drive sprockets. Unfortunately nothing regarding the testing for the Type 100
seems to have survived outside of some photos showing it during testing with a simulated turret
weight. The hull itself was built with soft steel as by this point the orders for 30.01 armor plates
were canceled in favor of armored hulls for the new VK 45.01 (P). This new design designated as
the Type 101 by Porsche was essentially the same as the previous with only a few changes. The
biggest alteration from the previous design was the major increase in armor thickness with
the front now boasting 100mms and the sides and rear being 80mms thick. The engines were the
second major change remaining as dual V-10 gasoline engines but now upgraded to output 310
horsepower a piece for a total of 620 horsepower. These would still provide their power for electric
generators but the drive sprocket was moved from the front to the rear freeing up space in the
drivers compartment. The turret would remain the same as the previous design although alongside
the development of the hull it would receive improvements. Around this time it was also decided
to use this same turret for Henschel’s VK 45.01 as many of you likely already figured out. This would
also mark the point when the name “Tiger '' would begin to be attached to the vehicle with the
previous design being referred to as “Leopard”. 1 month after the invasion of the Soviet Union on
July 22nd 1941 Porsche would submit a contract to Krupp for 100 VK 45.01(P) hulls and 100 turrets.
Usually in articles or videos about the Porsche Tiger this is the portion where the story of
Porsche being so confident in his design that he ordered these only to have his tank fail
during trials. This certainly has some merit as Hitler had only ordered 6 prototypes
of the Porsche and Henschel designs. This story overlooks the fact that in the same month
Henschel would also receive a contract from the German Armored Vehicle design office for 100 VK
45.01(H) hulls. Considering Hitler and Porsche were close friends combined with the fact that
Porsche had fairly quickly developed a vehicle which Henschel had spent years working on it’s
understandable why he and others may have had more confidence in the Porsche design. That being
said it’s clear from surviving documents that the army was not as enthused by the Porsche
vehicles compared to their Fuhrer. With this additional context the extremely rushed
nature of both Tigers seems to have led both designs to be fast tracked into production
before either had finished their first vehicle. Earlier I mentioned that Porsche had his sights
set on not just electrical generators to drive the tanks but also hydraulics. This would be seen
in the next alteration to the VK 45.01(P) with Porsche informing Krupp that 50 of the 100 total
hulls that had been ordered were to be configured for this system. This design was designated
Type 102 and externally differed very little from its electric sibling. Interestingly these
two similar yet distinctly different vehicles are strikingly similar to the American heavy tank
program being worked on during this period which would become the M6 as we have discussed in a
previous video. This idea for the Porsche Tiger would turn out to be a fool's errand though with
only one of these ever being tested in the hull. Other short lived ideas for the vehicle
included emergency hatches in the vehicles sides which were removed due to the fact
that they weakened the armor. There was also a concept to mount a 105mm cannon into a
larger turret but this would only see limited development never leaving the drawing board.
The first 4 hulls would be finished by December 1941, with a total of 64 hulls completed
by July of 42. Despite the fairly large number of hulls available the first complete
tank would not be ready until April with only 10 completed by October 1942. These production
issues were largely attributed to issues with the engines. The first Type 101 engine had been
finished quickly and was delivered in December of 41 but equally as quickly showed a flaw in
the design. Foaming was found within the engine oil which caused bearings to fail. This issue
was quickly resolved and the next engine proved this as it ran without any foaming. Despite
this the engine would continue to have issues due to cooling and rapid wear, unsurprising
for a new design, but still a major issue for the production of the tank. A similarly
concerning issue would be discovered during testing of the armored hulls when a 7.5cm FK 16
field gun punched clean through the 100mm upper plate. This flaw was more easily resolved with
a decision to face harden future frontal plates. A demonstration of the two Tigers for Hitler
would finally take place on his birthday, April 20th 1942, with both the Porsche and
Henschel designs being delivered two days prior. According to Henschel's chief designer
Erwin Aders upon arrival at the rail depot near Hitlers headquarters the Porsche design struggled
to traverse under its own power and after the Henschel team left with their tank the steam
crane used to unload the tanks was restarted and repositioned the tank. It’s not clear exactly
what caused this issue in turning but when we consider that the tracks were eventually widened
from 500mms to 600mms it may be related to that. Despite this reported failure during delivery
it seems that when the vehicles were actually shown to Hitler the Porsche stole the show.
According to Dr Aders the majority of the demonstration time was dedicated to the Krupp
designed turret and Porsche tank with only a few minutes for the Henschel design. Obviously
this is coming from a fairly biased source so may not be entirely accurate but considering
the other factors we already discussed it seems likely that the higher ups were leaning
towards the Porsche design at that point. Unfortunately for Porsche this early success would
begin to crumble as the aforementioned engine issues continued to cripple production. During
testing in June an engine lasted only 50 hours before insufficient cooling caused a breakdown.
One thing that the tank did not have issues with, despite it being a running joke nowadays,
were the electric transmissions. These seem to have functioned largely without issue
with no spontaneous fires or breakdowns. In fact it reportedly worked better than the
mechanical transmission of their rivals Tiger. This same system would be used on the later
Maus super heavy tank and featured desirable characteristics for a tank such as good torque.
Both the Henschel and Porsche Tigers would be accepted for service on August 15th, 1942 with
the Porsche design receiving the designation Panzerkampfwagen VI (P). Though still unfinished
it was requested by Hitler that the initial batch of Porsche Tigers would be sent to Rommel in
North Africa as their air cooled engines in his mind were better for that environment. As
we know this would never actually come to pass, but interestingly Tiger 131 which did reach
North Africa bore a turret originally built for a Porsche Tiger. Production of both vehicles
would continue simultaneously for several months until a pause was placed on the Porsche
vehicles in October 1942. With Henschel now having surpassed the production numbers of
Porsche by nearly double, a decision needed to be made. The continued production of two essentially
identical vehicles was a drain on resources that could not be afforded and so a final test was set
for November 8th 1942. For the final time Tiger (H) and Tiger (P) would face off in the arena
with only one emerging as the victor. This time, however, Porsche’s creation would not be looked
upon as favorably. Both vehicles had faults and it can be argued that mechanically the Henschel and
Porsche designs were similarly flawed. Regardless of this the decision was soon made on November
22nd to stop production of Porsche Tigers and instead 90 of the total 100 hulls that had been
ordered were to be instead used for what would eventually become the Ferdinand. The turrets
which had been ordered were to be converted to hydraulic traverse and used for Henschel Tiger
production. Though the story of the Ferdinand deserves a video of its own this is not quite the
end for Porsche’s heavy tank. A single example of the Porsche Tiger would see combat on the
eastern front alongside its tank destroyer brethren. Being refitted with two Maybach engines
instead of the Type 101 it also received an extra 100mm plate on its front and wider tracks like the
Ferdinands or as they were now known the Elefants. Configured as a command tank and slathered
in a fresh coat of Zimmerit it would act as the command vehicle for the 653rd Tank Destroyer
battalion. It would also be accompanied by three Bergepanzer VI built on the Porsche chassis.
This would be a short lived service with the tank being reported in the unit on July 18th
1944 and then only 4 days later on the 22nd it was gone. Whether it was lost in combat or simply
broke down and was abandoned is impossible to say. The Porsche Tiger in its original configuration
sadly has not survived to this day with only a few Ferdinands surviving. You may also run
into this vehicle, known as the Rammtiger, which 3 hulls were reportedly set aside to be
built on. I will likely cover these in the future when I find more info but one common misconception
I can clear up now is their intended use. These were not to be used to ram enemy tanks rather they
would be used as essentially armored demolition vehicles to knock down buildings. One supposed
photo of this vehicle has been circulated online but to me it appears to be clever photoshop.
Though the story of the Porsche Tiger is not one of a perfect vehicle more capable than its rival
it is far from the flawed failure so many make it out to be. Had events changed even slightly
there is a strong chance the Porsche design could have been chosen over the Henschel. According to
one book by Thomas Jentz and Hilary Doyle they posit that had the Porsche design not experienced
engine issues, the VK36.01 hull not been as easily modified to accept the Krupp turret, or several
other circumstances been altered the Tiger tank we see in our history books would have been far
different. Though as we see from later information gathered from Armaments Minister Albert Speer it
most likely would also not have been the Porsche Tiger in the configurations we discussed today.
The electrical propulsion seems to have worked well even surpassing the mechanical transmission
of the Tiger (H) but with that came a higher cost with it requiring copper. Speer states that much
of the reason behind the rejection of electrical propulsion was due to already high demands for
copper for U-Boats and other programs. This is only one of several issues he had with the vehicle
claiming it to be quote “unusable”. Realistically the Tiger we know of today was almost certainly
the correct choice out of the two vehicles and I don’t want your takeaway from this video to
be that the Porsche Tiger was an amazingly flawless machine. I merely want to show that
there was far more to this story than what you have likely heard from other online sources.
The reality of the Tiger program was that it was an extremely rushed and massively flawed
mess with both designs featuring mechanical issues. It would also mark a shift in German tank
design towards heavier and heavier vehicles which would become one of many factors that led to
Speer's view of the war as lost by mid 1943. So what do you think of the story of Porsche’s
tiger? Was it a good design ahead of its time or simply another rushed German project doomed
for failure. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. I want to give one last thanks to
Factor for sponsoring this video and a reminder to check them out using that link in the description
for 50% off your first box. Thanks as always to my youtube members as well for their support of
my content which is greatly appreciated. If you enjoyed this video first off click the subscribe
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