The Maus Super-Heavy Tank

thank you to the realistic free-to-play online game war thunder for sponsoring this simple history episode mouse tank super-heavy tank the panzerkampfwagen 8 mouse was a super-heavy tank designed by the German forces during the Second World War this was the heaviest tank ever built in human history by the end of 1944 only two prototypes were completed so the mouse never actually saw action in battle the development of this super tank was primarily connected with Hitler's obsession to surpass the Allies in developing heavy tanks especially the Soviets the task of designing a tank bigger and more powerful than any other was given to the leading German tank constructor ferdinand porsche in june 1942 porsche presented hitler with the idea of the VK 100 point oh one type 205 tank which the Fuhrer approved this tank was to be 150 tons and was intended to use either a 150 millimeter or a 128 millimeter gun with an additional 75 millimeter gun and an mg34 machine gun the production of the tank hull turret and armament was assigned to Crump while the assembly was to be constructed in the AL ket factory at the time the project was officially named the mammoth but it was eventually changed to Mouse or Mouse on May 1st 1943 Hitler was presented with a wooden mock-up of the future tank as he was pleased with what he saw he ordered a run of 150 Maus tanks for production although he ordered the version with a 128 millimeter gun and coaxial 75 millimeter gun he wanted future models to be armed with the more powerful 150 millimeter gun the outcome of the final blueprints were 10.1 meters or 33 point one three feet long three point six seven meters or 12 feet wide and three point six three meters or eleven point nine feet high and it weighed almost 190 tons the crew was to consist of six men a commander gunner two lowers a driver and a radio operator the mouse's armor was very impressive the turret had a thickness of 220 millimeters or eight point seven inches at the front and two hundred millimeters or seven point nine inches thick on its sides and rear the hull thickness was 200 millimeters or seven point nine inches at the front and 180 or 7.1 inches on the side the armament of the tank was equally impressive the main armament was the 128 millimetre kwk 44 gun with such a gun the Maus would be capable of eliminating almost any allied tank within the range of 3500 meters a secondary coaxial armament was the 75 millimeter kwk 44 gun in addition the turret was equipped with a 7.9 2 millimeter mg34 machine gun for close combat such a heavy tank demanded a powerful engine to move it forces intention was to use the petrol electric drive they had used before on their version of the tiger tank the petrol engine would operate the electric generator that drove the twenty four wheels that each track had the projected speed of the tank with such an engine was 20 km/h or 12 miles per hour the engine system was so huge that it took two-thirds of the entire halt and caused the turret to be put at the rear end with this design the driver and radio operator seated in the hull were completely cut off from the turret group the mouse's tracks were proportional to the overall size of the tank in order to give it good mobility they were 1.1 meters wide or 3.6 feet and they were supported by a suspension system on each of the wheels as the size of the tank was its prime feature it was also its greatest drawback with a staggering total weight of 188 tons its mobility was under great question and that was the main reason why German commanders were not fond of the concept with a low speed and a high silhouette the Maus tank was a big target especially for the Air Force the drawbacks of the entire Maus concept seem to have been obvious to the Hwa the German weapons agency who protested against the Maus stating that it didn't need such a tank and they just couldn't formulate a tactical plan for it with such limited mobility the Maus couldn't serve as a tank hunter but it could work as a mobile fortress ultimately the army cancelled the order for 150 miles tanks in October 1943 in the next month Hitler ordered the development of the Maus to be ceased and he believed resources could be better used for other projects authorities however allowed Porsche to continue building their prototypes the first prototype the v1 was produced in December 1943 although it had no turret it was equipped with a dummy turret to simulate the wait for tests the v1 had a 1080 horsepower daimler-benz NB 509 feet 12 gasoline engine which produced a speed of only 13 km/h or eight miles per hour tests showed that the weight of the tank proved to be a great obstacle constructors also realized that the weight of 188 tons meant that there was no bridge in Europe that the Maus could cross without destroying to overcome this problem the v1 was equipped with a huge snorkel that allowed it to be submerged to the depth of eight meters in order to cross rivers the second prototype the v2 came in mid 1940 or and was substantially different from the v1 this version had a real turret installed the engine was replaced with a 1200 horsepower daimler-benz mb 517 diesel engine the v2 had an advanced electric steering system and a new Skoda gear system all these elements however showed only slight improvements prototype tests were being performed at coomer's Dorf near the bubbling and porsche proving grounds tests were marked by frequent engine failures and production delays caused by Allied bombings finally in August 1944 Krupp was ordered to cancel the production of the Maus hulls and to scrap the ones already produced this was the official end of the Maus tank project when the Red Army units approached the kummersdorf testing grounds in April 1945 the Germans managed to destroy the v2 prototype the Soviets then took the v1 hull and mounted the v2 turret on top of it in order to conduct tests of their own today this tank stands exhibited at the kubinka tank museum thank you to war thunder for sponsoring this episode war thunder is a free-to-play military online game available on PC and PlayStation 4 we play it on PC every now and then so you might fight alongside us on the battlefield the game has a choice of over 1,000 realistic aircrafts tanks and ships which you can use to fight in epic battles with tens of thousands of players from all over the world use the link in the description below to register and get a free premium tank or aircraft and three days of premium account time as a bonus see you on the battlefield

Channel: Simple History

Views: 3,148,739

Rating: 4.9249868 out of 5

Keywords: simple history, animated history, The Maus, Super-Heavy Tank, marvels, machines, engineering, german, education, educational, cartoon, warthunder, Panzerkampfwagen, Porsche, Mammoth, Prototype, weird, amazing, Kubinka Tank Museum, russia, Kummersdorf, Krupp, Böblingen Porsche, Daimler-Benz, tank snorkel

Id: Zs9_u_plcSw

Length: 6min 59sec (419 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 27 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/PureRushPwneD]

Gaijin? sponsor? those are two words never used together, tovarisch. they want all the money for themselves )))

[u/iguanicus-rex]

It's actually a pretty smart move as far as advertising goes. Nazi super-mega-ultradeath weapon videos bring in a fair number of views (look no farther than the Iron Armenian's top videos).

[u/Medical_Officer]

Gaijin should have sponsored the Gulag video this channel did.

[u/[deleted]]

Simple History regularly gets debunked and corrected when it's posted on this site. Not even watching the video. Also

Realistic

lol

[u/Heavenlysome]

I am irrationally annoyed by the cross painted on the side and not the hammer and sickle

[u/TheGoodTheBadTheRekt]

"Turret front thickness 220mm"

Yup, sponsored by Gaijin alright.

[u/ggouge]

I love minute history. That's cool I'm sick of war gaming sponsoring everything. I'm getting someone who works at minute history plays war thunder and did not want war gaming as a sponsoring

[u/histotoxic]

I guess this is where the ten-fucking-thousand SL I blow on repairs for my Maus every time I die go.