NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Sturmtiger

The Tiger-Mörser, 38 cm RW61 auf Sturm(panzer)mörser Tiger, or Sturmmörser Tiger, more commonly known as the Sturmtiger or Sturmpanzer VI, was a World War II German assault gun built on the Panzer VI Tiger I chassis armed with a large naval mortar, the 38cm SturmMörser RW61 L/5.4. Its primary task was to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. Only 18 were built in total, from battle-damaged Tiger tanks. Image File history File links SturmTiger_from_right. ... Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... MG34 The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted for service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. ... Several Maybach 57 and 62 models at the 2005 Concours dElegance in Pebble Beach, CA. Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH (IPA: ), founded by Wilhelm Maybach and his son Karl, was a German manufacturer of engines for Zeppelins and later, large and luxurious automobiles. ... A torsion spring is a ribbon, bar, or coil that reacts against twisting motion. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... German StuG III with high-velocity 75 mm gun, 1943 An assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions. ... The Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. ... Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. ...

Development

The idea for a heavy infantry support vehicle capable of demolishing heavily defended buildings or fortified areas with a single shot came out of the experiences of the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. At the time, the Wehrmacht had only the Sturminfanteriegeschütz 33 available, a Sturmgeschütz III variant armed with a 150 mm heavy infantry gun. Twelve of them were lost in the fighting at Stalingrad. Combatants Germany Italy Hungary Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Commanders Maximilian von Weichs Friedrich Paulus # Erich von Manstein Hermann Hoth Italo Garibaldi Gusztav Jany Petre Dumitrescu Constantin Constantinescu Vasiliy Chuikov Aleksandr Vasilyevskiy Georgiy Zhukov Semyon Timoshenko Konstantin Rokossovsky Rodion Malinovsky Strength German Sixth Army German Fourth Panzer Army Romanian Third Army... Image:Wehrmacht 20 April 1939 Birthday Parade. ... The SturmgeschÃ¼tz III (StuG III) assault gun was Germanys most produced armored fighting vehicle during World War II. It was built on the chassis of the Panzer III tank. ...

Its successor, the Sturmpanzer IV Brummbär was in production from early 1943, but the Wehrmacht still saw a need for a similar, but heavier armoured and armed vehicle. Therefore a decision was made to create a new vehicle based on the Tiger tank and arm it with a 210 mm howitzer. General characteristics Length 5. ... 19th century 12 pounder (5 kg) mountain howitzer displayed by the National Park Service at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, USA A howitzer is a type of artillery piece that is characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small explosive charges to propel projectiles at trajectories with...

However, this weapon turned out not to be available at the time and was therefore replaced by a 380 mm mortar rocket launcher, which was adapted from a Kriegsmarine depth charge launcher. US soldier loading a M224 60-mm mortar. ... The Kriegsmarine (or War Navy) was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine. ...

In September 1943 plans were made for Krupp to fabricate new Tiger I armored hulls for the Sturmmoerser. The Tiger I hulls were to be sent to Henshcel for chassis assembly and then to Alkett where the superstructures would be mounted. The first prototype was ready and presented to Adolf Hitler in October 1943. Delivery of the first hulls would occur in December 1943, with the first three Sturmmoerser completed by Alkett by 20 February 1944. Hitler redirects here. ... February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Delays resulted that Hitler did not request production of the weapon until 19 April 1944; 12 superstructures and weapons for the Sturmmoerser would be prepared and mounted on rebuilt Tiger I chassis. The first three production series Sturmmoerser were completed by Alkett on rebuilt Tiger I chassis in August 1944. Plans to complete an additional seven 38 cm Tiger-Moerser from 15 to 21 September 1944 were presented to Hitler in a conference on 18/20 August 1944. Ten Sturmmoerser were produced in September, along with an additional five in December 1944.^[1] April 19 is the 109th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (110th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... September 21 is the 264th day of the year (265th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Hitler had laid great importance on the special employment of the Sturmmoerser and believed it would be necessary to produce at least 300 rounds of ammunition per month.^[2]

Design

The Sturmtiger was based on the late model Tiger I, keeping its hull and suspension. The front of the Tiger's superstructure was removed to make room for the new fighting compartment housing the rocket launcher/mortar. This was located directly at the front of the vehicle, giving it a boxy appearance.

Compared to the regular Tiger tank, the Sturmtiger was much shorter, only 6.28 m compared to the Tiger's 8.45 m, due largely to the fact that it hadn't the protruding main gun of the latter. It also was slightly less tall than the Tiger, 2.85 m compared to 3.00 m.

Armor

Since the Sturmtiger would be used in an urban environment, during close range street fighting operations, it needed to be heavily armoured to survive. Its frontal armour therefore was 150 mm thick, as well as sloped, while its side plates were still some 80 mm thick. This pushed the weight of the vehicle up from the 57 tons of the regular Tiger to some 68 tons.

Weapons

The main armament was the 380 mm Raketenwerfer 61 L/5.4, a breech loading rocket launcher/mortar, which fired short range rocket propelled projectiles. These projectiles were roughly 1.5 metre in length and could either contain a high explosive charge of 125 kg or a shaped charge for use against fortifications, which could penetrate up to 2.5 metres of reinforced concrete. The stated range of the former was 5,650 meters. The weight of the complete rounds was 345-351 kg. A normal charge first accelerated the projectile to 45 m/s, the 40 kg rocket charge then boosted this to about 250 m/s. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1340 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sturmtiger Talk:Sturmtiger User:Motorfix Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2592x1944, 1340 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Sturmtiger Talk:Sturmtiger User:Motorfix Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or... The Deutsches Panzermuseum is an Armoured fighting vehicle museum in Munster, Germany. ... Statistics Area: 24,607. ... Sectioned HEAT round with the inner shaped charge visible A shaped charge is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosives energy. ...

The design of the rocket launcher caused some problems, as the hot rocket exhaust could not be vented into the fighting compartment but neither could the barrel withstand the pressure if the gasses were not vented. Therefore a ring of ventilation shafts were put around the barrel which channelled the exhaust and gave the weapon somewhat of a pepperbox appearance.

Because of the bulkiness of the ammunition, only 14 rounds could be carried, of which one was already loaded, with another in the loading tray. The rest were carried in two storage racks. To help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure, next to the loading hatch. Even then, the entire five man crew had to help with the loading.

At the loading hatch's rear was located the 90 mm NbK 39 Nahverteidigungswaffe ("Close defence weapon"), which was used for close range defence against both armoured vehicles and infantry. This could be used in a 360 degree circle around the vehicle and was basically a short range grenade launcher. A grenade launcher is weapon that fires or launches a grenade to longer distances than a soldier could throw by hand. ...

For defence against infantry attacks, there was a mount in the front for a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun. MG34 The Maschinengewehr 34, or MG34, was a German machine gun that was first produced and accepted for service in 1934, and first issued to units in 1935. ... A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ...

Combat service

The original role of the Sturmtiger was intended to be as a heavy infantry support vehicle, to help with attacks on heavily fortified or built-up areas. By the time the first Sturmtigers were available however, the situation for Germany had changed for the worse, with the Wehrmacht being almost exclusively on the defensive rather than the offensive. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Combatants Poland Germany Commanders Tadeusz BÃ³r-Komorowski, Antoni ChruÅ›ciel, Tadeusz PeÅ‚czyÅ„ski Erich von dem Bach, Rainer Stahel, Heinz Reinefarth, Bronislav Kaminski Strength 50,000 troops 25,000 troops Casualties 18,000 killed, 12,000 wounded, 15,000 taken prisoner 250,000 civilians killed 10,000 killed...

Three new Panzer companies were raised to operate the Sturmtiger: Panzer Sturmmörser Kompanien (PzStuMrKp) 1000, 1001 and 1002. These originally were supposed to be equipped with fourteen vehicles, but this figure was later reduced to four each, divided into two platoons.

PzStuMrKp 1000 was raised on 13 August 1944 and fought during the Warsaw Uprising with two vehicles, as did the prototype in a separate action, which may have been the only time the Sturmtiger was used in its intended role. PzStuMrKp 1001 and 1002 followed in September and October. Both PzStuMrKp 1000 and 1001 served during the Ardennes Offensive, with a total of seven Sturmtigers. August 13 is the 225th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (226th in leap years), with 140 days remaining. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Combatants Poland Germany Commanders Tadeusz BÃ³r-Komorowski, Antoni ChruÅ›ciel, Tadeusz PeÅ‚czyÅ„ski Erich von dem Bach, Rainer Stahel, Heinz Reinefarth, Bronislav Kaminski Strength 50,000 troops 25,000 troops Casualties 18,000 killed, 12,000 wounded, 15,000 taken prisoner 250,000 civilians killed 10,000 killed... The term Ardennes Offensive (or Battle of the Ardennes) refers to multiple battles throughout history, all of which took part in or around the Ardennes Forest in France and Belgium. ...

After this offensive, the Sturmtigers were used in the defence of Germany proper, mainly if not exclusively at the Western front. They proved to be excellent defensive weapons, hard to destroy except by air attack or heavy artillery bombardment. Few Sturmtigers were therefore destroyed by enemy action, with most being destroyed or abandoned by their crews after either a mechanical breakdown or because of fuel shortage.

Two Sturmtigers survived World War II, one being on display at the Deutsches Panzermuseum at Munster, Germany and one at the Russian Tank museum in Kubinka. A 380 mm Raketenwerfer is in the collection of the Bovington Tank Museum The Deutsches Panzermuseum is an Armoured fighting vehicle museum in Munster, Germany. ... Statistics Area: 24,607. ... The Kubinka Tank Museum also known as The Tank Museum in Kubinka is a large AFV museum with many famous tanks from WW1, WW2 and the Cold War. ... British Mark V; one of the few WWI tanks still in working order. ...

Notes

External links

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The Panzerkampfwagen IV (PzKpfw IV), more commonly referred to as the Panzer IV, was a tank developed by Germany and used extensively in World War II. It was designed initially as an infantry-support medium tank, to work in conjunction with the anti-tank Pzkpfw III. Later in the war... The Panther ( ) was a tank fielded by Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. ... The Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. ... The Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. ... The LT-35 or LT vz. ... The Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) was a Czechoslovakian tank used by Germany during World War II. (The Czechoslovak military designation was LT-38. ... A U.S. M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzer Self-propelled artillery (also called mobile artillery or locomotive artillery) vehicles are a way of giving mobility to artillery. ... The Wespe (German for wasp) was a German self-propelled artillery vehicle during World War II based on the Panzer II tank. ... The Hummel (‘Bumble Bee’) was a self-propelled artillery unit based on the Geschutzwagen III/IV chassis, armed with a 150 mm howitzer. ... The Grille series of self propelled artillery vehicles were used by Germany during World War II. The Grille series was based on the Czech Panzer 38(t) tank and used a 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun. ... Panzerwerfer alias Maultier Panzerwerfer is the name for two different types of half-tracked multiple rocket launchers employed by Germany during the Second World War. ... The sIG 33 (schwere InfanterieGeschÃ¼tz 33) was a German 150 mm close support gun used in the Second World War. ... The Wurfrahmen 40 was a German World War II artillery unit. ... German StuG III with high-velocity 75 mm gun, 1943 An assault gun is a gun or howitzer mounted on a motor vehicle or armored chassis, designed for use in the direct fire role in support of infantry when attacking other infantry or fortified positions. ... 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