![]() This process had not been picked up by the Germans’ earlier designs such as the Tiger I, which had all vertical and horizontal armour and surfaces, but the new Tiger II armour was to be thick as well as sloped, making it a very tough opponent to penetrate. It also had the added bonus of rounds bouncing of it, as they could only penetrate a vertical surface. The Russians found that by slopping their armour, as on their T-34’s, that this increased the thickness of the steel, so 50mm slopped armour would be as effective as vertical 100mm armour, making the tank lighter and not compromising weight and performance. Up to this point tank armour had been vertical steel plates and as the thickness increased to withstand direct hits from bigger rounds, the tank’s weight increased. The Russian T-34 armour design had been very successful. It had to have 150mm thickness in the frontal armour and 80mm thickness on the side armour. ![]() They had been given its specifications from Hitler himself, who wanted the new tank to carry an 88mm cannon, as used by the 88mm anti-aircraft gun that was very efficient as a tank killer. Germany’s superb tank designers started designing a new heavy tank, to replace the current heavy tank of the time, the Tiger I in late 1942 & early 1943. The German PzKpfw VI King Tiger 2 Tank Development ![]() It was the most powerful tank of World War II and was impervious to everything the Allied mechanised forces could throw at it, but due to its late introduction in to the war and the lack of numbers of them, it was not able to turn the tide of Hitler’s war in Germany’s favour. Its official designation amongst the German Army was “The Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger II Ausf.
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