The German Waffenamt issued an order to design the VK4501(H) (as the PzKpfw VI Ausf. E was then known) in May 1941, just one month prior to the commencement of Operation Barbarossa. Interestingly, Henschel und Sohn of Kassel was charged with building the heavily armored chassis while Krupp, by far the largest munitionwerks in Germany, was given the task of developing the turret. The PzKpfw VI Ausfuhrung E (type E) was one of the first German tanks to feature a torsion bar with eight interleaved wheels, which was designed to support the weight of the mammoth 57-ton tank. The Ausf. E mounted a huge 8.8cm KwK36 L/56 cannon and featured two MG34 machine guns for close support against enemy infantry. By war's end, 1,354 vehicles had been produced, some rolling off the Wegmann assembly line.

The Tiger differed from earlier German tanks principally in its design philosophy. Its predecessors balanced mobility, armor and firepower and were sometimes outgunned by their opponents.

While heavy, this tank was not slower than the best of its opponents. However, at over 50 tonnes dead weight, the suspension, gearboxes, and other such items had clearly reached their design limits and breakdowns were frequent if regular maintenance was not undertaken.

Although the general design and layout were broadly similar to the previous medium tank, the Panzer IV, the Tiger weighed more than twice as much. This was due to its substantially thicker armor, the larger main gun, greater volume of fuel and ammunition storage, larger engine, and a more solidly built transmission and suspension.

This particular 1:72 scale initial production Tiger I Ausf. H heavy tank was attached to schwere Panzerabteilung 502, then deployed to Mishkino, Russia, during 1943. Now in stock!

Dimensions:
Width: 2-1/4-inches
Length: 4-1/2-inches

Release Date: December 2023

Historical Account: "Panzers on the Neva" - The area around Leningrad is one of the most geographically diverse in the world, situated in the southern sub zone of the taiga - a snow covered forest found in the cold subarctic. The subarctic is an area of the Northern Hemisphere that lies just south of the Arctic Circle where forests occupy about 40% of the territory, and swamps a further 10%. There are cliffs in the Gulf of Vyborg and to the north of Lake Ladoga, huge swampy areas to the south, marshy valleys with granite boulders on the Karelian Isthmus, canyons and waterfalls, plains and hills to the south of Neva. By any military measure, the region was not known as ideal "tank country," yet it nevertheless served as the backdrop for the first actions of the Tiger I heavy tank, an ill-suited baptism of fire its designers, the architects of the Blitzkrieg and troops picked to employ it would just as soon prefer to forget.

Schwere Panzerabteilung 502 took the Tiger I into combat for the first time south of Lake Ladoga near Leningrad on September 16th, 1942. On September 22nd, after crossing a causeway, one Tiger became bogged down in the mud, thereby living up to its iconic unit heraldry of an elephant blindly on the march. After several unsuccessful attempts to recover it, the vehicle had to be abandoned, fierce enemy fire deterring the crew from reaching the vehicle. To prevent its capture, a decision was eventually made to destroy the vehicle, which was carried out on September 25th. All in all, a rather ignominious start for what was hoped to be a miracle weapon.