Early in 1943, orders were given to design a heavy, self-propelled anti-tank gun, which would mate a 12.8cm gun with a Tiger II chassis. On October 20th, 1943 a wooden mock-up of the enormous vehicle was shown to the OKH planners who authorized that a prototype be finished by April 1944. Two Jagdtigers were built with the Porsche-designed longitudinal torsion-bar suspension. During field testing, this arrangement proved entirely unsatisfactory, which further delayed production of the tank destroyer. The initial series was set at 150 vehicles, but an order issued in October 1944 stipulated that when these had been completed, production capacity was to be switched over to the Panther. This mandate was reversed in January 1945, and assembly of the Jagdtiger was to be resumed as fast as possible. By March 1945, only 77 examples were produced, all assigned to either Panzerjagerabteilung 653 or schwere Panzerabteilung 512.

Pictured here is a 1:32 scale replica of a German Sd. Kfz. 186 Jagdpanzer IV Jagdtiger heavy tank destroyer which was attached to schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653, then deployed to Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany during early 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 12-1/2-inches
Width: 4-3/4-inches
Height: 3-3/4-inches

Release Date: September 2010

Historical Account: "End Game" - The Battle of the Seelow Heights (Schlacht um die "Seelower Hohen"), was a part of the Seelow-Berlin Offensive Operation (April 16th - May 2nd, 1945); one of the last assaults on large entrenched defensive positions of World War II. It was fought over three days, from April 16th to the 19th, 1945. Close to one million Soviet soldiers of the 1st Belorussian Front (including 78,556 soldiers of the 1st Polish Army), commanded by Marshal Georgi Zhukov, attacked the position known as "Gates of Berlin". They were opposed by about 91,000 German soldiers of the Ninth Army, commanded by General Theodor Busse, as part of Army Group Vistula.

This battle is often incorporated into the Battle of the Oder-Neisse. Seelow Heights was where the most bitter fighting in the overall battle took place, but it was only one of several crossing points along the Oder and Neisse rivers where the Soviets attacked. The Battle of the Oder-Neisse was itself only the opening phase of the Battle of Berlin. The result was the encirclement of the Ninth Army and Battle of Halbe.