Tiger II

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The Tiger II, more commonly known as the Konigstiger (German for King Tiger) or the Panzer VII, was the heaviest conventional battle tank deployed by the Wehrmacht during World War II. It is notorious for being one of largest wastes of war material during the war, while also being stupidly effective.

Mid War

Late War

IRL

The concept for heavy German tanks such as the Tiger originates in 1941, where the performance of the Char 1B and British Matilda tanks impressed Hitler so much that he ordered a similar German tank developed. Porsche and Henschel competed for the contract, with Porsche's design being rejected as too complex. In essence, this is the origin of the base Tiger Tank.

In January of 1943, specifications for a new heavy tank for the Wehrmacht were released and fulfilled by the Henschel firm. The major differences between the plebian Tiger and the Royal King were the incorporation of sloped armor on parts of the vehicle, as well as additional armor in general, and a slightly more effective cannon. The KwK 43, which was equipped on King Tigers, was slightly too long and large to fit into the Tiger I chassis, which fired the same calibre shells, but at a lesser veolcity. TL;DR: The King Tiger shot it's 88mm shells at a slightly faster velocity.

The King Tiger was a pain in the balls to work with. It was as slow as a snail in a Nurgle army, would frequently break down, was too heavy to cross pretty much any bridge, and guzzled fuel like a Squat does alcohol. Strategically, it made almost no sense to be used, with the only light justification being that the larger Soviet Tanks necessiated it's production, though any opinion of this type is flat out wrong.

However, unlike the Elefant, the King Tiger did have redeeming characteristics. For all of it's shortcomings, the thing was just short of impervious to anything the allies could field to meet it. It was a massive morale boost to friendly troops in the field, and a massive morale shock to any enemy that happened to be on the business end of it's 88mm cannon. The tank was so reviled by the allies that they were apprehensive of the thing being present right up until the end of the war. In fact, the King Tiger was often only defeated by being outmanuevered, mechanical failure, or getting absolutely pounded by aircraft. They were present in recognizable quantities during the Battle of Berlin, acting quite effectively as turrets and generally scaring the shit out of anything in a square kilometer radius.

German Forces in Flames of War
Tanks: Panzer II - Panzer III - Panzer IV - Panther - Tiger - Tiger II - Panzer 38(t) - Captured Tank Platoon (Germany)
Transports: SdKfz 250 - SdKfz 251 - Opel Blitzwagen
Infantry: MG34 Platoon - AT-Rifle Team - Assault Pioneer Platoon - Grenadier Company - Fallshirmjager Company
Artillery: PaK-40 Anti-Tank Gun - Hummel - Panzerwerfer 42 - Wespe - Grille - PaK-43 - 12cm Mortar - 8cm Mortar - 21cm Nebelwerfer 42 - 30cm Nebelwerfer 42
Tank Destroyers and Assault guns: Marder - StuG III - Jagdpanzer IV - Nashorn - Elefant - Jagdtiger - Brummbar - Hetzer - Sturmpanzer II Bison
Armored Cars: SdKfz. 234/2 'Puma' - Sd.Kfz 222/223 - SdKfz. 231
Aircraft: JU-87 Stuka - HS-129 - ME-262 Sturmvogel
Anti-Aircraft: Flak 88mm - Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind & Ostwind
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