It had a rear-mounted engine and used nine steel-tired, eighty-centimeter-diameter overlapping road wheels per side with internal springing, mounted on transverse torsion bars, in a similar manner to the original Henschel-designed Tiger I. The Henschel version used a conventional hull design with sloped armour resembling the layout of the Panther tank. The overlapping, non-interleaved steel-rim roadwheel arrangement is visible. Eisenhower walks by an overturned Tiger II. Both prototype series used the same turret design from Krupp the main differences were in the hull, transmission, suspension and automotive features. Another design contract followed in 1939, and was given to Porsche. Development ĭevelopment of a heavy tank design had been initiated in 1937 the initial design contract was awarded to Henschel.
It was first used in combat by 503rd Heavy Panzer Battalion during the Allied invasion of Normandy on 11 July 1944 on the Eastern Front, the first unit to be outfitted with the Tiger II was the 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion, which by 1 September 1944 listed 25 Tiger IIs operational. The Tiger II was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army and the Waffen-SS. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretless Jagdpanzer anti-tank vehicle.
It was armed with the long barrelled 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 anti-tank cannon. The tank weighed almost 70 tonnes, and was protected by 100 to 185 mm (3.9 to 7.3 in) of armour to the front.
The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armour with the armour sloping used on the Panther medium tank.
Contemporaneous Allied soldiers usually called it the King Tiger or Royal Tiger. It was also known informally as the Königstiger ( German for Bengal tiger and also, literally, "King Tiger"). The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. The Tiger II is a German heavy tank of the Second World War.
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