Vanir Ausf B Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Anti tank guns that could reliably penetrate the Tiger I were the minority in the Allied armies until 1945. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony P. Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Was thinking of the capabilities Allied tanks had to deal with Tigers. Not very read up on ATGs, but I suppose there's a point where though you yourself aren't satisfied with the number of e.g. ATGs capable of dealing with Tigers that you posses, you still posses enough of them that the Germans have to assume they'll be there if they send in their Tiger Is, and therefor stay within the limits that any other of their tanks would, and therefor the Tiger Is could be considered obsolete, since they can no longer assume they'll be fairly well protected compared to medium Panzers. Anyway, just speculation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 11 hours ago, weapon2010 said: Tiger Is obsolete? huh? Yeah, that's why they shifted to the Tiger II. From Wikipedia (sorry, I'll get my groggier references out later, if needed): Production of the Tiger I began in August 1942, initially at a rate of 25 per month and peaking in April 1944 at 104 per month. 1,355 had been built by August 1944, when production ceased. Deployed Tiger I's peaked at 671 on 1 July 1944.[28] It took about twice as long to build a Tiger I as another German tank of the period. When the improved Tiger II began production in January 1944, the Tiger I was soon phased out. The Tiger II design started in mid-43. (I'll pull my books if the date really matters to someone.) Once Tiger II was shown to work, Tiger I contracts ceased, with existing contracts prolonging production as late as it did. The only reason they produced the Tiger II was due to the fact that the Tiger I was considered obsolete. It was the furthest extension of the PzI/II/III/IV style of tank design. The Tiger II was an extension of the Panther design philosophy of sloped armor, amongst other characteristics. But, sure, the Tiger I was still effective right through the end of the war, especially on the West/Italian Fronts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Battlefront.com Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 Yes, "obsolete" does not mean "ineffective". It simply means it is no longer the standard model. If Germany's tank production was organized better and not continually hampered by shortages and bombings, the Tiger 1s would have been pulled from the frontline units and used in secondary roles. The reason they stayed at the front, along with pretty much anything that could move on its own, is that production of new models never was sufficient to keep the frontline units supplied. I forget the specific number, but by 1945 there were relatively few Tiger 1s still in service and even fewer on the Western Front. The number "11" sticks in my head for some reason. Steve 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 (edited) One big problem with Tiger I was it was *grossly horrifically expensive*. Tactical utility aside, it was a veritable money pit. And that makes a big difference, especially as Russia was soon to be turning out IS-2s like sausages. This was a fairly common problem with German equipment. The Sdkfz 7 half track was another over-complex money pit, like driving around a tracked Faberge egg. Edited July 12, 2016 by MikeyD 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Ausf B Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 1 hour ago, Battlefront.com said: I forget the specific number, but by 1945 there were relatively few Tiger 1s still in service and even fewer on the Western Front. The number "11" sticks in my head for some reason. Steve 216 in inventory on February 1st 1945, although there may well have only been 11 on the Western Front since the Wehrmacht was preparing for Operation Spring Awakening and moving most of their panzers into Hungary at this point. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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