The Tiger that was never crowned: VK 45.02 (P)

The popularity of World of Tanks is greatly helping to spread interest in tank history, however some of the inaccuracies in the game are starting to create a new strain of internet tank myths.
One of those is about the VK 54.02 (P), Porsche's failed bid for a Tiger successor, represented in WOT by two tanks that are both way above their historical counterpart, especially what they call the "Ausf B".

Today we will use Special Panzer Variants by Spielberger, Panzer Tracts 20-1, Kingtiger Heavy Tank and Germany's Tiger tanks - VK 45-02 to Tiger II by Jentz & Doyle.

The roots of a Porsche Tiger improvement starts in early 1942, with the very first proposal of a "Typ 101 Verstaerkt" (strengthened), soon changed into Typ 180 (Electric transmission) and 181 (Hydraulic), designated by Wa Pruef 6 as VK 45.01 (P2), VK 45.02 (P) and finally Tiger P2.

On 30 January 1942 Dr. Porsche proposed that the Tiger P chassis from N° 101 onwards were to be produced with armor sloped at 60° from vertical, with Krupp reply in early February asking for the sloping to be reduced at 55° to ease manufacture, compatibility with frontal machine gun mounts and a large enough turret ring.


It was to be powered by twin Porsche Typ 101/3 engines, rated at 300 HP each (for a total of 600 HP), with a planned maximum speed of 35 kilometers per hour for the 65 tonnes panzer.
Several upgrade proposals were made in October 1942, installing either twin Porsche Deutz Typ 180/1 generating a total 740 HP, a single Porsche Type 180/2 700 HP engine and even a rear layout configuration:

Armor was set to be 80mm sloped at 55° from vertical frontally, 80mm sloped from 0 to 15° in the sides and 80mm vertical in the rear.

A new turret was designed initially to house the 88mm Flak 41 under Hitler's strict request , which was later on switched to the 88mm KWK 43 used in the Henschel Tiger II, with specifications for it to be to turn at 15 degrees per second under electric power.

Turret frontal armor was 100mm at 45° in the top part, while the bottom one was sloped at 30°, sides were 80mm thick while the rear was also 80mm but sloped at 30°.

Turret roof ranged from 25 to 40mm in thickness.

An initial order was issued for 200 hulls and turrets, later on reduced to 100 turrets and 30 hulls.

Dr. Porsche declared that once the tank hit series production it would have received improved suspensions, an air-cooled 900 HP diesel engine, thicker armor and heavier armament, however the specs of those are not listed anywhere in the sources available to me.
 

Given that the suspension could likely be upgraded to the one used for the Porsche Jagdtiger  I'd personally estimate that an upgraded design would include an extra 50mm plate plus the Krupp 105mm L/52 (or possibly even L/68 for a rear layout) with the later "Henschel" turret (turrets were Krupp in reality) but not much more as the extra 5-6 tonnes doesn't really leave too much room for improvement provided but not exactly assured that Porsche could eventually remove the nasty rocking issues that plagued that particular suspension.

Three Tiger P2 with electric drive were allegedly being completed at Nibelungenwerk before series cancellation in November 1492, while the first 50 turrets were used in the Henschel Tiger II.

"Need more dakka!" - German Flak Panzers

The lack of air superiority became quite a problem for the German army in both World Wars.
Very often you will hear people spouting about "invincible Tigers only defeated by enemy airplanes", which of course was only somewhat true until the Soviets started fielding 122 and 152mm self propelled guns, not to mention the IS series, while British and Americans also put 76mm high velocity cannons to good use on the other side.

The Germans of course were aware of the consequences of loosing air superiority and developed several solutions, of which we will cover only the ones based on tank hulls, ranging from sensible battlefield modifications to daring paper tanks that never reached the battlefield, using mainly "Gepard" by Spielberger and "Panzer Tracts 20-2" by Jentz & Doyle.

2cm Flak 38 auf Panzer I A

Possibly the very first German attempt at a flak panzer,  in 1941 at least 18 by then obsolete Panzer I ausf A chassis were converted into a flak panzer using the ubiquitous 2cm flak 38 and were used with moderate success of the battlefield until Stalingrad, where the last tanks were lost.



2cm Flak 38 auf RSO

A relatively simple modification of the "Ost" tracktor, it was developed as AA/Ground support vehicle for mountain troops. Given similar experiments with the heavier PAK 40 the design seems reliable enough, especially given the dismountable gun specification.
Developed in 1943, it never entered service.

Early modifications based on Panzer 38(t)

Between 1943 and 1944 over 150 of those tanks were produced, putting yet again the 2cm flak 38 in a Marder-like configuration. By then though, their firepower left a lot to be desired but as in late war everything that could be used was fielded, they ended up serving until the very end.

A second attempt was made relatively quickly to make a more flexible configuration, ending up in a recon/AA hybrid armed yet again with the 2cm flak 38 and a MG42, a configuration that would resurface on Paper for the 38D design later on.

Using the sd. kfz 222 turret, 70 of those vehicles were made.

Luftwaffe projects on Luchs/Leopard/VK2801 hulls

 

In September 1943 Krupp and Rheinmetall were requested to submit designs for a light flakpaner carrying the 3.7cm flak 36 (then upgraded to flak 43) or quadruple 20mm flak 38.

The proposal was based on the Luchs but later on maximum integration with Leopard components resulting in a 25 ton tank.

Ground support role was also planned for the tank so the turret had a respectable 50mm front and 30mm sides armor, enough to face most light tanks.

Several configurations were proposed, including the use of a single 5cm Flak 41 or Gerat 58 but ultimately the project was aborted due to the cancellation of the Leopard tank by Speer.

The very same studies were conducted on the VK2801, likely as waffentrager as the same hull configuration was planned to carry the 75mm L/70, although limited to an traverse angle of 15° to each side until the chassis development was aborted in 1945.

Panzer IV based modifications

Being disappointed with earlier attempts, in 1943 Krupp was called in to develop a better solution based on Panzer IV chassis.
The very first solution was to still use the 2cm flak 38 but now in a "Vierling" or quadruple configuration.

This gave a much more intense barrage capability although still relatively short ranged.
Unfortunately the tank was not without drawbacks, resulting in very tall sides when enclosed (earning the nickname of "Mobelwagen" or furniture wagon) and in an unprotected crew when in firing position.

Additional requirements such as entrenching tools and a big supply of hand grenades for close defense (imho this was useless, the main guns could mince meat anything the grenades were meant for at much longer ranges and that close the crew would have been dead meat long before exhausting the grenade supply) meant that insufficient ammo was carried and thus the vehicle never left prototype stage.

A second attempt involved using a newer gun, the 3.7cm Flak 43:

While seemingly puny, the gun was a much stronger advancement from the early 1936 "door knocker" and it could dish out punishment at considerable distances spitting lead up to 250 RPM and also pretty effective against tanks when using special ammunition able to penetrate up to 140mm/0° at 100m.

Both proposals evolved into slightly more compact 22ton turreted designs, called "Ostwind" (east wind, armed with the 3.7cm flak 43), and "Wibelwind" (with the quadruple 20mm) which got over 100 tanks in production.

 

A derivative prototype was made out of Panzer III chassis but it never reached production.

Another design was an enclosed turret with twin MK 103 cannons using a turret derived from U-boat AA, called the Kugelblitz, or ball lighting with about 80 of those being produced:

Of course, being nice designs with reasonable features wasn't enough and like everything else it was brought to the extremes late in the war.

In order to gear up the Wibelwind, the "Zerstorer 45" program was started, bringing a slightly larger turret to mount this:

Quadruple 30mm MK 103 cannon, enough to make minced meat of even the vaunted IL-2 and most light tanks on ground. Only two of those prototypes were made but the hail of fire must have been impressive.

At the same time, Ostwind was planned to be upgraded to "zwilling" or twin, 37mm Flak 43, basically going akimbo:

This was later on planned to be upgraded to the slightly more powerful 3.7cm flak 44.

An heavier configuration was developed in 1942 based on a special Panzer IV chassis mounting the 8.8cm Flak 37 or Flak 41 in a fold-able platform that was later on proposed to be integrated first with Leopard components then with Panther ones but was ultimately discarded for more compact solutions using either 3cm MK 103 or the 5.5cm Gerat 58.

Later modifications based on Panzer 38(t) and 38(d)

As the Panzer IV was scheduled to be phased out, design moved on what was supposed to be its closest replacement, the Panzer 38(d) which could be described as looking like a turreted Hetzer redesigned to be produced in Germany.

Although not evident in the drawing, it sported two 20mm MG 151/20 cannons allegedly for ranging and two MK 103 for the kill, an impressive weapon array for such a compact design.

Later on during flak Panther development the 3.7cm flak 44 was also proposed for the Panzer 38(d).

A final modification was made on an enlarged 38(d) chassis in a waffentrager configuration, using the Gerat 58 in a twin mount.

Panther based modifications

As soon as Panther design started being finalized, flak panzers were being discussed with the very first proposals coming from Luftwaffe in 1942.

Initially a quadruple 20mm MG 151/20 configuration was proposed and trialled but while delivering an impressive barrage, it was deemed insufficient and discarded for twin 3.7cm flak 43.

This configuration, dubbed the "Coelian", was later on upgraded to twin 3.7cm flak 44, which benefited from a longer, more powerful cartridge.

This was again upgraded in 1944 to make use of the new 5.5cm Gerat 58 still in a twin configuration.

Developed by Krupp and Rheinmetall, this impressive weapon could be elevated from -5° to +80°, firing its ammo at over 1000 m/s and 120-140 rounds per minute per gun.

The heaviest modification however regarded using the 8.8cm Flak 41 in an open turret, proposed in 1943 by Rheinmetall and discarded in 1944 as Panther chassis were direly needed for heavier tasts and 8.8cm cannons in fixed positions were felt more than adequate for the tasl.

Modifications by Porsche

Development of a light flak/ground support chassis by Porsche in collaboration with Rheinmetall started in 1943 as resources for heavier designs were drying up, using the 3cm MK 103, 5.5 cm MK 112 and the 10.5cm LEFH 43.

60mm frontal armor and a top speed of 58 KM/H would have made this tank double wonderfully as light scout and support, although that role would have been better covered by its enclosed turret version.

All in all, the germans developed quite a few interesting designs of varying effectiveness, especially as planes got faster and faster.
As with similar designs from other nations, the germans basically focused on sheer rate of fire for closer ranges, while using heavier guns was rapidly becoming the chosen option in later vehicles.

As analogous designs to the soviet ZSU 37 and 57 they could have lasted as anti helicopter/light ground support tanks even after the war, until being ultimately supplanted by a mix of SAM and Radar-equipped SPAAGs.

"Buff my Tank!" - Panzer II series

Hello and welcome to "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.





A true workhorse of the Wehrmacht, the Panzer II was initially conceived as an interim design until the heavier and more capable Panzer III and IV were ready but its development was still very long, with plenty of proposed upgrades.
To properly explore this, we will draw our information from Spielberger's "Panzers I and II and their variants" and "Gepard", while also using " Panzer Tacts 20-1" and "Panzer Tracts 20-2" from Jentz & Doyle.


First series: ausf A to G

A design for a 10 ton class vehicle was requested and in 1935 the first prototypes were shown, with the 7.6 ton MAN design winning the competition.


Firepower
The initial model carried a 2cm KWK 30 and a MG 34, good enough versus similar light tanks but quite lacking against anything heavier.
Some tanks were upgraded later on to the slightly better 2cm KWK 38, while an ausf F "Flamingo" variant was equipped with a flame thrower.


Protection

The initial design called for all-around 14.5mm armor, useful against MG fire but pretty vulnerable against everything else.
 Ausf C brought frontal protection to a decent 30mm, enough to stop similar auto-cannons from distance and some AT rifles, although still pretty light protection in tank terms.

Later versions added bolt-on plates of 14.5 to 20mm tickness frontally, while ausf F used solid plates of 30mm for turret front, 20-35mm for hull front and 20mm sides, increasing vehicle weight to 9.5 tons.
In 1941 Hitler proposed to give Panzer II spaced armor plates, in a similar layout to ausf F, with extra plates varying from 14.5 to 20mm thickness, although at likely quite a price in mobility.

Mobility  

The initial Maybach HL  57 TR engine was rated 130 HP, giving a pretty respectable power to weight ratio of around 17 HP/ton and a top speed of 40 KM/H.
Ausf B introduced the Maybach HL 62 TR rated at 140 HP, not a big upgrade but much needed for later versions as the ausf C brought the weight up to 8.9 tons.
In 1938 a MAN175-200 HP Type HWA 1038G engine was also planned.
Type D brought a new gearbox and transmission that allowed a top speed of 55 KM/H.



Later developments: VK 901, 903, VK 1601 and Luchs

Between 1938 and 1941 a new 10 ton class panzer with increased speed and protection was planned, with an initial design of a 10.5 ton Panzer II with a new engine and armor layout, called VK 901 or Panzer II Neuer Art.

Firepower
Initially the standard 2cm KWK 38 and MG 34 design was kept, although by then it was clear it was insufficient against armor.
In 1941 it was proposed to mount the Czech 4.7cm cannon in a Panzer II turret but the project wasn't pursued.
Later series of the VK 13.01 Luchs mounted a 5cm L/60 in an open-top turret, produced until 1943:

A third turret was also developed by Daimler-Benz, posing the basis for later designs:

Finally, an open turret variant for heavier guns using Leopard components was designed, reaching wooden mock-up stage.

Protection 
The initial layout called for a 30mm frontal armor and 20mm sides.
A very limited series 17 ton assault design with 80mm frontal armor and 50mm sides was the VK 16.01, soon dismissed due to limited tactical usefulness with a top speed of 31 km/h.


Mobility 
The first chassis was finished with a 145 HP Maybach HL 45 engine for a top speed of 50 km/h, but soon a new 180P Maybach HL 66P engine was designed to propel the vehicle up to a quite fast 65 km/h using new suspensions derived from the Panzer 38(t).

 
VK 16.02 Leopard

In 1941 MIAG received a contract to develop along with MAN the VK 1602 design, also called the Leopard, while Daimler-Benz designed the turret.
It was designed into a 21 ton light variant and a 26 ton heavy one and planned to be developed into an entire design family (wooden mock-ups of a Leopard Waffentrager existed), but ultimately canceled by Speer himself in favor a recon variant of the Panther tank.

Firepower
Just like the late Luchs variant, the design mounted a 5cm L/60 cannon, later on an open turret derived from the Luchs waffentrager, 37mm FLAK 43, 5cm FLAK 41, 55mm MK114 or Gerat 58 and the 10.5cm LEFH 43 were also proposed.


Protection
At 26 tons, the heavy variant was quite well armored for a recon vehicle, with an 80mm sloped hull front plate, 60mm sides and turret thickness from 50 to 80mm.
The 21.9-ton lighter variant was initially designed with 60mm hull front and 20mm sides and rear, then redesigned into 50mm front and 30mm sides and rear.
 
The universal open turret was supposed to have 50mm front and 30mm sides and rear.

Mobility 
The 550HP Maybach HL 157 was the planned power-plant, giving the tank a top speed of 50 KM/H. 


VK 28.01: The multi-purpose light tank 

In 1943 a new heavy reconnaissance tank was proposed under the VK28.01 designation.
It was planned to be a multi-purpose tank with an air-cooled rear engines, with Daimler-Benz in charge of the project.
Several drafts were made to accommodate different engines, until the project was cancelled in May 1944 in favor of a design using Panzer III components.
Just like VK 16.02 it was designed into a lighter 28 ton design and an heavier 33 ton variant, although no differences are stated aside from engine power.
 
Firepower

The only planned gun for the tank was the 75mm L/48 in a turret derived from that of the Panzer IV ausf G, while an open top variant was proposed with a quadruple 20mm FLAK 38 mount or with a similar armament as the Leopard.


Protection

 The armor scheme was generally in line with that of the Leopard, again using 50mm sloped frontal armor and 30mm sides plus planned use of side skirts against AT rifles.

Mobility 

Initially the tank was planned to have a newly designed 525HP Diesel engine, but since it didn't go further an alternative 450 HP DB 819 engine was planned.
A final choice was made into the Argus 12LD330H 550 HP engine, reaching 19 HP/ton.

The heavier variant was born out of the need of a larger engine, due to the fact that the MB 819 ended up giving reliably only 400 HP, thus the larger MB 507 rated at around 600 HP was proposed.

The changes brought the weight up to 33 tons, for which at this point the 700 HP Maybach HL 230 was proposed.


Conclusions: 
Most variants are already present in WOT, some components might be brought to fine-tune the grind.
Some possibility of having stronger firepower is present but the cost would be invariably an open turret and likely some mobility.

"Buff my tank!" - Panzer I series

Hello and welcome to "Buff my tank!"

The "Buff my tank!" articles are meant as an historical way to look at some tanks considered underpowered in game and ways to improve their combat abilities discussed by the original german engineers.
Beware that while being sometimes ironic in tone, the article treats about both costs and benefits of every choice and it most likely will never be listened by WG as suggestion.

Often forgotten and underestimated in the shadow of its mightier successors, the humble Panzer I was mainly meant to be a training tank but ended up being a pretty important part of the early Polish and French blitzkrieg campaigns.

During its service history several modifications and evolutions were developed and proposed, sometimes greatly changing the tank's role far away from the puny vehicle that didn't exactly shine during the Spanish civil war and versus later opponents.
For this article we will use "Panzers I and II and their variants by Spielberger, "Panzer Tracts 1-1" and "Panzer Tracts 1-2" by Jentz & Doyle


Firepower

The staring projected armament of two MG13 clearly designated the tank to be used mainly against infantry and soft skinned vehicles as their penetration was too lackluster against most armored vehicles.

During the Spanish civil war the 20mm Breda auto-cannon was installed, giving it some punch against similar light tanks.
 The VK 6.01(ausf C) upgrade brought the EW 141 MG that allowed better penetration, although using precious Tungsten.

Protection

A measly 13mm all-around protection was enough to protect against SMK, but anything heavier would pierce it easily. Bolt-on 15mm plates were often added, giving it decent protection against weaker auto-cannons and AT rifles.

Panzer I ausf C brought frontal armor to 30mm (at the price of bringing weight to 8 tons), although it was the VK 18.01 (ausf F) that in December 1939 brought a serious upgrade to 80mm frontal and 60mm side armor, though at the price of bringing the weight to 18-19 tons with evident effects on mobility (a top speed of 25 KM/H was planned):

Mobility

The Krupp M 305 engine at 60HP was nothing to write home about although at 11 HP/ton it still allowed a maximum speed of 40KM/H for the ausf A on roads.
One of the very first proposed upgrades was the 80HP Krupp V-8 engines during design phase in 1932, while also of note is the 85HP air-cooled Krawa engine tested in 1934/35.

In 1935 the Maybach NL 38 was added, which at 100HP was a definite improvement in mobility.
In September 1939 the 150HP Maybach HL 45p was to be installed in the ausf C, giving the vehicle a top speed of 65km/h (18,75 HP/ton) although the drive train was rated for an extreme 81 KM/H.

An even more extreme upgrade was planned in 1942 for the VK 6.02, installing a 200HP Maybach HL 50 engine which would have given an amazing speed of 80 KM/H with a power to weight ratio of around 25 HP/ton.

Conclusion:

Although a viable design in 1939, Panzer I was always quite under-gunned and modifications given to keep it in par with competition never brought it above decent.
WOT already shows most upgrades (aside from the Ausf F/ VK 18.01-02 which could be an interesting tier IV if used with limited match making).

All in all: No further buffs possible unless using a pretty much new design

Obscure felines: Panzer-Aufklaerer auf E-25

Disclaimer: this is an highly speculative article which tries to find a logical link to a tank design between secondary sources. The following has to be taken as author's interpretation.

Late war Germany found itself lacking capable light recon tanks amongst its many shortages.
There were a few obsolete light tanks pressed into the role but by 1945 they were mostly worn out, with the few working remains hopelessly outmatched by Soviet and Allied fast medium tanks.

One answer to this was the usual flurry of paper projects, which however proved to be too complex and expensive (VK 16.02), using precious chassis and making little sense (Recon Panther) or being underpowered from inception for the role (early turreted Jagdpanzer 38 (t) with Panzer IV turret and to a lesser extent the Panzer 38D).

Spielberger briefly mentions that the E-25 proposal included a recon tank version but gives no further details, leaving us still into obscurity.
There is however one further, unlikely source that might bring us further details, although usually regarded as something very different altogether: Hahn's "Klein-Tiger".
 The project as described by Hahn might seem a fantasy nonsense and indeed it doesn't seem to match anything Tiger related, as very well described in this article on another very good blog.

That is, as long as we consider the Klein-Tiger as a Tiger related project, however what if it was something entirely different in design and purpose?

We should start with the assumption that Hahn isn't a tank specialist at all (he worked on Penemunde and V-2 related projects), while having excellent access to  raw data thanks both to war experience and undoubtedly good personal connections or his very own secret document cache.

On this base, it's reasonable to assume Hahn found very scant data about a tank project and tried to reconstruct it with limited technical knowledge.
Given this, we can trust Hahn on raw data but we should be careful on his reconstructions as he commits some grave mistakes on details like abbreviations ( for example, PWK may mean high pressure or high performance) so that we get nonsense description like a planned 10,5cm L/68 cannon for the E-25, where in reality the 10H64/PAW 1000 was meant.

So, what can we extrapolate from his tank description?

- He was talking about the Panzer program for 1945, which should exclude anything Tiger I related, while we know Tiger II proposals were made by Krupp and rejected.
- He did find a 33 ton project with 80mm armor heavily sloped (to be effective 160mm but a 60° slope is very rare in contemporary designs and we should assume it was just steeply sloped)
- A 600 HP engine was to be installed
- A 10cm cannon  was to be used and the description matches the 10H64.
- The tank was likely dubbed somewhere as "Klein-Tiger".

Every single other detail has to be discarded as his reconstruction as specifications cannot match a 33 ton tank.
One platform by one particular plant would however provide a pretty fitting match, if we rule out some sources of confusion.

I will now quote Spielberger on the E-25:

- "Argus was not unknown in tank building, for many brake aggregates, especially for the Tiger, were developed by this firm".
- "The specifications of the tank required a 25 ton platform for recon and pursuit".
- A 600HP Argus engine was planned, however in the end Tiger's Maybach HL 230 was installed
- Both the 75mm L/70 and the 10.5cm PWK were planned as main weapons.

Panzer tracts 20-1 mentions the E-25 as a 25 ton tank destroyer armed with the 75mm L/70 with a 50mm frontal plate sloped at 50-55°, while Spielberger mentions the tank was planned to have both engine and transmission at the rear to allow for the heaviest armor and weapons at the front.

No specifications for the recon role emerges from either Spielberger or Doyle but the tank hull matches quite closely the E-25, which Hahn rates as a 26.3 ton heavy tank in his description of the E-series.

Let's now do some dirty calculations:

Removing the 75mm L/70 would allow for a pretty much unbroken glacis plate, bringing the hull weight back to 25 tons.

We now need a suitable turret to match the tank profile and as no major redesigns would be allowed it's likely they would recycle the simplified Panzer IV turret used in 38D proposals:

The turret design has no cupola (but welding one wouldn't have been a huge production issue) but it as the advantage of being easy to produce and offer great protection: 80mm frontal armor plus a large, flat 80mm mantlet, all sloped at 10°.

Such a turret would weigh roughly 5-6 tons, leaving us with 2-3 tons to be distributed, of which the 10H64 woud roughly take one ton of weight. 

What's left can be given to protection. A bolted or welded extra 30mm glacis plate would take most of the weight, while it's very likely that Hahn's "multi-layered armor" wouldn't be anything else than the common side-skirts already used on Panzer IV. 

Not exactly 160mm effective front or Tiger sides but more than adequate for a light tank.

What we get from assembling all of this is a pretty compact tank (hull height 2m, turret is also pretty short), with great mobility (power to weight ratio of 18 to 21 HP/ton and a suspension rated 65 km/h), reasonable frontal armor (same as the Panther, enough to duke it out with Sherman and T-34) and a gun ideal for ambushes, short ranged but with excellent armor penetration and a good HE round.

Perhaps a tank not as impressive as the bigger felines but still the peak of WWII German engineering.

In order to avoid creating one of the many internet fake german designs I won't give a final tank draft, however it would be simple to imagine as a front turret design (the hull rear and center were occupied by the engine and rear transmission pack).

Could this tank really be Hahn's klein-Tiger? Perhaps, we will likely never know.
Would it be feasible at the time?
This would require more measurements and a mechanical engineer, however Ernst Kniepkamp (Head of Wa Pruef 6 and the man behind E-series and most German tank suspensions) was behind a later tank which used suspensions and transmission very similar to the E-series.


Sources:
- Panzer Tracts 20-1, page 42 (Jentz, Doyle)
- Special Panzer Variants, pages 71-72 (Spielberger, Doyle)
- Waffen und Geheimwaffen des deutscher Heeres 1933 - 1945, part 2 page 66 (Hahn)

Early Panzers - German WWI tank development

While we usually delve into obscure prototypes or late WWII tanks, it's worth taking a look into the original panzer development, which is an interesting history of technological catching-up in itself.
When WWI tanks are brought to topic one cannot avoid mentioning the iconic ones, Mark I-IV, Renault FT-17 and the A7V.
Those of course were far from being the only armored beasts that grazed (or better, clawed their way through) the battlefield but the drawing boards were busy with even more projects, as usual going from the pragmatic to the downright unpractical, giving excellent precursors to Hitler's megalomania.

Still, this was the technological cutting edge of the era, with both sides pioneering into armored warfare operations and experimenting original solutions.
While only one german tank design ever saw the battlefields of WWI, designing and prototypes were going strong behind the lines.

A7V

On November 13, 1916 the War Ministry commissioned a tank (the nomenclature Sturmpanzerwagen came only in 1918), disguised under the name of "A7V".

With a planned gross weight of about 30 tons, the design was planned to be able of running cross country, spanning ditches up to 1.5m wide and to reach a top speed of 12km/h.
The armament was planned to include a cannon and several machine guns, while an 80-100HP motor was initially thought to be sufficient (2,5-3,3 HP/ton, could maybe propel the tank to walking pace), while the running gear was based on the popular Holt tractor, which was the base of most early tank designs. 

On December 1916 a draft was published with two 100 HP engines (for a more acceptable 6,5 HP/ton), while constant changes in design happened until spring 1918.
Initially a 2cm decker was proposed but proved ineffectual against armor, so several cannons including the at the time dreaded 7.7cm FK96 field gun, which however proved too heavy for the chassis.

In the end, 57mm the belgian Maxim-Nordfeld QF cannon was chosen due to its low recoil.
This gun might seem puny by WWII standards, however it was able to defeat contemporary armor at fairly long distances, although it's also fair to say that bulletproof would be a more appropriate description of WWI tanks.

Armor was fairly thick by WWI standards, with 15mm all around and critical points reinforced up to 30mm. This was a compromise between the initial design and a request to make the tank more resistant to artillery shells, which would have overloaded the suspensions.

Even this way, the tank was still overloaded and the drive train suffered from high wear and tear, something in common with late WWII designs.

A7V/U and other variants

After the "Cambrai shock" the German army started evaluating to imitate the concept of British rhomboid tanks, as they were seen a superior cross-country design.
This ended up in the A7V/U project, which looked fairly similar to the British Mark IV and was armed with 2 5.7cm cannons in side sponsons.
Larger than the entente tanks, 2 110HP engines were far from enough for propelling the nearly 40 ton chassis and led to a front-heavy tank, while the tracks were easily fouled with sand.
Deteriorating war situation and resource scarcity led to the abandonment of the project in September 1918.

This however wasn't the only planned A7V variant and some more original design were made.
One of those was the A7V-flakpanzer:

Armed with 2 captured Russian 76.2mm cannons, it was parter of a broader effort to motorize anti-aircraft artillery and it might very well be world's first SPAAG.

Other variants included a battle supply carrier, motorized trench-digger and a radio carrier, but ultimately the chassis mobility was seen as insufficient for German stormtrooper tactics (a problem shared with entente captured tanks), so new designs were prepared for Plan 1919.

K-Wagen

Even before completion of the first A7V, an even larger tank was planned.
Called the K-Wagen, it was intended to be an heavy breakthrough tank to be ready for 1919.

The precursor of WWII super-heavy designs, requirements included 4 cannons (or 2 cannons and 2 flame throwers), several machine guns and the ability to cross trenches up to 4 meters wide.

Specs varied during design, and the 13 meters long vehicle started from 100 tons in weight (to be propelled by 2 measly for the task 200HP engines!) and ended up to 150 tons, to be powered by 2 Daimler engines, providing a reasonable 650HP each.

4 77mm fortress guns would have provided considerable firepower, while 30mm all-around armor was a pretty good protection, but all in all, the vehicle was soon considered unpractical and fit only for positional warfare, especially as the tank had to be broken-up for transport and rebuilt for combat.

Still, 2 of those armored monsters were almost finished by the end of the war, almost ready for initial testing.

L.K. I-II-III

The worsening of the war situation led to a radical change in german tank design.
Instead of heavy assault tanks lighter designs were favored, using simpler automotive designs derived from Daimler cars and engines in order to create cheap and simple to manufacture tanks, not unlike the late WWII E-series.

The first Vollmer LK I prototypes were rejected on January 1918 due to insufficient armor protection, as the paltry 8mm were often insufficient to resist even close range rifle fire.
The 8,5 tons LK II fared better, with armor up to 14mm and armed with a quick firing 5,2 or 5,7cm cannon in a rear casemate design.

 Weak suspensions found in testing halted the development, although it was also proposed to rearm the tank with a 3,7cm KWK. This design was to become the basis for the Swedish Stridsvagn M21.
Improving on this, Vollmer proposed a LK III design, with engine and transmission at the rear, using purpose built parts and sporting a front turret, which due to the end of the war remained only on paper.

Oberschlesien 

 

The poor battlefield performance of A7V led to the design and development of a new generation of assault tanks.

Along with the lighter designs a new heavy tank was proposed under the name of Oberschlesien, or Upper Silesia.

The drawings showed a very modern design for the era, with driver upfront, separate fighting and engine compartments, raised weapons in rotating turrets.

Great care was placed on battlefield mobility, leading to a very light ground pressure of 0.5kg/cc.

The 20 tons tank was powered by a 180HP engine for a top speed of 16 km/h, armed with either a 3,7 or 5,7cm cannon and 2 machine guns, while 14mm of armor gave it decent protection. 

All in all, the central powers found themselves hopelessly trying to catch up and the end of the war led to total stasis for several years. 

Still, had the war went on for longer the central powers showed that they could eventually field designs able to match anything fielded by the Entente.

1919 and 1920 would have shown a much changed battlefield but this would be a topic for a pretty different article...

Germany's ultimate motorized cannon: Waffentrager Panther

Being the classical late WWII German swiss-knife tank, the Panther had many planned evolutions.

One of the most interesting and obscure of those was its Waffentrager (gun carrier) configuration.

Early studies were derived from an evolution of the Pz Sfl IV C, with a derived platform using Panther components:

As shown by this specifications, a Panther based Waffentrager armed with a 8.8cm FLAK 41 and most of its armor stripped out would weigh only 31 tons.
From this start Krupp went ahead with draft W1734, using a SFH43 heavy howitzer with -8 gun depression and the estimated weight rose to 34 tons, provided the apparatus for separating the gun from the carrier was not included in the chassis.

In the end, a wooden model was created, with an open top rotating platform and a gun shield:

The model shows a 128mm L/55 but the same platform was planned to carry the 15cm SFH 43 plus a 21cm howitzer was planned on 18 march 1944.

The 128mm K43 (analogous to the Pak 44 L/55) woud add approximately 5 tons to the SFH 43 proposal, bringing the weight to 39 tons, still leaving plenty of room for a more powerful cannon as the series tank ended up 45 tons heavy.
There are no details for the 21cm howitzer but two options are likely to have been either the massive 21cm morser 18 (adding almost 7 tons and reaching series Panther weight) or the shorter 18/19 version, which at a modest 9.1 tons it would be almost the same weight as the 128mm L/55, ending with a 39-40 ton tank.

This is of course the historical configuration, but given  the chassis capacity left, a much more extreme design could have been made:

- Panther's 700HP would have given 15-18 HP/ton, good but not enough to really reach the planned 60km/h.
Using the planned HL 234 with up to 900HP we'd easily reach 20 HP/ton, making the tank pretty agile.

- The 128mm L/55 had a 3 rounds drum loader planned, giving the tank good burst capability, but given chassis capability we could extend it further. The longer 128mm L/61 is estimated to be 2-7 tons heavier, still within chassis limits, although balancing the gun would be a challenge.

- Going into the 15cm class, we could consider a few longer 15cm class cannons, up to L/55. This would bring the chassis weight up to 42 tons and still be acceptable in terms of weight but that would be too long to really balance on a turret, so we could instead consider it's smaller L/43 brother which at mere half ton more than the 128mm L/55 delivers a 15cm shell at 757 m/s, enough to give out pretty decent penetration.

All in all, the Waffentrager Panther could have been another real German feline from hell: agile like a leopard, with the bite of a lion but the soft skin of a kitten with 30mm maximum armor.