As you know, after the defeat of Germany in World War I, certain restrictions were imposed on its armed forces. Thus, according to the Versailles Peace Treaty, the Weimar Republic was forbidden to have and produce, among other things, armored vehicles. While other tanks and vehicles based on them were designed and tested in other European countries, German designers, if they created something like that, then masked the fruits of their creativity for agricultural machinery (for example, Grosstraktor Kleintraktor tanks, respectively translated in terms of large and small tractors) .
Start of tank production
After the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the country refused to comply with Versailles restrictions on arms production. The accelerated release of tanks began. The first models that began to be produced in the first half of the thirties of the twentieth century were the light T-1 and T-2 (it was under these indices that these machines were used in Soviet military literature). By the beginning of World War II, the medium T-3 and T-4 went into production, in addition, many Czechoslovak light tanks were captured. Thus, by the beginning of hostilities the Wehrmacht was not armed with a single heavy tank. Not to be considered as such tanks "Rheinmetall", which were released in the amount of three copies. Although German propaganda overestimated their real combat capabilities, even by these indicators they did not reach the heavy ones.
The advent of the Tigers
September 1, 1939 Germany attacked Poland, the war began. For two years of a victorious march through Europe, the German military did not notice the absence of heavy tanks in their ranks, but with the entry into Soviet territory they encountered the KV-1 and T-34, and the Wehrmacht began to slip. Immediately intensified work on projects of new heavy machines.
Of the two projects, a Henschel tank was chosen, and Ferdinand Porsche had to be content with second place. The car was called the Tiger. And in August 1942, near the Mga station near Leningrad, the first German heavy tanks went into battle. The first pancake turned out to be lumpy: one tank broke, the second was captured by Soviet troops. The massive use of heavy "Tigers" occurred in the summer of 1943, during the famous Battle of Kursk, which marked a radical turning point in the war. However, the appetite comes with eating, and German designers thought about super-heavy tanks. As last time, the development was entrusted to two competitors: Henschel and Porsche. The first company began the development of the E-100. The tank designed by Ferdinand Porsche was called the Mouse.
E-100: tank, history of creation
When designing this vehicle, Henschel set about embodying the idea of creating a unified line of E-series tanks of various masses. It was supposed to develop prototypes from light - E-10, to super-heavy - E-100. E-series tanks were supposed to replace standing in service vehicles. Of the entire line of tanks, work on the E-100 only really began. The tank, whose hull photo is presented in the article, was never built. This is due to the fact that work on the machine was carried out after the onset of a radical change in the war and was significantly behind schedule. Soon, all development on this project was discontinued. Only after the war the allies who captured the unfinished tanks were able to conduct sea trials of one of them (without a tower), but the car showed very poor cross-country ability and low speed.
Options E-100
In addition to the main modification, the tank was supposed to produce anti-tank self-propelled guns, as well as implement another very interesting project. We are talking about the so-called anti-aircraft tank based on the E-100, or “Mouse”. They planned to equip him with two 88-mm anti-aircraft guns - the famous eight-eight. This unit was supposed to be a truly universal machine: in addition to aviation, it had the ability to fight with enemy armored vehicles. Due to the high initial velocity of the projectile, these guns made it possible to hit the most highly armored targets. From the foregoing, we can conclude that the next attempt by the Third Reich leadership to create a miracle weapon did not succeed.
Project revival
Although the E-100 tank was not able to participate in the battles of the war for which it was designed, it successfully proves itself in the virtual battles of the World of Tanks project. This machine crowns the development line of heavy tanks in Germany.
Weaving is considered to be one of the best games of the game. Thanks to its armor and a very damaging and accurate gun, the machine easily compensates for its drawback: low speed, slowness, and visibility. On this tank it’s convenient to keep the flank (for defense) or to push the direction (for attack). I would especially like to advise you to avoid open spaces, because due to its size and low speed, the machine is a tasty target for artillery and anti-tank self-propelled guns. But in general, the developers made a very good heavy tank of the tenth level.