German Super Tanks

[anonymous-user]

Was chatting to a guy last night and he was telling me about the planned super tanks the germans were developing at the end of WWII.

I'd not heard about them byt apparently there was something in it

The p1000 ratte



artists impressions







and then the p1500 !!

[clonmult]

I know this is wrong, but seeing things like this makes me wish the war had gone on a little longer. Awesome machines.

[andy400]

Wouldn't be much use, shirley?

How are you going to get it about, and get it to where the fight is!? Under it's own power? At about 10mph, destroying everything in it's path, and only doing about 10-20 miles between refuels.

A design project, but utterly useless.

[Not Ideal]

Wouldnt that just keep getting stuck..??

Cant use it in built up areas..??

[MrV]

Just a step on from the train mounted howitzers ,and in reality about as much good as a chocolate fire guard

[paulmurr]

They are awesome, but as the allies had total air supremacy by that point these would have been easy meat for the rocket firing Hawker Typhoons and Tempests that were destroying the remaining German armour.

[Adenauer]

I wonder how the people would get out of it were it to end up upside down?

[RicksAlfas]

Is it a battleship with tracks?


I must admit I like this oddball stuff too.

[clonmult]

Not Ideal said:

Wouldnt that just keep getting stuck..??

Cant use it in built up areas..??

Of course they could be used in built up areas.

They'd just be a little less built up after they've been through.

[andy400]

clonmult said:

Not Ideal said:

Wouldnt that just keep getting stuck..??

Cant use it in built up areas..??

Of course they could be used in built up areas.

They'd just be a little less built up after they've been through.

[Zod]

They'd have been sitting ducks. The Allies had total air superiority at the end of the war.

[DaveL485]

Very cool.

Now all we need is CY88 to find a prototype under his garage LOL

[madrob6]

They're bloody huge!

Reminds me of something from a Command & Conquer game

[wildoliver]

It's strange the way the war went down for the Germans really. It was mostly the result of bad leadership, they had all the right ingredients, well trained and loyal troops (and lots of them), vastly technically superior, generally better supplies.

But a nutter in charge.

And then after the war all the top scientists and technology got shared out between the Americans / British / Russians shaping the world for the next 50 years.

[Mr Whippy]

Cool, but yes, a lumbering easy target unless you had air superiority or supremacy on your side.

I guess for defending important installations it'd be handy, a kinda semi-mobile fortress that could be re-deployed around a little bit, would make taking it out with artillery harder, or a bombing run etc... but it'd still be a key target.

Better to just build 50 normal tanks than one big one I suppose

Dave

[scorp]

madrob6 said:

Reminds me of something from a Command & Conquer game

They both do actually, the large artillery tank (from c&c 3) and the double barrelled monster (mamoth tanks from red-alert). :geek:

I can't see how a gigantic tank can be that practical, it would be stumped the minute it came across an embankment.

[clonmult]

Zod said:

They'd have been sitting ducks. The Allies had total air superiority at the end of the war.

Yah, but those things are cool! And if cool could have won the war ...

Wonder what sort of thickness the armour would have been on those? Chuffing huge.

And the engines to make them move? Mahoosively powerful. Totally awesome boys toys. Call that a tank? Now *this* is a tank!!!!

[andy400]

Mr Whippy said:

Better to just build 50 normal tanks than one big one I suppose

Dave

That's partially where they went wrong, building things like the King Tiger and Jagdtiger, and even the Tiger and Panther. They might have been really good tanks, but they couldn't build enough of them. They'd have been better off with going for numbers over superior armour/firepower, for which see the M4 and the T34 - not all that great, but cheap, quick and relatively easy to build, easy to fix and easy to keep running.

[Simpo Two]

Mr Whippy said:

Better to just build 50 normal tanks than one big one I suppose

As the Americans and Russians discovered. The Tiger was superior, but very few in number and very complex, so that if it broke down in the field, that was probably the end of it.

Looking at the above, there would be a thickness of armour that would defeat rockets and you'd need artillery or a naval gun to get through. In that case, and if the terrain was favourable, and you had enough fuel and it didn't break down... nope, it would be a T.Rex in a land of mammals.

[bigmac146]

I think it would have been an impressive sight, but like others have said would have been target practice for our boys in the air.