Tiger I
The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted the 8.8 cm KwK 36 gun (derived from the 8.8 cm Flak 36). 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944. After August 1944, production of the Tiger I was phased out in favour of the Tiger II. While the Tiger I has been called an outstanding design for its time, it has also been called overengineered, using expensive materials and labour-intensive production methods. In the early period Tiger was prone to certain types of track failures and breakdowns and was in general limited in range by its high fuel consumption. It was expensive to maintain, but generally mechanically reliable. It was difficult to transport and vulnerable to immobilisation when mud, ice, and snow froze between its overlapping and interleaved ''Schacht ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing car, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, several other important developments and Porsche automobiles. An important contributor to the German war effort during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 4501 (P), the Elefant (initially called "Ferdinand") self-propelled gun, and the Panzer VIII Maus super-heavy tank, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the Nazi Party and an officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS). He was a recipient of the German National Prize for Art and Science, the SS-Ehrenring and the War Merit Cross. Porsche was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the Car Engine ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heavy Tank
Heavy tank is a term used to define a class of tanks produced from World War I through the end of the Cold War. These tanks generally sacrificed mobility and maneuverability for better armour protection and equal or greater firepower than tanks of lighter classes. Role Heavy tanks achieved their greatest, albeit limited, success when fighting lighter tanks and destroying fortifications. Heavy tanks often saw limited combat in their intended roles, instead becoming mobile pillboxes or defensive positions, such as the German Tiger designs, or the Russian KV designs Design Heavy tanks feature very heavy armor and weapons relative to lighter tanks. Many heavy tanks shared components from lighter tanks. For example, the M103 heavy tank shared many components with lighter Patton tanks, including transmission and engine. As a result, they tend to be either underpowered and comparatively slow, or have engine and drive train reliability issues. In case of an entirely new design deve ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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German Army (1935–1945)
The German Army (german: Heer, ; ) was the Army, land forces component of the ''Wehrmacht'', the regular German Armed Forces, from 1935 until it effectively ceased to exist in 1945 and then was formally dissolved in August 1946. During World War II, a total of about 13.6 million soldiers served in the German Army. Army personnel were made up of volunteers and conscripts. Only 17 months after Adolf Hitler announced the German rearmament program in 1935, the army reached its projected goal of 36 Division (military), divisions. During the autumn of 1937, two more corps were formed. In 1938 four additional corps were formed with the inclusion of the five divisions of the Austrian Army after the ''Anschluss'' in March. During the period of its expansion under Hitler, the German Army continued to develop concepts pioneered during World War I, combining ground and air assets into combined arms forces. Coupled with operational and tactical methods such as encirclements and "battle of a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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VK 30
The Cirrus VK-30 is a single-engine pusher-propeller homebuilt aircraft originally sold as a kit by Cirrus Design (now called Cirrus Aircraft), and was the company's first model, introduced in 1987. As a kit aircraft, the VK-30 is a relatively obscure design with few completed aircraft flying. Its most important legacy is that the work done on developing and marketing the aircraft convinced the designers, the Klapmeier brothers, that the best way to proceed in the future was with a more conventional layout and with a certified production aircraft. Thus the lessons of the VK-30 were directly responsible for the design of the Cirrus SR20 and SR22, which have been the best-selling general aviation airplanes in the world every year since 2003. The VK-30 also served as a significant inspiration for the creation of the company's latest aircraft, the Cirrus Vision Jet, which in 2018 won the Collier Trophy for becoming the first single-engine personal jet with a whole-plane parachut ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Panzer IV
The ''Panzerkampfwagen'' IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV), commonly known as the ''Panzer'' IV, was a German medium tank developed in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161. The Panzer IV was the most numerous German tank and the second-most numerous German fully tracked armoured fighting vehicle of the Second World War; 8,553 Panzer IVs of all versions were built during World War II, only exceeded by the StuG III assault gun with 10,086 vehicles. Its chassis was also used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, including the Sturmgeschütz IV assault gun, the Jagdpanzer IV self-propelled anti-tank gun, the ''Wirbelwind'' self-propelled anti-aircraft gun, and the '' Brummbär'' self-propelled gun. The Panzer IV saw service in all combat theatres involving Germany and was the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war. It was originally designed for infantry support, while the sim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Panzer III
The ''Panzerkampfwagen III'', commonly known as the Panzer III, was a medium tank developed in the 1930s by Germany, and was used extensively in World War II. The official German ordnance designation was Sd.Kfz. 141. It was intended to fight other armoured fighting vehicles and serve alongside and support the similar Panzer IV, which was originally designed for infantry support. However, as the Germans faced the formidable T-34, more powerful anti-tank guns were needed, and since the Panzer IV had more development potential with a larger turret ring, it was redesigned to mount the long-barrelled 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun. The Panzer III effectively swapped roles with the Panzer IV, as from 1942 the last version of the Panzer III mounted the 7.5 cm KwK 37 L/24 that was better suited for infantry support. Production of the Panzer III ceased in 1943. Nevertheless, the Panzer III's capable chassis provided hulls for the Sturmgeschütz III assault gun until the end of the war. Development h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Waffenamt
''Waffenamt'' (WaA) was the German Army Weapons Agency. It was the centre for research and development of the Weimar Republic and later the Third Reich for weapons, ammunition and army equipment to the German Reichswehr and then Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous .... It was founded 8 November 1919 as ''Reichwaffenamt'' (RWA), and 5 May 1922 the name was changed to ''Heereswaffenamt'' (HWA). The task of overseeing Germany's gigantic pre-World War II rearmament program was given to the ''Heeresabnahmestelle'' (the Army Acceptance Organization, commonly referred to as the ''Abnahme''), a subsidiary of the ''Heereswaffenamt''. By 1940 the ''Abnahme'' consisted of 25,000 personnel in five departments in 16 inspection areas, augmented by specially selected plan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bovington Tank Museum
The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection traces the history of the tank. With almost 300 vehicles on exhibition from 26 countries it is the largest collection of tanks and the third largest collection of armoured vehicles in the world.The ''Musée des Blindés'' in France has a collection of 880 armoured vehicles, although it includes fewer tanks than Bovington. It includes Tiger 131, the only working example of a German Tiger I tank, and a British First World War Mark I, the world's oldest surviving combat tank. It is the museum of the Royal Tank Regiment and the Royal Armoured Corps and is a registered charity. History The writer Rudyard Kipling visited Bovington in 1923 and, after viewing the damaged tanks that had been salvaged at the end of the First World War, recomme ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tiger 131
Tiger 131 is a German Tiger I heavy tank captured by the British 48th Royal Tank Regiment in Tunisia during World War II. Preserved at The Tank Museum in Bovington in Dorset, England, it is currently the only operational Tiger I in the world. German service Known to the Allies as a Tiger I, the German model designation was a ''Panzerkampfwagen VI, Tiger I (H1), Sd.Kfz. 181''. It was built in Kassel, Germany with the hull being constructed by Henschel while the turret was made by Wegmann A. The tank was completed in February 1943. It was shipped to Tunisia between 12 March and 16 April 1943. The tank was assigned to the 504th ''Schwere Heerespanzerabteilung'' German heavy tank battalion in Tunisia during the North African Campaign. It was placed in No. 1 Company, No. 3 Platoon, 1 commanders tank, giving it tactical number 131 shown on the turret, by which it has come to be known. Capture Knowing that the Allies were preparing a major push toward Tunis, the Germans launched a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sonderkraftfahrzeug
''Sonderkraftfahrzeug'' (abbreviated ''Sd.Kfz.'', German for "special purpose vehicle") was the ordnance inventory designation used by Nazi Germany during World War II for military vehicles; for example ''Sd.Kfz.'' 101 for the Panzer I. Sd.Kfz. numbers were assigned to armored, tracked, and half-tracked vehicles in military service with Nazi Germany prior to and during World War II. Sd.Kfz. numbering system There were no strict rules regarding number series. For example, the Pz. Kpfw. II Ausf. L was designed and named as a reconnaissance vehicle, yet was placed in the 100-series rather than the 200-series. Overall, the vehicles were placed in these categories: *Sd.Kfz. 1 to 99: Unarmoured half-tracked vehicles *Sd.Kfz. 100 to 199: Tanks and tank variants, such as tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery *Sd.Kfz. 200 to 299: Reconnaissance vehicles, armoured cars, armored personnel carriers, and command tanks *Sd.Kfz. 300 and above: Mine-clearing and demolition charge laying ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henschel & Sohn
Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons. Georg Christian Carl Henschel founded the factory in 1810 at Kassel. His son Carl Anton Henschel founded another factory in 1837. In 1848, the company began manufacturing locomotives. The factory became the largest locomotive manufacturer in Germany by the 20th century. Henschel built 10 articulated steam trucks, using Doble steam designs, for Deutsche Reichsbahn railways as delivery trucks. Several cars were built as well, one of which became Hermann Göring's staff car. In 1935 Henschel was able to upgrade its various steam locomotives to a high-speed Streamliner type with a maximum speeds of up to by the addition of a removable shell over the old steam locomotive. In 1918, Henschel began the production of gearboxes at t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roman Numeral
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, each letter with a fixed integer value, modern style uses only these seven: The use of Roman numerals continued long after the decline of the Roman Empire. From the 14th century on, Roman numerals began to be replaced by Arabic numerals; however, this process was gradual, and the use of Roman numerals persists in some applications to this day. One place they are often seen is on clock faces. For instance, on the clock of Big Ben (designed in 1852), the hours from 1 to 12 are written as: The notations and can be read as "one less than five" (4) and "one less than ten" (9), although there is a tradition favouring representation of "4" as "" on Roman numeral clocks. Other common uses include year numbers on monuments and buildings and c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |