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The ''Elefant'' (
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
for "
elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
") was a heavy tank destroyer used by German
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 ...
Panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German language, German "armour-hunters" or "tank-hunters", abbreviated to ''Pz.Jg.'' in German) was a branch of service of the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht during the World War II, Second World War. It was an Anti-tank war ...
during World War II. Ninety-one units were built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand, after its designer
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 Volksw ...
, using VK 45.01 (P) tank hulls produced for the
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 ...
tank design abandoned in favour of a
Henschel 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 v ...
design. In January to April 1944, ''Ferdinands'' received modifications and upgrades. They were renamed ''Elefant'' in May 1944. The official German designation was ''Panzerjäger Tiger'' (P)Not to be confused with either the ''Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger Ausf. H'' or ''Ausf. E'' versions of the
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 ...
, or the ''Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B'' (
Tiger II The Tiger II is a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was ''Panzerkampfwagen'' Tiger ''Ausf''. B,'' Panzerkampfwagen'' – abbr: ''Pz.'' or ''Pz.Kfw.'' (English: "armoured fighting vehicle"), ''Ausf.' ...
)
and the ordnance inventory designation was ''Sd.Kfz.'' 184.


Development history

Porsche GmbH Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company is ...
had manufactured about 100 chassis for their unsuccessful proposal for the
Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
tank, the " Porsche Tiger", in the
Nibelungenwerk The Nibelungenwerk (also known as the Nibelungenwerke or Ni-Werk) was the largest and most modern tank assembly factory in Nazi Germany, located near the Austrian town of St. Valentin. As the only German tank production facility which had a wel ...
factory in
Sankt Valentin St. Valentin (also referred to as ''Sankt Valentin'') is the most westerly town in the district of Amstetten in Lower Austria in Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern pa ...
,
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. Both the successful Henschel proposal and the Porsche design used the same
Krupp The Krupp family (see pronunciation), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, is notable for its production of steel, artillery, ammunition and other armaments. The family business, known as Friedrich Krupp AG (Friedrich Krup ...
-designed turret—the Henschel design had its turret more-or-less centrally located on its hull, while the Porsche design placed the turret much closer to the front of the superstructure. Since the competing Henschel Tiger design was chosen for production, the Porsche chassis were no longer required for the Tiger tank project. It was therefore decided that the Porsche chassis were to be used as the basis of a new heavy
panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German language, German "armour-hunters" or "tank-hunters", abbreviated to ''Pz.Jg.'' in German) was a branch of service of the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht during the World War II, Second World War. It was an Anti-tank war ...
, ''Ferdinand'', mounting Krupp's newly developed ''Panzerjägerkanone 43/2'' (PaK 43)D 2030 – 8,8 cm Panzerjägerkanone 43/2 (L/71), Beschreibung, 28.1.1944. Berlin. anti-tank gun. This precise long-range weapon was intended to destroy enemy tanks before they came within their own range of effective fire. The ''Ferdinand'' was intended to supplant previous light ''
panzerjäger ''Panzerjäger'' (German language, German "armour-hunters" or "tank-hunters", abbreviated to ''Pz.Jg.'' in German) was a branch of service of the Nazi Germany, German Wehrmacht during the World War II, Second World War. It was an Anti-tank war ...
''s, such as the ''
Marder II The ''Marder'' II ("marten" in English) was a German tank destroyer of World War II based on the Panzer II chassis. There were two versions, the first mounted a modified Soviet 7.62 cm gun firing German ammunition, while the other mounted th ...
'' and ''
Marder III ''Marder'' III was the name for a series of World War II German tank destroyers. They mounted either the modified ex-Soviet 76.2 mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field gun, or the German 7.5 cm PaK 40, in an open-topped fighting compartment on ...
'', in the offensive role. A similar gun was used in the lightly armored ''Hornisse'' (later known as ''Nashorn'') tank destroyer, built at the same time.


Design


Chassis

The
petrol–electric transmission Petrol–electric transmission (UK English) or gasoline–electric transmission or gas–electric transmission (US English) is a transmission system for vehicles powered by petrol engines. Petrol–electric transmission was used for a variety of ap ...
made it much easier to relocate the engines than would be the case on a mechanical-transmission vehicle (the engines can be mounted anywhere, and only the length of the power cables needs to be altered, as opposed to re-designing the driveshafts and locating the engines for the easiest routing of powershafts to the
gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...
), so without the forward-mounted turret of the Porsche Tiger prototype, the twin engines were relocated to the front, where the turret had been, leaving room ahead of them for the now-isolated driver and assistant-driver only. The now empty rear half of the hull was covered with a heavily armored, full five-sided
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
with slightly-sloped upper faces and armored solid roof, and turned into a crew compartment, mounting a single 8.8 cm Pak 43 cannon in the forward face of the casemate. The initial ''Ferdinand'' conversions were thus among the first physical examples of what became known as the dedicated ''
Jagdpanzer ''Jagdpanzer'' (JgPz) is the name given in German to a heavily-armoured, tracked tank destroyer, although it may also be used for other kinds of self-propelled guns. Literally translated from German, ''Jagdpanzer'' is "hunting tank". It typ ...
'' tank destroyers, all of which had completely enclosed casemates, but most of which were designed with the casemate as an integral component of the vehicle's hull armor from the start; the Ferdinand was more of a cross between the earlier, thinly armored, high-profile, "three-side" (open-top/rear) ''Panzerjäger'' and the later, more heavily armored, lower-profile, rear-engined ''Jagdpanzer''. The driver and assistant driver were in a separate compartment at the front. As the engines were placed in the middle, the assistant driver and the driver were isolated from the rest of the crew and could be addressed only by intercom. Add-on armor of 100 mm was bolted to the front plates, increasing the plate's thickness to 200 mm and adding another 5 tonnes of weight.


Drive

The two Porsche air-cooled engines in each vehicle were replaced by two 300 PS (296 hp; 221 kW) Maybach HL120 TRM engines. The engines drove a single Siemens-Schuckert 500 kVA
generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...
each, which powered two Siemens 230 kW (312.7 PS) individual-output
electric motor An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
s, one each connected to each of the rear sprockets. The electric motors also acted as the vehicle's steering unit. This "petrol-electrical" drive delivered 0.11 km/L (909 litres/100 km or 0.26 miles per gallon) off-road and 0.15 km/L (667 litres/100 km or 0.35 mpg) on road at a maximum speed of 10 km/h off-road and 30 km/h on road. In addition to this high fuel consumption and poor performance, the vehicle was maintenance-intensive; the sprockets needed to be changed every 500–900 km. Porsche had experience of this form of petrol-electric transmission extending back to 1901, when he designed a car that used it. Suspension for the "slack track" equipped ''Ferdinand'' consisted of six twin
bogies A bogie ( ) (in some senses called a truck in North American English) is a chassis or framework that carries a wheelset, attached to a vehicle—a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transp ...
(three per side) with longitudinal
torsion bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...
s, without any overlapping wheels or return rollers. There are sprockets at both ends of the vehicle. The drive sprockets are at the rear, while the front pair contain a
drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...
system.


Armament

The vehicle was fitted with an 88 mm ''Panzerjägerkanone'' 43/2 gun (early designation ''8,8 cm Stu.K. 43/1''). This 71 caliber-long gun had originally been developed as a replacement for the well-known 88 mm anti-aircraft gun that had been used against Allied tanks in the Western Desert Campaign and on the Eastern Front. It had a much longer barrel than the L/56 guns, which gave it a higher muzzle velocity, and fired a different, longer cartridge. These improvements gave the 88 mm L/71 significantly improved armor penetration ability over the earlier 88 mm. Although it lost the competition to the 8.8 cm Flak 41 and never became an anti-aircraft weapon, it was turned into the very successful Pak 43 anti-tank gun. As fitted, the gun was capable of 28° traverse and -8° and +14° depression/elevation.


Production

Ninety-one existing "Porsche Tiger" chassis were converted (chassis number 150010 to 150100). The work was completed in just a few months from March to May 1943. Three Bergepanzer Ferdinands (the recovery vehicle variant of the Ferdinand tank destroyer) were produced at the Nibelungenwerke in summer 1943.


Combat history


Kursk

''Ferdinands'' first saw combat in the
Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
, where eighty-nine were committed, the largest deployment of the vehicle during its service. The ''Ferdinand'' was optimized for destroying Soviet
T-34 The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank introduced in 1940. When introduced its 76.2 mm (3 in) tank gun was less powerful than its contemporaries while its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons. The C ...
tanks and 76.2 mm anti-tank guns from behind the front lines with its 88 mm gun at a range of over 3 kilometres, a role which it performed well. Its most significant problem at Kursk was
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
damage and mechanical failure. Any damage to the tracks or suspension negated the protection of the armor, as crews were forced to dismount and attempt repairs. The immense weight of the ''Ferdinand'' made towing difficult: the standard
armored recovery vehicle An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured fi ...
in German service at the time was the '' Bergepanzer IV'', a variant of the ''
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 Pan ...
'' that could tow a single ''Panzer'' IV without assistance. It was insufficient for larger vehicles, with a
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 ...
heavy tank requiring three Bergepanzer IVs to be towed, and the ''Ferdinand'' requiring five linked in tandem to pull the vehicle off the field. In addition, the ''Ferdinand'' was hampered by flaws such as the lack of peripheral vision blocks, or a machine gun as secondary defensive armament. Apocryphal reports say that Soviet infantry, quickly recognizing this flaw, could easily hide in their trenches until the ''Ferdinand'' advanced through their lines, then swarm the vehicle with
grenades A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade gene ...
and
Molotov cocktails A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
from the sides. However, losses to Soviet infantry are disputed in after-action reports. On the other hand,
Heinz Guderian Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (; 17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II who, after the war, became a successful memoirist. An early pioneer and advocate of the " blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in t ...
himself complained that the ''Elefant'', much as other failed designs, suffered from lack of close-range protection against infantry assaults. In the initial stages of the Kursk battle, when the Germans were on the offensive, heavy vehicles could be recovered and repaired with relative peace at night; this at first allowed the majority of knocked-out ''Ferdinands'' to be rescued, repaired and returned to duty. However, once the tide of battle had turned against the Germans and they fell back on the defensive, with fewer vehicles to spare, functional ''Ferdinands'' with minor damage to their tracks or suspensions had little hope of recovery, and crews were usually forced to destroy the vehicle to prevent a mostly intact ''Jagdpanzer'' from falling into the hands of the Soviets. The units were deployed at a company level, sometimes sub-divided into platoons, with infantry or tanks in accompaniment to protect the flanks and rear of the vehicles. On the attack, this ''Jagdpanzer'' was a first-strike vehicle; while in defence, they often comprised a mobile reserve used to blunt enemy tank assaults.


Post-Kursk modifications

The surviving ''Ferdinands'' fought various rear-guard actions in 1943 until they were recalled to be modified and overhauled, partially based on battle experience gained in the
Battle of Kursk The Battle of Kursk was a major World War II Eastern Front engagement between the forces of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union near Kursk in the southwestern USSR during late summer 1943; it ultimately became the largest tank battle in history. ...
. Returned to the Nibelungenwerke factory in Austria, on 2 January 1944, upgrades commenced on 48 of the 50 surviving vehicles. The most visible exterior upgrades were 1) the addition of a ball-mounted
MG 34 The MG 34 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 34'', or "machine gun 34") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun, first tested in 1929, introduced in 1934, and issued to units in 1936. It introduced an entirely n ...
in the hull front, 2) a new commander's cupola (modified from the standard StuG III cupola) for improved vision, 3) re-designed armored engine grates (for better bullet and shrapnel protection) and 4) the application of ''
Zimmerit ''Zimmerit'' was a paste-like coating used on mid- and late-war German armored fighting vehicles during World War II. It was used to produce a hard layer covering the metal armor of the vehicle, providing enough separation that magnetically ...
'' anti-magnetic mine paste. The first eleven complete and updated ''Ferdinand''s were ready in February 1944. They were issued to the 1st company of
653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion The 653rd Heavy ''Panzerjäger'' Battalion (''Schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653.'') was a tank destroyer unit of the German Wehrmacht active during World War II. It was equipped with ''Ferdinand'' and later ''Jagdtiger'' tank destroyers. Elements ...
(German: ''schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653'', ''sPzJgrAbt 653''), which was immediately deployed in Italy in response to the Allied landing at Anzio-Nettuno. The remaining 37 vehicles were completed in April, issued to the 2nd and 3rd companies of ''sPzJgrAbt'' 653, and sent by train to the Tarnopol battles in Ukraine. On 1 May 1944, German Army High Command,
Oberkommando des Heeres The (; abbreviated OKH) was the Command (military formation), high command of the German Army (1935–1945), Army of Nazi Germany. It was founded in 1935 as part of Adolf Hitler's German rearmament, rearmament of Germany. OKH was ''de facto'' t ...
(OKH) issued an order to formally change the panzerjäger's name from "Ferdinand" to "Elefant". This order forbade future use of ''Ferdinand'' and even directed units in the field to edit their records. This is contrary to popular belief that the name change was linked to the January–April mechanical upgrades to the ''Ferdinand'' panzerjäger; the name change was purely administrative in nature. Three ''Bergepanzer Elefant''
armoured recovery vehicle An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured f ...
s were converted from Ferdinand/Elefant hulls and issued with the 2nd and 3rd companies of sPzJgrAbt 653 to the East in the summer of 1944. Although the modifications improved the vehicles, some problems could never be fully fixed. In 1944, the ''Ferdinand/Elefants'' served on the Italian front, but were rather ineffective as their weight of nearly 70 tonnes did not allow them to use most Italian roads and bridges. As at Kursk, most losses were not as a direct result from combat, but resulted when mechanical breakdowns and lack of spare parts compelled their crews to destroy and abandon them. One company of ''Elefants'' saw action during the Soviets' January 1945 Vistula–Oder offensive in Poland, and the last surviving vehicles were in combat at
Zossen Zossen (; hsb, Sosny) is a German town in the district of Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg, about south of Berlin, and next to the Bundesstraße 96, B96 highway. Zossen consists of several smaller municipalities, which were grouped together in 200 ...
during the
Battle of Berlin The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II. After the Vistula– ...
.


Conclusions

The ''Ferdinand''/''Elefant'' may have been the most successful mass produced tank destroyer employed during the war in kills per loss, reaching an average claimed ratio of approximately 10:1. During the Battle of Kursk, sPzJgrAbt 653 claimed to have knocked out 320 enemy tanks, for the loss of 13 ''Ferdinands''. This impressive average ratio was due to its superior firepower and protection, which gave it an enormous advantage when used in head-on combat or a static defensive role (however note that ''claimed'' tank kills are well-proven to invariably greatly exceed ''actual'' kills, and different organizations have different standards of defining a 'kill'). However, poor mobility and mechanical unreliability greatly diminished its operational capability. The ''Elefant'' and ''
Nashorn ''Nashorn'' (, German for "rhinoceros"), initially known as ''Hornisse'' ( German "hornet"), was a German ''Panzerjäger'' ("tank hunter") of World War II. It was developed as an interim solution in 1942 by equipping a light turretless chassi ...
'' were both superseded by the ''
Jagdpanther The ''Jagdpanther'' (German: "hunting Panther"), Sd.Kfz. 173, was a tank destroyer (''Jagdpanzer'', a self-propelled anti-tank gun) built by Germany during World War II. The ''Jagdpanther'' combined the 8.8 cm Pak 43 anti-tank gun, similar to th ...
''. All three vehicles mounted the same gun, with only some minor differences between them. The ''Jagdpanther''—a true ''
jagdpanzer ''Jagdpanzer'' (JgPz) is the name given in German to a heavily-armoured, tracked tank destroyer, although it may also be used for other kinds of self-propelled guns. Literally translated from German, ''Jagdpanzer'' is "hunting tank". It typ ...
''—was a successor to the other two, combining acceptable mobility and good, sloped armour while retaining the excellent gun, mostly solving the reliability, mobility, and/or protection problems that the earlier vehicles had.


Survivors

Only two of these vehicles survived the war. One ''Ferdinand'' was captured by Soviet forces at Kursk, and it was sent to NII BT testing facility in Kubinka, Moscow for testing. It was on display at the
Kubinka Tank Museum The Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники - Tsentral'nyy Muzey Bronetankovogo Vooruzheniya I Tekhniki -Central Museum of Armored Arms and Technology) is a larg ...
outside Moscow. Its gun mantlet was painted red. Its chassis number was unknown, either No. 150090 or No. 501. An ''Elefant'', numbered "102" of sPz. Jgr. Abt 653, was captured at
Anzio Anzio (, also , ) is a town and ''comune'' on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about south of Rome. Well known for its seaside harbour setting, it is a Port, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine I ...
by the Americans, and is now part of the United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility's collection at
Fort Lee, VA Fort Gregg-Adams, in Prince George County, Virginia, United States, is a United States Army post and headquarters of the United States Army Combined Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE), the U.S. Army Quarter ...
. The example at Fort Lee was restored to display condition in 2007–2008, as documented on the show '' Tank Overhaul'', but not in its original paint scheme. The Fort Lee ''Elefant'' was loaned to the
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 collecti ...
in Dorset, UK as part of the museum's "Tiger Collection" display from April 2017 until January 2019, and later returned to the United States. This display brought all the members of the Tiger family together in one place for the first time. File:Elefant USAOM-02.jpg, The United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility's restored ''Elefant'' File:Elefant USAOM-003.jpg, The United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility's restored ''Elefant'' from the front File:Ferdinand in the Kubinka.jpg, ''Ferdinand'' in
Kubinka Tank Museum The Kubinka Tank Museum (Центральный музей бронетанкового вооружения и техники - Tsentral'nyy Muzey Bronetankovogo Vooruzheniya I Tekhniki -Central Museum of Armored Arms and Technology) is a larg ...
File:Sau "Ferndinand" 1943-"Elefant" (4581674226).jpg, ''Ferdinand'' front in Kubinka Tank Museum. This Ferdinand had its gun mantlet painted red.


See also

*
SU-152 The SU-152 (russian: самоходная установка-152, СУ-152, Samokhodnaya Ustanovka-152) is a Soviet self-propelled heavy howitzer used during World War II. It mounted a 152 mm gun-howitzer on the chassis of a KV-1S heavy tan ...
and
ISU-152 The ISU-152 (russian: Самоходная установка на базе танка ИС с орудием калибра 152мм, ИСУ-152, Samokhodnaya Ustanovka na baze tanka IS s orudiyem kalibra 152mm, meaning " IS tank based self-prope ...
, a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
self-propelled heavy howitzer which earned the nickname ''Zveroboy'' ("beast killer") for its ability to knock out Elefants, as well as
Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
s and
Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern and Western Fronts from mid-1943 to ...
s.


Notes


References


External links


Information about the Panzerjäger Tiger(P) "Ferdinand/Elefant" at Panzerworld

Ferdinand in Kubinka tank museum

World War II Vehicles

Photogallery


(grayknight.narod.ru)
''Elefant'' at Aberdeen Proving Ground photos @ 5 Star General site


* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqoFbkdEnpw The Tank Museum (UK) "Tank Chat #42 – Elefant" Video {{Authority control World War II tank destroyers of Germany Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944