VK 45.01 (H) was a German tank which was the final prototype of the Panzer VI

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 ...

, evolved from the VK 36.01 (H), designed by

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 vehicle ...

. It was selected by

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

over the competing

VK 45.01 (P) The VK 45.01 (P), also informally known as Tiger (P) or Porsche Tiger, was a gasoline-electric drive heavy tank prototype designed by Porsche in Germany. Losing to its Henschel competitor on trials, it was not selected for mass production and ...

from

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

for production into the Tiger I. It came in two variants, the VK 45.01 (H) H2 with a 75 mm L/70 gun, and the VK 45.01 (H) H1 with an 88 mm L/56 gun.

References

* * Heavy tanks of Germany World War II heavy tanks World War II tanks of Germany {{mil-vehicle-stub