Yuri Pasholok published another interesting piece of history on blog, this time concerning the E-100. First a bit of info from the allied sources:
This is an excerpt from the report the western allies managed to assemble on the state of the E-100 program. Notice the gun - 15cm and 17,4cm guns. That must be a typo, right?
Well, actually, it is not. Initially, the vehicle was supposed to be equipped with a "simplified" turret (the same that is currently modeled in World of Tanks), characterized by the guns being located above one another instead of next to each other - this turret was also equipped with a rangefinder, proposed in Autumn 1943 for the "regular" Maus. So far so good.
And then the German military went mental and demanded a 174mm gun to be installed into the very same turret, using the turret sketch from what was basically the good old Tiger-Maus.
Just to be clear: this gun would never ever fit inside the turret. It was way too big - which didn't bother the Germans in the slightest, they just re-drew the gun to a higher caliber and that was it. Even the 150mm gun, intended at that point for the E-100 was ridiculously big - the project counted on 15cm L/63 (!) and 17cm L/53. How "realistic" these plans were was anyone guess - even if the gun was by some miracle fitted inside the turret, there would be no space left for the crew. It was theoretically possible to make the hull and the turret even bigger, but then the vehicle would no longer be rail-transportable. The only way to make this crazy plan happen was to turn the vehicle into a SPG using this gun:
...and that was it. In July 1944, Hitler stopped the super-heavy tank development and even though the companies tried to make the project happen on their own as a private venture of sorts, nothing ever came of it except for one partially assembled hull. The work on the vehicle stopped during the winter of 1944.
Source: http://yuripasholok.livejournal.com/4323373.html
I Wonder what would have happened if they managed to at least put one of these superheavy tanks on thr combat field. I always admired these monsters.
ReplyDeleteThere is a group of Aussies planning to build an E-100 so its a start
DeleteIt would have been destroyed in no time by Allied Bombers....
DeleteWelll...the allies would have bombed and rocketed the hell out of it.........
DeleteThey would have had to power it with wind energy due to lack of fuel in late.. '44 ; )
DeleteWell they are gonna need a lot of steel. A LOT! Perhaps tear down a bridge or two.
DeletePretty much nothing. Kill some infantery, maybe some med, then get hammered by artillery and aviation to the death
DeleteI like your WOT logic, it much rather would get insta killed by bombers, as such a huge target would get priorietised
Delete"I Wonder what would have happened if they managed to at least put one of these superheavy tanks on thr combat field."
DeleteAllied fighter-bomber swoops in, allied fighter-bomber swoops out with some bombs less than before, leaving a smoldering wreck of 100+ tons of steel behind.
Alternatively, E-100 reaches a bridge, E-100 tries to move over the bridge. Bridge collapses, E-100 makes *SPLAAAAAAAASH* as it is converted, literally on-the-fly, into a german U-Boot.
Another option would be, E-100 move cross country, E-100 finds ground that isn't as dense as it appeared at first, E-100 becomes an improvised bunker as it digs itself into the ground.
But by far the most common result would be, E-100 leaves factory, drive train or engine breaks down on the 100m it has to drive to the train station.
Let's face it, those vehicles were simply not practical anymore. You have to reach a compromise between armor protection, firepower and mobility, as well as maintainability and buildability. The germans sacrificed literally everything to get overemphasized armor and firepower. Even the (by comparison) relatively tame Tiger Is were already a nightmare in buildability and maintainability and making it all even worse than Tiger II levels? Germany would've defeated itself even faster than it already did.
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ReplyDeleteA piece of metal against the heavy artillery.
ReplyDeleteNo chance to maneuver.
Still. Imagine the russians faces when theyr mighty Is and ISU bounce off all they shots
DeleteISU would have shot HE. Critical hit! :]
DeleteWith the spalling effect, their mighty isu and is will literally shake the crew to death.... Not exactly the best end.
DeleteE100 with Jageru Gun? Give it to me!
ReplyDeleteHmm... I wonder if this means they will consider giving the E100 a better gun. I can't really see them giving it the 17cm, but maybe a better 15cm, or more likely a better 12.8cm? I mean, after the coming de facto "nerf" with the HD model and all...
ReplyDeleteWho said it's getting nerfed? If anything it got buffed (turret hatch weakspot gone in the rear)
DeleteIt's not buffed and it's nerfed only a bit against TDs/Gold. Gun mantlet still seems smaller, but turret is a little bit narrower in my eyes, making it's cheeks only a little larger than before. cwijan, that weakspot you are talking about had only one role. To be penetrated by old Chaffee'ish low pene Scouts. Now nobody need it anyway.
DeleteWell, noone shoots the E 100's gun mantlet anyway
DeleteCwijan90, that is on the Jagdpanzer E100, not E100 Heavy Tank. And Nicu, the smaller mantlet and the tiny strip on the upper glacis that got thinned (but angle increased) are slight nerfs for a tank that in my opinion, didn't even need these tiny nerfs. I don't know why they keep insisting on meddling with the tanks that are ok in their roles, and ignore the broken tanks (Phatton, for one).
DeleteThe technical director of Adlerwerke himself testified after the war that the 15 cm and 17 cm guns were unfeasible on the E 100 except in the StuG variant (no space in the turrets to service the weapons)
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ReplyDeleteGermans going full Soviet I see
ReplyDeleteRita, will infos about WoWS be published on this blog ?
ReplyDeleteBecause closed beta has just been announced :)
Yeah, I'm kind of wondering if she plans on being more World of Warplanes "friendly" than SS was.
Deletewell so long as she doesn't resort to baseless and unprovoked personal insults and continues this professional track, she'll be great.
DeleteDimitri I think you should watch Rita's live stream to see how professional she is.
Delete"Just to be clear: this gun would never ever fit inside the turret. It was way too big - which didn't bother the Germans in the slightest, they just re-drew the gun to a higher caliber and that was it."
ReplyDeleteNot entirely different from what WG did with the PzIV and the 10.5cm derp, eh.
17.4cm gun? The German response to the Soviet Shotgun (122mm D-2-5T)
ReplyDelete