PANZER VI "TIGER"

Designed by Henschel & Sohn, the first mass-produced German heavy tank in history and the third German heavy tank to see combat behind the Imperial German A7V Sturmpanzerwagen and the mid 30s built Neubaufahrzeug NbFz V from Rheinmetall, the Tiger I has proven to be the most famous and universally recognisable tank of WWII. Developed in response to Soviet T-34s and KV-1s of which the current gen Pz IVs and IIIs were inferior to, it boasted 100mm of frontal armour and an unprecedented long 88mm gun, the KwK 36, based on the FlaK 37 which was the only gun in the Wehrmacht capable of easily sweeping aside the aforementioned tanks. Making a less than satisfactory debut near Leningrad in poor terrain and conditions, it proved far more effective in open country in the Don Basin in Sept 1942 following the Stalingrad encirclement, and it was in particularly long-range engagements that the Tiger proved to be almost invincible, deflecting most shots hurled at it while simultaneously annihilating it's Soviet counterparts with its devastatingly accurate and high velocity 88. Fitted with very wide tracks and a meatier 700hp (522kW) Maybach petrol V12, it gave decent cross-country performance and only marginally worse than the M4 Sherman and T-34 which were both twice as light. The Henschel design competed and won against the also very complex design from Porsche, which made use of an innovative but ultimately unreliable electric final drive. Certainly influenced the introduction of the Soviet IS heavy series and late model Churchill heavy tanks.

1,347 were built between 1942 and 1944, there are some survivors in museums around Europe with most residing in France as well as some in Russia and 1 in Germany.

Tiger 131 is the last ever functioning Tiger I and resides in the Bovington Tank Museum.

THE PZKPFW V "PANTHER"

Designed by MAN it was intended to become the replacement for the obsolescent Panzer IV series and also introduced to work in tandem with the PzKpfw VI "Tiger". It was developed in response to the Soviet T-34 and adopted it's sloping armour and road wheel design, but was armed with a far more powerful 75mm KwK 42 L/70 which could punch through a Sherman's armour with ease even at long range.

It first saw action alongside the debuting Elefant tank and the recently introduced Tiger I at Kursk, where many suffered breakdowns from teething problems. Once many of the early issues had been solved it proved to out-perform almost any mass produced Allied well into 1945. The Allies introduced tanks such as the likes of the American M26 Pershing heavy tank, the Soviet IS-2 heavy tank and the British Centurion I MBT (the Centurion did not appear in time) and nevertheless still fronted up well against these newer heavily armed and armoured tanks. The Panther led to the Panther II and E50 designs which never materialised due to war constraints.

One Tiger and Panther were sold to the Japanese in 1943 but by the time they were produced, transport was impossible.

One Panther and Jagdpanther were built post-war by German staff and were sent to England for trials and are now in the Bovington Tank Museum.