Panzer VIII Maus
1944 German super-heavy tank
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus (English: 'mouse') was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in July of 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turret were completed; the turret being attached before the testing grounds were captured by the Soviet military.
These two prototypes underwent trials in late 1944. The complete vehicle was 10.2 m (33 ft) long, 3.71 m (12.2 ft) wide and 3.63 m (11.9 ft) high. Weighing about 188 metric tons, the tank's main armament was the Krupp-designed 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 gun, based on the 12.8 cm Pak 44 towed anti-tank gun also used in the casemate-type Jagdtiger tank destroyer, with a coaxial 75 mm KwK 44 L/36.5 gun. The 128 mm gun was powerful enough to destroy all Allied armored fighting vehicles in service at the time, with some at ranges exceeding 3,500 m (3,800 yd).
The principal problem in the design of the Maus was developing an engine and drivetrain powerful enough to adequately propel the tank, yet small enough to fit inside it – it was meant to use a "hybrid drive", an internal-combustion engine to operate an electric generator to power its tracks with electric motor units, much as its Porsche-designed predecessors, the VK 30.01 (P), VK 45.01 (P), and Elefant had. The drivetrain was electrical, designed to provide a maximum speed of 20 km/h (12 mph) and a minimum speed of 1.5 km/h (0.9 mph). However, during actual field testing, the maximum speed achieved on hard surfaces was 13 km/h (8.1 mph) with full motor field, achieved an average speed of 16 km/h off-road during Böblingen proving ground trials, and by weakening the motor field to a minimum, a top speed of 22 km/h (14 mph) was achieved.
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