According to the habitual practice of the German self-propelled cannons of taking

the heavy tank of the moment an provide it with a further step in the size of the
cannon, when the Tiger II tank

appeared immediately it was considered its chassis for a possible self-propelled

cannon. Considering that the cannon was one of 88 millimeters, the next caliber was
128 millimeters, a huge cannon

to be mounted in a vehicle. It was not a weapon of so high muzzle velocity as the

88-millimeter cannon was, but it fired piercing or breaking grenades weighing 28.3
kilograms with a great

capability of perforating armor at long range. To be more exact, with a muzzle

velocity of 1000 meters/second and a maximum effective range of 3500 meters, the
Pak 44 was capable of perforating 200

millimeters of vertical armor at a distance of 2000 meters. This cannon, which

constituted a threat for any tank in a radius of three kilometers, made of the
Jagdtiger the most powerful German

vehicle of the war, or better said, the most powerful one of those that entered
service in a usable number. The chassis was almost the same than the one of the
Tiger II, except that it was 25

centimeters longer, with a distance opened between the last road wheel and the
idler. Above the central part of the chassis it was mounted a large superstructure
whose armored plates were slanted

in the best way possible as allowed by the limitations of the space required to
harbor the huge cannon and the crew. Because of the length of the cannon, it was
not possible to place further

forward the frontal part of the superstructure as it had been possible in the
Jagdpanther. The frontal plate had the extraordinary thickness of 250 millimeters,
the thickest one built during the

war. Precisely this thickness and the caliber of the cannon were traits in common
between the Jagdpanther and the Maus tank.[p]
The first prototype was shown in the late 1943 and immediately 150 units were
ordered. Only 70 exemplars were finished and it seems that only 48 of them were in
service when the war ended. Apart

from the difficulties in the construction of vehicles of such size, and the
application of armor of such thickness, the weight of the Jagdtiger was a problem
from the beginning. The engine - which

was the same one installed in the Jagdpanther, a vehicle weighing 25 tonnes less -
and the transmission were permanently overloaded. Only the toughest roads resisted
the weight of the vehicle and

crossing bridges and rivers constituted a nightmare. Albeit on the papers the
prestations were the same than in the Tiger II, the consumption of fuel and the
operational range were much worse - and

they were already bad enough in the Tiger II -. For Germany, with its supplies of
any kind of fuel in critical situation, such excesses were hardly justifiable. In
the battlefield the Jagdtiger

were deployed in small support units and they were projected to be deployed in
similar way than the Tiger II. But obviously their low mobility and bad mechanical
reliability constituted a serious

drawback. A number of them were abandoned due to breakdowns or destroyed by the

Germans to prevent their capture, while others could have been easy prey for the
Allied fighter-bombers or even

armored units if these managed to immobilize them or outrun them to attack on their
weak spots. The most important utilization of the Jagdtiger was in the final
retreat inside Germany and its last

actions took place along the Western Front.[p]

[aimg96]high_res/tanks_germany/
sdkfz_186_jagdtiger_tank_destroyer.jpg[*aimg96]low_res/tanks_germany/
sdkfz_186_jagdtiger_tank_destroyer.jpg[/aimg96][br]
[fs]A Panzerjager Tiger Ausf B armed with the 128-millimeter cannon Pak 44. From an
order of 150 exemplars only 70 were finished when the war ended, and of these even
less took action in war. Due

to the Allied bombings on the industrial facilities where the Pak 44 was built
several of these tank destroyers had to be armed with the 88-millimeter cannon Pak
43/3 (the one installed in the

Jagdpanther).[/span][p]
[box]
Crew: 6[p]
Armament: One Pak 44 55-caliber 128-millimeter cannon; one MG 34 or MG 42 7.92-
millimeter machine gun in the hull[p]
Ammunitions: 38 for 128-millimeter cannon; 2925 for 7.92-millimeter machine gun[p]
Armor: 30-250 millimeters[p]
Length (total): 10.65 meters[p]
Length (hull): 7.8 meters[p]
Width: 3.72 meters[p]
Height: 2.83 meters[p]
Weight: 71.7 tonnes[p]
Ground pressure: 1.07 kilograms/square centimeter[p]
Engine: Maybach HL 230 P 30 gasoline engine with 12 cylinders in V, refrigerated by
water, developing 700 horsepower at 3000 revolutions per minute[p]
Power/weight ratio: 9.92 hp/tonne[p]
Maximum speed (in road): 38 kilometers/hour[p]
Maximum speed (in countryside): 17 kilometers/hour[p]
Maximum operational range: 110 kilometers[p]
Maximum surmountable trench: 2.5 meters[p]
Maximum surmountable step: 0.85 meters[p]
Maximum surmountable slope: 35 degrees[p]
Maximum fording: 1.8 meters[p]
[/div][p]