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Jagdtigers in combat?

Discussion in 'Weapons & Technology in WWII' started by Ceraphix, Mar 23, 2008.

  1. Carronade

    Carronade Ace

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    It was a tank destroyer based on the Tiger II chassis, with a forward-firing 128mm gun. Here's the wiki article to get you started:

    Jagdtiger - Wikipedia
     
  2. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    Funny. Was just looking up the 'glorious' march of the 653rd elsewhere:
    s.Pzjr.Abt. 653

    &

    7ck04i8aasv21.jpg
     
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  3. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    ...you have to realize [ realistic/real ] and take into account, that there is not just one weapon on the battlefield area = if a vehicle had advantages/disadvantages, they are possibly somewhat offset by their use in the overall plan.....tanks/Jagdtigers/etc are not supposed to be used just by themselves..they should have antitank guns/troops/tanks/heavy MGs/Arty/mortars/mines/etc used in a defensive-offensive plan....

    ....
    Jagdtigers would be positioned in the most advantageous position to stop the enemies main -critical-armor route = therefore not needing too much mobility [ generally speaking.]...MGs/troops/AT guns would be positioned to support/defend/etc the main/critical defensive weapon and route--which might be the Jagdtiger/tanks/ or both ...any way--all the weapons/tanks/troops would to be positioned [ in theory ] to help/cover each other
     
  4. von Poop

    von Poop Waspish

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    By the time, eg., that bridge JT was lost on the 30th of April '45, there wasn't much of a plan left, or route to protect, or troops to support.

    Possibly the main thing the death march of the 653rd underlined was that the machines were an unreliable liability that required infrastructure beyond almost anywhere they were expected to operate, even in the best conceivable conditions.

    I don't particularly subscribe to the 'lumbering' epithet often applied to JTs, there being footage showing them quite capable at getting about in ideal conditions. The question, as ever, was of stretching available technology to fragility, and never being any use at support systems.
    Still don't blame the Germans for trying these technological wunderwaffe solutions as men & resources dried up, but I do still giggle at the Bov JT.

    'Tank sniping' flowered briefly postwar with Conqueror etc., But was another evolutionary dead end. The future being missiles & far more capable MBTs with BFGs
     
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  5. James Stewart

    James Stewart Active Member

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    They could never operate too far from a railway line, a rail system was very necessary to get them from A to B and to recover damaged tanks, although in reality most could not be recovered, a broken down JT as almost certainly a lost one.
    In trying to keep JTs in service spare parts were impossible to source and unserviceable vehicles ( those beyond repair) became donors of parts.
    Too big, underpowered, too heavy, they caused more problems in terms of production and deployment than they were worth, a development Germany really could have done without.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2020

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