188 ton German tank. German super heavy tank Maus. Specifications and Description

There was no need to create the heaviest tank of the Second World War "Maus" (Maus - mouse). It is believed that on June 9, 1942, A. Hitler issued an oral assignment for its development to his friend and like-minded professor F. Porsche as a kind of compensation for the VK 4501 (P) heavy tank project rejected by the Armaments Directorate. Be that as it may, although there was no assignment for the development of the Maus tank approved by the Ordnance Department, F. Porsche got the opportunity to translate all his ideas into metal.

First of all, it was decided to equip the tank with an electric power transmission operating according to the following scheme: the internal combustion engine drives electric generators, the current from which is supplied to the traction motors of the left and right sides. The composition of such a transmission also includes final drives and brakes.

The main engine was originally planned to be a 1,080 hp Maybach MB 509 diesel engine, but due to delivery delays, a modified Daimler-Benz DB 603A2 1,750 hp aircraft engine had to be selected. It was installed in an inverted position in the middle part of the hull along its axis between the control compartment and the tower shifted to the stern. One electric generator was interlocked with the engine instead of the two originally planned. The weight of this generator was quite impressive - 3885 kg, and the power plant as a whole turned out to be very complex and very unreliable.

The undercarriage also did not differ in simplicity. Given the extremely large weight of the tank (188 tons), tracks 1100 mm wide and a multi-roller undercarriage were used. On each side, there were 24 road wheels of relatively small diameter, interlocked into 12 carts, which, in turn, were combined into six blocks offset diagonally relative to each other. Balance-spring suspension using vertical coil springs and rubber pads. The drive wheels were located at the rear and were equipped with removable gear rims. The upper branch of the caterpillar was supported by 12 rollers. Ahead and from the sides, the undercarriage was protected by 105-mm armored screens. Despite all the efforts of F. Porsche, the specific pressure on the ground was 1.53 kg / cm³, which was almost one and a half times higher than the corresponding indicators of serial German tank models, which were not distinguished by high mobility on rough terrain.

The speed of the "Mouse" did not exceed 20 km / h. During the test, he was able to overcome a slope with a steepness of 30 °, a wall 0.76 m high and a ford 2 m deep. Already at the design stage, it was planned to overcome water barriers only along the bottom, while an original scheme was developed: a fully pressurized tank moves under water with an inoperative main engine, and the current necessary for traction motors is supplied via cable from another tank standing on the shore of the reservoir. The cruising range was 186 km, to ensure it, two gas tanks with a capacity of 3200 liters were placed in the tank hull, and an additional tank with a capacity of 1000 liters was installed at the stern.

The armor protection of the tank was unprecedentedly powerful. The thickness of the frontal armor of the hull was 200 mm, the sides were covered with armor plates from 105 to 185 mm, and the stern - with an armor plate 160 mm thick. The thickness of the frontal armor plates of the turret was increased to 210 mm, and the roof of the hull and the turret were made of plates 105 mm thick. There were no hatches, slots, etc. in the armor plates, the crew only observed through rotating tank periscopes.

F. Porsche believed that a tank with such armor protection was absolutely invulnerable to ground fire and that the enemy would have to use heavy bomber aircraft. Therefore, in parallel with the development of the Maus, the Virbelvind self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was also created, designed to provide air defense units of super-heavy tanks. Since, over time, the F. Porsche project began to take on a very real shape, the Arms Department finally found a way to use the Maus in combat.

The designer Heinrich Ernst Knipkamp created a research group that developed a series of tanks of the Entwicklung project (German - development, development), ranging from light armored tracked vehicles to heavy breakthrough tanks. The competition for the Porsche Maus tank in this series was to be the German E-100 tank. The production of the E-100 prototype began in Frankfurt am Main, and at the end of the war, its chassis ended up at the Haustenbeck training ground, where it fell into the hands of the British.

First call for German tankers

The summer of 1941 for the leadership of the Third Reich was marked not only by dizzying successes on the Eastern Front, but also by a number of unpleasant discoveries, which were not given much importance at the first stage of the campaign. The only "surprise" that did not go unnoticed by Hitler was the advantage of the latest Soviet tanks over German ones. For the time being, it was offset by inexperience. Soviet tankmen, the low quality of armored vehicles manufactured in the USSR and the presence of design flaws in it. But as the Soviets accumulated the necessary experience, things could change, not for the better for the Germans. The top leadership of Germany was aware of the seriousness of this problem and showed concern.

A particularly depressing impression was made by the presence of armored monsters KV-1 and KV-2 in the Red Army in a huge amount by German standards, numbering in the hundreds of units. In the autumn of 1941, the Armaments Directorate of the Ground Forces (German - Heereswaffenamt, hereinafter - UVS) set the task for the largest German engineering concerns to create German heavy and super-heavy breakthrough tanks in a short time, surpassing Soviet counterparts in both armor and weapons.

Loading the Pz.Kpfw VI "Tiger I" tank onto a cargo platform at the Henschel assembly plant in Kassel,
1942 Source - de.academic.ru

Porsche vs Henschel

In the race for the right to produce mass-produced heavy tanks, the Henschel and Son AG company, which developed the heavy tank project of UVS designers, started back in the late 30s, as well as Ferdinand Porsche, joined the race. Their rivalry resulted in the creation of the prototype VK4501 (H) by Henschel & Son AG, which later became the legendary tank Pz.Kpfw VI "Tiger I". In turn, the Porsche company created a prototype VK4501 ₽, better known as the PzKpfw VI "Tiger" ₽, which did not go into production and did not become famous. The struggle for the "Tiger" gave rise to a confrontation between the largest German manufacturers of armored vehicles, in which the functionaries of the Air Force took an active part, including the designer Heinrich Ernst Knipkamp, who was also a senior adviser to the Air Force design service. Knipkamp was personally interested in the victory of the Henschels, since it was his version of the suspension with the famous staggered arrangement of rollers that was used to create the prototype VK4501 (H).

Heinrich Ernst Knipkamp. Source - subscribe.ru

In turn, Porsche enjoyed the favor of the Reich Minister Fritz Todt, who oversaw the creation of the Tiger tank. The Fuhrer himself favored him. This state of affairs could not but irritate Porsche's direct competitors - the Krupp concern, the Henschel company and the design service of the 6th department of armored vehicles and mechanization of the UVS, which actively cooperated with them.

Ferdinand Porsche. Source - electro-machines.ru

The enterprises of the Krupp concern not only competed with Porsche in the creation of a super-heavy tank, but also played along with the Henschel company by supplying a turret with a shoulder strap of 1820 mm instead of the required 2000 mm for the Porsche VK4501 ₽ prototype. This delayed work on the prototype, and on February 8, 1942, Porsche was even more unlucky, as Reich Minister Todt died in a plane crash, and Albert Speer, less favored by the famous industrialist, took his place. As a result, after showing both prototypes to Hitler on April 20, 1942 (the Fuhrer, who loved full-size expensive "toys", was given a birthday present), as well as after a number of tricks arranged by the Porsche functionaries of the UVS, the top leadership of the Reich chose on a Henschel machine. Ferdinand Porsche could not forgive his competitors for this.

Reich Minister Fritz Todt
Source - opowiadam.eu

When at a meeting with Hitler on July 8, 1942, attended by Porsche, the issue of creating a super-heavy breakthrough tank was decided, he did everything to reject the prototype project VK 7201 jointly developed by the Krupp concern and UVS designers. Thus, Porsche managed to "annoy" two of his opponents at once. At this time, his company began developing a project under the index "Object 205 "Mouse" (German - "Mauschen"), which resulted in the creation of two prototypes of the tank, known as Pz.Kpfw VIII "Maus" (German - mouse). Krupp in this project got only the development of a turret for a 128-mm tank gun and a 76-mm gun paired with it, designed to deal with infantry and medium armored targets.

The Pz.Kpfw VIII "Maus" tank is the main rival of the E-100 tank. Source - opowiadam.eu

Slow start of the E-100 project

But Kniepkamp was not going to give up. On his own initiative, he created a research group that was engaged in the development of a whole series of tanks of the Entwicklung project (German - development, development), from light armored tracked vehicles to heavy breakthrough tanks, which were supposed to take into account all the shortcomings and advantages of the tanks already available on weapons of the Wehrmacht. The competition for the Porsche Maus tank in this series was to be the E-100 tank.

On June 30, 1943, when units and components for the first two Maus tanks were already being manufactured at Porsche and allied factories, the E-100 tank had just begun to be developed by specialists from the UVS design service. In this they were assisted by the designers of the automotive company Adlerwerke, whose headquarters are still located in Frankfurt am Main. She supplied the Wehrmacht with half-track armored personnel carriers, bicycles and cars, and her owners were in good relations with Kniepkamp.

Building "Adlerverke". View from Kleerstrasse in Frankfurt am Main. Source - de.academic.ru

E-100: specifications

The E-100 was created in accordance with the requirements put forward by Hitler for a super-heavy tank back at a meeting on July 8, 1942. It was supposed to have frontal armor and turret armor 200 mm thick, side armor and stern armor should have reached 180 mm. In this case, the tank had to weigh from 150 to 200 tons and carry a main caliber gun of 120-150 mm. At the same time, the Knipkamp designers wanted to fit into the weight of 100-120 tons and equip the E-100 with a 150-mm gun. To save time on the first copies of the tank, it was decided to install a turret for a 150-mm gun with a forward-facing 76-mm gun, already developed by the Krupp concern for the Maus tank.

Tank E-100, top view. Source - maquetland.com

The suspension system for the tank was developed by designer Ler from MAN. It is easy to guess that his rollers were supposed to be staggered on both sides of the caterpillar ridges, lined up in one row - this development of Knipkamp was used on almost all the heavy tanks of the Third Reich.

Unlike the Maus tank, the E-100 had a classic layout: the tank control compartment was in front, the fighting compartment was in the middle, and the engine compartment was in the back. To free up as much space as possible, the leading ones were made not by the front “asterisks”, as was customary for German tanks, but by the rear ones. Since the E-100 did not fit on railway platforms, two versions of the tracks were developed for it (as well as for the Maus tank): transport tracks - 500 mm wide, and combat ones - 1000 mm wide.

A computer model of the E-100 tank embedded in a photograph from the Second World War
Source: strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us

To increase the survivability of the tank, they decided to make it lower than the Maus by 37 cm. In addition, the number of vertical surfaces and right angles on its armor was reduced to the maximum - if the Maus had almost vertical sides, then the E-100 had such a "straightness" did not possess. All these design solutions made it possible to design the tank 50 tons lighter than the Maus, but the designers failed to fit into 120 tons either - according to calculations, the resulting vehicle should have weighed 137.8 tons.

The power plant of the E-100 was simpler and more reliable than that of its "competitor". Ferdinand Porsche, both in the "Tiger" ₽ and in the super-heavy tank, stubbornly introduced his system of separate drive of each caterpillar with a separate electric motor powered by a generator, which was driven by a gasoline power plant. Knipkamp's designers took a simpler route and installed a Maybach HL230 P30 12-cylinder gasoline engine with an HP 700 power in the aft compartment of the tank. (they were equipped with such tanks as the PzKpfw V "Panther" and VI Ausf. B "Tiger II" ("Royal Tiger"), as well as the Maybach OG 401216V gearbox. Engine power was clearly insufficient, but a more powerful engine at that time in Germany was not, and the designers decided not to install a second engine. They decided that at first it was better to put up with the low speed of their super-heavy tank and wait until more powerful engines appeared. The design speed for the E-100 was set at 38– 40 km/h.

Maybach HL230 P30 12-cylinder petrol engine with 700 hp.
Source - eastcoarmory.com

Early end of the project

The production of the E-100 prototype began at the Adlerwerke company in Frankfurt am Main. Later, the Henschel company took over the assembly, and by June 1944, the armored chassis of the tank was ready. However, due to the fact that up to 80% of the production capacity of Henschel and Son AG was destroyed by Allied aircraft, it was ordered to stop work on the creation of the E-100. The new tank never received a turret from the Krupp corporation, and the chassis "hung" at the Haustenbeck training ground near the city of Paderborn. Below are those few photos of the e100 tank, or rather its chassis, that have survived to this day.

American soldiers examine the chassis of the E-100 tank. Source - topwar.ru

An American soldier near the chassis of the E-100 tank. Nearby is the barrel of a gun with a screwed muzzle brake.
Source: gamestar.de

Here they fell into the hands of the British military in the spring of 1945. The tank chassis were sent to England, where local engineers were able to assemble them and put them into working order. In the course of subsequent tests, it turned out that the resulting tank, even without installing a turret, has a very low maneuverability, and its speed does not exceed 20 km / h. Some time later, the failed “competitor” of the Maus tank was sent for remelting. Ferdinand Porsche won, and his offspring in this race of armored monsters survived and became famous throughout the world. But did this bring joy to the designer, who served 22 months in a French prison and, with poor health, was released to die in his homeland? Hardly.

E-100 tank chassis loaded onto a transport trolley for shipment to the UK
Source: schatzsucher.de

Transportation of the chassis of the E-100 tank. Source: www.valka.cz

E-100 tank chassis. Source - silnyeduhom.ru

Maus is a tank whose history of creation clearly shows us that the common expression: “The more, the better” is far from always justified. What was the failure of such a global undertaking and why is the legendary "Mouse" so famous?

The birth of "Mouse"

The super-heavy Maus tank is the most massive ever made in metal. It was conceived and implemented by the Third Reich in 1942-1945. under the direction of Ferdinand Porsche.

The initiative for its appearance belongs to Adolf Hitler himself, who ordered the development of a powerful "breakthrough tank" with maximum armor and a high level of weapons. Despite the fact that part of the management initially expressed concerns about the futility of the undertaking, in June 1942 Porsche received an official order for the manufacture of the tank.

It is believed that this "colossus" got its name from light hand one of the mechanics, who, before a test drive, drew a small mouse on the frontal armor and signed his creation - Maus. It looked quite witty and symbolic, since the mass of the "baby" was equal to the weight of the three most popular tanks of that time - the "Tigers". Be that as it may, but officially the tank changed its name several times. The original version sounded like Mammut - "Mammoth". After several changes were made to the design, the name also changed - now it was called symbol"Object 205", or tank Mauschen - "Mouse". And only when the design was inspected and approved personally by the Fuhrer, the tank "grew up" and received its final "adult" name - Maus - "Mouse".

Description and characteristics of the tank Maus

The body of the hulk was made of heterogeneous armored plates, and inside it was divided into four transverse and three longitudinal compartments. "Across" were organized three power departments and a control post.

In the left longitudinal compartment there was an 800 l fuel tank, engine radiators (water and oil), a water radiator for an electric generator, an exhaust system: a silencer, an exhaust pipe and a silencer radiator, as well as a blower fan with an air filter. An auxiliary power generator and engine, batteries, tool boxes, as well as racks with ammunition for the 128-mm cannon were also placed here. The right longitudinal compartment completely repeated the left one, in a mirror image.

In the central (middle) compartment, the main engine was located together with a twin generator, a brake system and a transmission. There were also places for the driver and radio operator.

The full crew of the tank consisted of six people. Above, above the fighting compartment, there was a tower in which the gun commander, two loaders and the tank commander were supposed to be.

Maus is a high-tech tank, despite its gigantic size and weight. The use of a multi-roller “hodovka” and wide tracks (1100 mm) provided him with quite acceptable ground pressure, which was almost the same as that of other heavy tanks.

Suspension and chassis

The Maus heavy tank had a rather interesting track design. Each caterpillar of the combat vehicle consisted of 112 tracks - 56 solid and composite. One-piece track was made in the form shaped casting with a smooth inside - a treadmill, on which there was a guide comb. The composite was assembled from 3 parts, 2 of which (extreme) were interchangeable. This design of the tracks ensured the least wear from surface friction, and also contributed to a decrease in the weight of the track.

Without really going into technical details, we can only note that when designing the Maus, the designers had to change their minds about the torsion bar suspension traditionally used on other German heavy combat vehicles. The fact is that the use of this type of suspension required the presence of a large number of technological holes in the tank hull, and this presented certain difficulties. Therefore, after a series of consultations and tests, it was decided to use buffer springs, despite their certain shortcomings.

Tower

First of all, the Maus is a tank known for its enormous thickness of armor. Its tower, also welded from rolled sheets, had a layer of frontal armor 200 mm thick. The side plates inclined at an angle of 30 ° and the aft part (the angle of inclination - 15 °) had armor of even greater thickness - 210 mm.

In the normal state, the rotation of the tower was carried out using 3 pairs of roller bearings, while an additional bias mechanism was provided, which allowed the tower to be lowered directly onto the hull. This function was used to ensure the tightness of the tower, and the hull became completely waterproof.

In the aft part of the tank turret there was a loading hatch for ammunition, and racks for shells were placed on a special rotating floor. The roof is equipped with two hatches and air filters Ø180 mm equipped with electric drives. In addition, there were smoke grenade launchers, a sight, a rangefinder and observation periscopes. Additionally, the manhole cover was equipped with a loophole for the use of small arms.

Hull and armor

The body of the "Mouse" was a structure made by welding from rolled armor plates. different thickness. Unlike other armored vehicles, the German Maus tank was equipped with a "deaf" frontal and aft parts that did not have any hatches and slots. Front and rear armor sheets were located with required angles tilt, and on the sides - vertically.

It is noteworthy that the thickness of the “Mouse” shell was not the same over the entire surface - in the upper part of the body it was 185 mm, and towards the bottom this thickness gradually leveled to 105 mm. However, this did not affect his "armor" at all. The fact is that the outer skin served as a bulwark, and the inner well had additional armor 80 mm thick.

In order to increase the ease of assembly, the roof of the tank was prefabricated and had an uneven thickness of sheathing sheets: 50 mm under the turret and up to 105 mm in the place where the control compartment was located. The bottom also had a different thickness of armor protection - from 55 to 105 mm in different parts of the hull, with a reinforced, however, front.

Engine and transmission

Since two prototypes were made at once, it was supposed to experiment on them “to the fullest”. In this regard, each of them had its own version of the engine:

the first one is equipped with a 12-cylinder water-cooled tank diesel engine (developed by Daimler-Benz);
the second Maus is a tank that received an aviation carburetor DB603 A2, converted to "tank" needs.

Considerable relief in the management of this hulk was achieved through the use of an electromechanical transmission, which allows to extend the life of the piston engine.

The Maus transmission scheme was designed in such a way that it made it possible to use the energy of the generators not only for own needs, but could also meet the needs of another combat vehicle, for example, during an underwater crossing.

Armament

Since the Maus is a tank of simply enormous size, the appropriate weapon is also needed for it. After much debate, the final option was the installation of two twin guns of 75 and 128 mm caliber. The first had 200 rounds of ammunition, and the second - 68 rounds. Additionally, the Mouse tank was equipped with two 7.92 mm machine guns with 1,000 rounds of ammunition. In addition, a place was provided for the installation of an anti-aircraft gun with a caliber of 15-20 mm.

Why "didn't work"

They say that initially Hitler was calm and even rather cool about the idea of creating a super-powerful machine. Everything changed in May 1943, when the Fuhrer was shown a full-size wooden model of the future tank. He made such an impression on him that Hitler ordered the immediate production of prototypes and mass production as soon as possible.

However, these plans were not destined to come true. Maus is a tank that never managed to take part in the battles. It was primarily in its huge size and weight - about 188 tons. Not a single road bridge of that time was able to withstand such a weight, so the “breakthrough tank” was so limited in the geography of movement that it could only be transported by railway. True, despite this, he was "waterfowl" and able to move along the bottom of reservoirs, receiving power and control from another combat vehicle located on the shore.

There is evidence that work on launching mass production was stopped by Hitler himself, who simply lost interest in his “favorite toy”. Yes, and the production of this kind required huge capacities from Germany, which the Germans simply did not have at that time.

The last shelter "Mouse"

It is quite obvious that the grandiose project of the Third Reich failed miserably, because the "Mouse" never fired a single shot. In the spring of 1945, in order to save their brainchild from the approaching units of the Red Army, the German command made a desperate attempt to destroy both prototypes that had not passed combat tests. But it was not so easy to do this - only one of them suffered quite badly.

The Maus tank, the photo of which is posted above, was assembled by Soviet engineers from the remnants of prototypes and in May 1946 was delivered to the armored training ground in Kubinka, where he found his last refuge.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse"

Adolf Hitler's maniacal fascination with super-heavy tanks, sooner or later, was bound to lead to the birth of grandiose projects (such as the Land Cruiser). Hitler's entourage blindly shared his course towards the creation of giant tanks, but, fortunately, the lack of time and funds did not allow most of these projects to be put into practice.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" on trials

Of all the projects, only two vehicles reached the production stage in one form or another - the Mouse or the Mouse and the E100 tank, although there were more than a dozen detailed projects of tanks - heavyweights.

The most ardent apologist for super-heavy tanks after Hitler was his personal friend and head of the commission on armored vehicles, Professor Ferdinand Porsche. Oddly enough, proximity to the Fuhrer did not help Porsche in the implementation of its grandiose plans.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" with a load of the same weight of the turret during trials

It is still unknown whether the ideas of the professor were shared by the majority of the generals and officers of the Wehrmacht's Arms Department. In their memoirs, almost everyone sharply criticizes the ideas of the professor, but after the end of the war it is too easy to look like wise skeptics.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" in comparison with the profile of the Soviet tank T-34

It is only obvious that in the early years of the Second World War, Porsche clearly did not find timely support, and this saved Germany from the senseless and costly waste of energy and resources to create monstrous super-heavy giant tanks.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" on trials

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" in all its glory

"The gigantic offspring of Hitler's fantasy and his retinue with irritation, Heinz Guderian called the tank-Mouse", which at birth received a more appropriate name for its size - Mammoth. The report of the British Scientific and Technical Intelligence Service dated October 11, 1945 contains detailed description the history of the creation of this tank, based both on a detailed study of documents and on materials from interrogations of employees of the Porsche Design Bureau. The report, in particular, contains information about the conversation that took place on June 8, 1942 between Professor Porsche and Hitler.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse", a Soviet soldier posing on the left.

The meeting was also attended by German Minister of Armaments and Military Industry Albert Speer. The conversation began with a discussion of the possibility of equipping the Tigra (P) project (Porsche Design Bureau) with an 88-mm L / 71 gun (meaning Ferdinand / Elefant self-propelled guns). After that, Hitler asked Porsche to develop a chassis project for a 128-mm or 150-mm gun. According to the Fuhrer, this should be a self-propelled gun with a rotating turret, a machine gun coaxial with a cannon and exceptionally strong armor (200 mm frontal armor of the hull; 180 mm side; 240 mm - the forehead of the tower and 200 mm - the sides of the tower). Porsche wanted to test an air-cooled diesel engine in the new car, but this idea met with sharp objections from Speer. The Minister of War did not want to waste precious time on experiments with diesel engines, so he suggested that Porsche use an aircraft engine from Daimler-Benz AG *. Contrary to custom, Porsche did not receive any strict instructions from the Fuhrer regarding the weight, design and silhouette of the future tank, which gave him an unusually large scope for creativity. Perhaps in this way Hitler wanted to console his friend, who had just lost a lucrative order for the production of "Tigers".

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" with additional fuel tanks

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse", destroyed by the staff of the landfill.

Work on the project progressed quite quickly. Taking advantage of the freedom of the hands. provided by the Führer, Porsche again turned to the idea of using an electric transmission, which had already been rejected twice by the military and designers due to an acute shortage of copper. The report states this as follows: “Porsche said that this time it will insist on the use of an electric transmission, as it considers it the only way to make the super-heavy machine easier to drive *. In general, we can say that the "Mouse" sample 205 has largely become an improved version of the previously rejected project VK 4501 "Tiger * (P), although there were some differences. Firstly, since it was decided to equip the tank with one engine (and not two, as was the case in the project), it was necessary to decide on a new placement of generators.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" at the review of Adolf Hitler

In the end, Otto Zadnik (the firm's chief electrical designer) proposed using a single internal combustion engine driving one twin generator instead of two. Secondly, the use of electric transmission made it necessary to completely replace all electrical equipment. When Porsche and Zadnik were asked why they needed to introduce this innovation at all, they usually answered that they tried to make their tank as easy to manage as possible. Indeed, Tiger drivers often complained that when they shifted the levers to first gear, the tank behaved as if it was in neutral, while on the Mouse everything was seized the first time. The creation of a new tank was not without curiosities. At the end of 1942, the Wehrmacht's Arms Department assigned Colonel Henel with the thankless task of "spurring" the firms involved in the project. His task was to make endless visits to the enterprises and threaten the most severe sanctions for the slightest disruption of the schedule. Of course, such " Supervision "terribly annoyed Porsche, therefore, having received Henel's order to submit the tank for testing no later than May next year, the professor said that he considered this requirement "a good joke, therefore, from the very beginning he did not take it into account."

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

But then there was the first serious breakdown. Despite Speer's objections, Porsche did not give up the idea of equipping his tank with a diesel engine, so he suggested that Daimler-Benz AG make the required installation for it. However, Daimler-Benz LG categorically refused to engage in this project and suggested that Porsche try a modified DB 509 aircraft carburetor engine. Porsche had no choice but to accept. Subsequently, it turned out that this engine can only be installed upside down, which led to the need to install a vertical transmission.

Video: super-heavy tank "Maus"

On January 4, 1943, Porsche arrived in Berlin to show the Fuhrer the design of a new tank. Hitler liked the tank so much that, contrary to his custom, he did not even make any comments on the project. A month later, officials of the Armaments Office arrived in Stuttgart and officially issued orders for the production of individual components of the future tank. The manufacture of the turret and hull was entrusted to the firm "Krupp". electrical equipment was entrusted to Siemens; engine - "Daimler-Benz AG"; the undercarriage, tracks and transmission were to be performed at the Skoda factories, and the general assembly was assigned to Alkett. January 24, 1943 The armaments department decided to provide all possible assistance to the new "project. The only voice that was heard against the new tank was the voice of the famous engineer Knipkampf *.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

The next visit of Professor Porsche to Berlin took place on February 2, 1943. Then Colonel Henel met with him and conveyed the wish of the Armaments Directorate to supply the tank ... with a flamethrower and a stock of fire mixture of 1000 liters. To all the protests of the indignant Porsche, Henel calmly replied that the government was giving special meaning this supplement. Porsche demanded a personal meeting with the leadership of the Armaments Directorate, and on February 10 a mixed delegation arrived in Stuttgart, consisting of officers of the Directorate and representatives of firms involved in the production of the tank. The discussion was very emotional. Referring to that. that the government set the most stringent deadlines for the release of the finished tank, the manufacturers insisted on abandoning the flamethrower. The weapons department stood its ground, although it agreed not to set strict deadlines for manufacturers.

Video: Mouse tank in detail

As a result, representatives of firms were forced to accept new conditions, which inevitably led to the need to make changes to the project. The initial weight of the tank, when equipped with a flamethrower with a supply of fire mixture, automatically increased this weight by 4900 kg, up to 179.3 tons, i.e., by almost 5.5%. This, in turn, required fundamental changes in the design of the chassis. The easiest way out would be to equip each side with a second caterpillar, but there was no room for this. After long discussions, the project of the Skoda designers was taken as the basis, they proposed to replace the torsion bar suspension with a spring one. Since any other decisions would lead to serious losses of time. Porsche had to reluctantly abandon its beloved suspension.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

According to the British War Office, on April 6, 1943, Albert Speer paid an unexpected visit to Stuttgart and examined the wooden model of the Mouse for half an hour. Four days later, Porsche received an order to immediately bring the tank to the Bergtesgaden training ground. The tank was immediately dismantled and prepared for transportation, however, the order was canceled and the machine had to be reassembled.On May 6, a new order was received - this time final.On May 14, at Hitler's headquarters "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg, "Mouse * appeared before the Fuhrer. Examining the wooden model. Hitler declared that a 128 mm gun on such a giant looked like a "child's toy" and ordered Krupp to remake the turret for a 150 mm gun paired with a 75 mm machine gun.
During the same period, the Ordnance Department made another attempt to force Porsche to
seem like an electric powertrain requiring precious copper. The chief engineer of the Porsche design bureau, Karl Rabe, was sent to the Zanralfabrik * company in Friedrichshafen to discuss the possibility of using an electromagnetic gearbox developed by this company before the start of the war on the Mouse. However, the company refused to discuss this issue until the conclusion of an official order from the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Since the execution of such an order would mean a new loss of time, it was necessary to continue work on the electric transmission.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

On July 16, Daimler-Benz AG sent the finished DB 509 engine to Stuttgart. Tests soon took place, led by Professor Kamm. As already mentioned, for the "Mouse *" I had to use a slightly modified aircraft engine. The necessary changes were caused primarily by the need to use the power plant in reverse
position, as well as the desire to minimize fuel consumption. Its tests were successful, but it was decided to create another prototype of the Mouse *, for which Daimler-Benz AG promised to develop a diesel engine converted from a Daimler-Benz AG MB 517 submarine diesel engine.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse", view of the mask of twin guns

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

In early August, the company * Alkett * was supposed to start assembling the Mouse *, however, the unceasing bombardment of allied aviation prevented the Krupp * company from meeting the deadlines and presenting the hull and turret on time. The "Mouse Saga" reached its climax on October 27, 1943, when, at a meeting with Porsche and Rabe, Armaments Minister Speer announced that the government no longer considers the slow production of a new tank to be a state task, although it will not interfere with the continuation of work on this project. It was a real blow that crossed out years of hard work... Manufacturers could not put up with this, especially since there were already two projects in production (Mouse 205/I. with DB 509 engine and Mouse* 205/11 with MB 517 engine) , and the stage of partial production reached nine machines. In total, it was planned to release 150 super-heavy Mice.
In mid-September, Krupp finally presented the first turret, and in December 1943, the first prototype of the Mouse, sample 205/1, was tested at * Alkett *. moreover, instead of the tower, it was necessary to use a 55-ton load for the time being.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse".

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse", chassis rear view

Production tests were successful, so the Reeno tank was sent to the test site in Böblingen near Stuttgart. The tank was driven by a driver - a tester of the Design Bureau "-Porsche". Carl Ginsberg. With the exception of minor problems in the chassis, the tests were quite successful. In total, three more or less significant problems were identified: overheating of the vertical gear between the engine and the generator; polarity reversal in electrical circuit an auxiliary generator designed to power the excitation windings of the main generators and severe oxidation of a pipeline made of poor quality material. The first two problems were easily fixed, but it was not possible to remake the pipeline due to an acute shortage of materials. The driver highly appreciated the driving performance of the car, saying that it can be easily deployed even around its base. The tank was tested on the most diverse ground - on snow, on ice, in mud and on a road with obstacles. The report states that “according to independent experts who were previously present at the tests of other German tanks, the driving performance of the Mouse Ka is not inferior to that of the Panther-. When moving on solid ground, the tank developed top speed 13 km/h.
After the tests, Porsche betrayed Hitler's desire that the tank be completely (with a turret and a gun) ready by June 1941. On March 20, the Little Mouse * 205 / II appeared at the Böblingen training ground, but so far without an engine and a turret. The tower was installed only on May 9, and the gear between the engine and the generator; polarity reversal in the electric circuit of the auxiliary generator designed to power the excitation windings of the main generators and severe oxidation of the pipeline made of low-quality material. The first two failures were easily remedied, however, it was not possible to remake the pipeline due to an acute shortage of materials. The driver highly appreciated the driving performance of the car, saying that it can be easily deployed even around its base. The tank was tested on the most diverse ground - on snow, on ice, in mud and on a road with obstacles. The report states that “according to independent experts who were previously present at the tests of other German tanks, the driving performance of the Mouse is not inferior to that of the Panther. When moving on hard ground, the tank developed a maximum speed of 13 km / h.

Heavy tank Panzerkampfwagen Maus (Porsche 205) "Mouse" on the railway platform

After the tests, Porsche betrayed Hitler's desire that the tank be completely (with a turret and a gun) ready by June 1941. On March 20, the Little Mouse * 205 / II appeared at the Böblingen training ground, but so far without an engine and a turret. The tower was installed only on May 9, and what was my joy when I saw on the film a whole and unharmed "Mouse"!

Super-heavy German tank "Mouse" »

Ing .- lieutenant colonel E. E. GERKEVICH

In the middle of 1944, the Alkett plant in Berlin completed the assembly of two prototypes of the super-heavy tank "Mouse" (Maushen) with electric transmission, which in its dimensions and weight differs sharply from all previously known heavy tanks. The machine was designed under the direction of Prof. Porsche (Stuttgart), and large firms took part in its manufacture: Krupp (hull and turret with weapons), Skoda (chassis), Daimler Benz (engine), Siemens-Shuckert ( electric transmission) and others. Experimental tanks passed factory tests and in October 1944 were transferred to Kummersdorfsky tank range for further sea and artillery tests.

The following is short description of this German tank, and on page 39 its performance characteristics.

fig. 1. Scheme of the tank "Mouse"

In front of the tank hull, directly behind the control compartment (Fig. 1), there is an engine with cooling and power systems. From the engine, the torque is transmitted to two successively located main generators (Fig. 2). The block of main and auxiliary generators is located in the lower part of the hull under the fighting compartment.

fig. 2. Generator block

The engine is connected to the generators through gear gearbox with a gear ratio of 1:1.05. Two traction electric motors, fed by the main generators, are mounted in the upper part of the aft compartment of the hull (Fig. 3).

Each generator feeds its own motor independently of the other and is controlled by the Leonard circuit. The auxiliary generator is used to supply current to the main generators. In addition to these generators and two traction motors, electrical part transmissions include: two rheostat controllers, an exciter generator, a storage battery, a switching (switching) box and other control equipment.

The torque from the traction electric motors is transmitted to the drive wheels by the mechanical part of the transmission - an intermediate, two-stage gearbox (Fig. 4) and a two-row, planetary onboard gearbox (Fig. 5), on which a detachable hub of the drive wheel is mounted.

The intermediate gearbox is made in the form of a guitar of cylindrical gears and has two gears: i 1 =1.0 and i 2 -1,912.

Gear shift control - hydraulic. Disc friction brakes are mounted on the intermediate gearboxes; brake control is also hydraulic.

fig. 3. Layout of electric motors in the tank hull

fig. 4. Scheme of the intermediate gearbox

The planetary two-row onboard gearbox has a gear ratio of the first planetary gear of 5.357, of the second - 4.75. The total gear ratio of the mechanical transmission: in the first gear i 1=25.5; in second gear i 2 =50.

fig. 5. Scheme of the planetary final drive

Gear shifting from first to second is carried out with a stationary tank.

The armored hull and turret of the tank (Fig. 6) are made of sheets of rolled armor.The prevailing thickness of armor protection is 175-200 mm. The connection of armor plates - in a spike, reinforced with goujons and welding. Typical for this tank is the location of the tracks in the hull pockets between the side plates.

The tank is armed with a twin mount of a 128 mm RAK-44 gun and a 75 mm kWk-40 gun, assembled in a tower mask. Two machine guns are installed in the tower:

MG-42 caliber 7.92 mm and heavy (20 mm) anti-aircraft machine gun.

Ammunition is located on the walls of the fighting compartment and the tower. The combat compartment accommodates the tank commander, gunner and two loaders. Driverand radio operator stationed incontrol compartment at the front of the case. A periscope observation device and a range finder are mounted in the roof of the tank turret. The sight of the twin installation is telescopic.

In the control compartment, a periscope viewing device for the driver (left) and a periscope device for circular rotation of the radio operator (right) are installed.

fig. 6. Booking scheme

The motor installation of the tank is made in two versions. One of the samples is equipped with a DV-603 aviation-type gasoline engine with a capacity of 1350 hp. with., on the other 12-cylinder diesel engine with a capacity of 1000 - 1200 liters. With .

According to available information, the installation of both engines mentioned above was a temporary measure, until the manufacture of a special tank diesel engine with an 1800 horsepower. With .

The undercarriage of the tank is protected by outer side armor 95 mm thick. The location of the drive wheels is rear, the engagement is pinion. Suspension - balance-spring.

On each side of the hull, between the inner and outer side armor, there are six supports, on which two balancing carts with two rollers each are mounted. The bogies are cushioned by helical springs (buffer type). Thus, each side is supported by 24 rollers. The diameter of the roller with internal shock absorption is 550 mm.

The caterpillar has two types of tracks: main solid and intermediate, each of three links. The number of tracks in each track is 112. The width of the solid track is 1100 mm.

The speed indicators of the "Mouse" tank are relatively low - the speed of movement on the highway is 20 km / h, on the terrain - 10 km / h.

The permeability of the tank, judging by the high specific pressure (1.2 kg / cm 2 when immersed in 100 mm), is also low.

The tank is equipped with a device for underwater walking.

Despite a number of fundamental shortcomings, of which the main one is insufficient firepower with large dimensions and combat weight, the Mouse tank is of interest to domestic tank building as the first experience in creating a super-heavy tank.