Description:

Tiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, often shortened to Tiger B. The ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 182. It is also known under the informal nameKönigstiger (the German name for "Bengal tiger"), often mistranslated literally as King Tiger orRoyal Tiger by Allied soldiers.

The Tiger II was the successor to the Tiger I, combining the latter's thick armor with the armor sloping used on the Panther medium tank. The tank weighed almost seventy metric tons, and was protected by 100 to 180 mm (3.9 to 7.1 in) of armor to the front. It was armed with the long barreled 8.8 cm KwK 43 L/71 gun. The chassis was also the basis for the Jagdtiger turretlesstank destroyer.

The Tiger II was issued to heavy tank battalions of the Army (Schwere Heerespanzerabteilung – abbreviated s.H.Pz.Abt) and the Waffen-SS (s.SS.Pz.Abt). It was first used in combat withs.H.Pz.Abt. 503 during the Normandy campaign on 11 July 1944; on the Eastern Front, the first unit to be outfitted with Tiger IIs was the s.H.Pz.Abt. 501 which by 1 September 1944 listed 25 Tiger IIs operational.

Info: Sd.Kfz.182 King Tiger German Army