Tiger Options

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Originally developed under the name Pzkw VI Ausf. H the tank was redesignated as Ausf. E (Ausführung Ger. "version") in March 1943. The tank was also known as the Mark VI-E, Panzer VI-E, PzKpfw VI-E or Sd.Kfz. 181 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 181), although in general it was commonly known as the Tiger I (after the Tiger II was produced) or simply the Tiger.

The Tiger I was in use from late 1942 until the German surrender in 1945. It was given its nickname by Ferdinand Porsche. The design served as the basis for other armoured vehicles, including the Tiger II, or King Tiger tank, and the Sturmtiger self-propelled gun.

The Tiger's crew training manual, the Tigerfibel, became a souvenir item after WWII.







The Tigers were originally designed to be offensive weapons but by the time they came into action, the military situation had changed dramatically, so other than a few times, their main use was defensively as tank killers.

It is questionable whether the Tiger was a much better tank killer than other German tanks. Some Panther tanks devastated Allied tanks in figures equal to those quoted of the Tiger. Overall in both the eastern and western fronts the German tanks tended to do better. For example, in the West where the roughly 6,000 Allied tanks were deficient in armor, mobility and armament to German tanks, there were only 1400 various German tanks in Normandy in August. The Allied tank losses were about 3:1. But this was more or less balanced by Allied air superiority. German tanks could not really gather in number for greater effect.

Furthermore against the Soviet and Western Allied production numbers, even a 10:1 kill ratio would not have been sufficient for the Tigers. Some Tiger units did exceed the 10:1 kill ratio, including 13. Kompanie/Panzer-Regiment Grossdeutschland (16.67:1), schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 103 (12.82:1) and schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 (13.08:1). These numbers must be set against the opportunity cost of building the expensive Tiger. Every Tiger built, for example, cost as much as four Sturmgeschütz III assault guns. One measure of cost-effectiveness, therefore, would be whether the Tiger's kill ratio was four times as high as the Sturmgeschutz III.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_I#Tank_killer