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The mid-production model can be recognized by a single headlamp between the machine gun ball and the driver's visor and a shortened commander's cupola. The earliest model can be recognized by the two headlamps on the hull front of the tank and a drum-type commander's cupola. To support such a massive weight, a torsion-bar suspension with the wheels arranged in a peculiar, and popular Schachtellaufwerk (overlapping road wheels) design, with very wide tracks to reduce ground pressure a lesson learned in the Soviet Union. Although it featured very thick armor, considerably including the sides and sometimes rear (reaching up to a maximum of 120mm around the gun's mantle) combined with the effective 8.8 cm KwK 36 (a tank gun variant of the famous 8.8 cm FlaK), it was by no means particularly slow, thanks to its powerful Maybach Hl210 engine (later changed to the Panthers HL230 in July 1943). The Tiger (weighing some 50 metric tonnes) was almost twice as large as the earlier Panzer IV. Meeting the then-formidable Soviet tanks like the T-34 or the KV-1 (with the latter possessing armor that could not be reliably penetrated by anything other the FlaK 18 88 mm gun) during Operation Barbarossa in the summer of 1941 led to an urgent need for tanks that were better armored and equipped with better fire power. Both the Durchbruchwagen I and II prototype hulls were used as test vehicles until 1941. Further development of the Durchbruchwagen was dropped in 1938 in favor of the larger and better-armored VK 30.01 (H) and VK 36.01 (H) designs. Only one hull was built and no turret was fitted. Overall weight would have been 36 tonnes. The Durchbruchwagen I's general shape and suspension resembled the Panzer III, while the turret resembled the early Panzer IV C turret with the short-barrelled 7.5 cm L/24 cannon.īefore Durchbruchwagen I was completed, a request was issued for a heavier 30-tonne class vehicle with thicker armor this was the Durchbruchwagen II, which would have had 50 mm (2 in) of frontal armor and mounted a Panzer IV turret with a short-barreled 7.5 cm L/24 gun. Henschel & Sohn began the development of a large tank design in January 1937 when the Waffenamt requested Henschel to develop a Durchbruchwagen ("breakthrough vehicle") in the 30–33 tonne range. Only one prototype hull was ever built and it was never fitted with a turret. 1.4 The Japanese assessment on the Tiger.