BIGGER IS BETTER,
not always

but in the mind of Hitler it was, so as the war went on he called for larger armoured fighting vehicles. This was necessary to a point as an armour arms race was unfolding in the east between Germany and Russia but there is a point where mass and might must yield to practical and what is logical. Though the Jagdtiger was not the biggest AFV dreamed of in the minds of German engineering, it was the heaviest and most powerful to see combat of any country during World War Two, weighing 70.6 tons and mounting a punishing 128mm gun.

The first Jagdtiger completed for action was in July of 1944 and they saw service from late that same year until the end of the war. Never reaching the production order of 150, only 70 were built. It is estimated that among these fewer than half that number actually saw combat. Some Jagdtigers mounted the same 88mm that was in the Jagdpanther due to a lack of availability of the standard 128mm gun, but these were only a few.

Note the marks from small arms fire throughout the side of this Jagdtiger.

Super heavy and greatly under-powered, this monster of armour according to one source could only achieve 9 mph (around 22-24mph from another source, the slower speed is more believable), on a hard surface, it's off road performance on softer grounds created even more serious tactical short-comings. However, in the last ditch stands against Allied forces closing in on Germany, this design was a formidable static anti-tank defense weapon with its 250mm frontal armour and 80mm thickness on the sides and rear. The Jagdtiger can take pride in its technical achievement of size and hitting power but despite that said, from a tactical standpoint, this machine was a waste of time and resources that could have been applied toward a more needed cause.

• The armour piercing round fired by the Jagdtiger weighed 62.4 pounds.
• The Jagdtiger carried a total of 38 rounds for the main gun.
• Two of the 6-man crew were loaders for the main gun.
• 2,925 rounds were carried for its 1 machine gun.