Sturmtiger

The Sturmtiger was based on the late model Tiger I, keeping its hull and suspension. The front of the Tiger's superstructure was removed to make room for the new fighting compartment housing the rocket launcher/mortar. This was located directly at the front of the vehicle, giving it a boxy appearance.

Compared to the regular Tiger tank, the Sturmtiger was much shorter, only 6.28 m compared to the Tiger's 8.45 m, due largely to the fact that it hadn't the protruding main gun of the latter. It also was slightly less tall than the Tiger, 2.85 m compared to 3.00 m.

Since the Sturmtiger would be used in an urban environment, during close range street fighting operations, it needed to be heavily armoured to survive. Its frontal armour therefore was 150 mm thick, as well as sloped, while its side plates were still some 80 mm thick. This pushed the weight of the vehicle up from the 57 tons of the regular Tiger to some 68 tons.

The main armament was the 380 mm Raketenwerfer 61 L/5.4, a breech loading rocket launcher/mortar, which fired short range rocket propelled projectiles. These projectiles were roughly 1.5 metre in length and could either contain a high explosive charge of 125 kg or a shaped charge for use against fortifications, which could penetrate up to 2.5 metres of reinforced concrete. The stated range of the former was 5650 meters. The weight of the complete rounds was 345-351 kilo. A normal charge first accelerated the projectile to 45 m/s, the 40 kg rocketcharge then boosted this to about 250 m/s.

The design of the rocket launcher caused some problems, as the hot rocket exhaust could not be vented into the fighting compartment but neither could the barrel withstand the pressure if the gasses were not vented. Therefore a ring of ventilation shafts were put around the barrel which channelled the exhaust and gave the weapon somewhat of a pepperbox appearance.

Because of the bulkiness of the ammunition, only 14 rounds could be carried, of which one was already loaded, with another in the loading tray. The rest were carried in two storage racks. To help with the loading of ammunition into the vehicle, a loading crane was fitted at the rear of the superstructure, next to the loading hatch. Even then, the entire five man crew had to help with the loading.

At the loading hatch's rear was located the 90 mm NbK 39 Nahverteidigungswaffe ("Close defence weapon"), which was used for close range defence against both armoured vehicles and infantry. This could be used in a 360 degree circle around the vehicle and was basically a short range grenade launcher.

For defence against infantry attacks, there was a mount in the front for a 7.92mm MG34 machine gun.

Shed on tracks

Close up showing the tow cable and various bits of stowage

Open up and say 'aaahhhhh'