The Tiger's reliability problems were well known and documented Tiger units frequently entered combat understrength due to breakdowns. It also may have been an issue with the Tiger tanks. The Tiger could defeat any Allied tank and was soon joined by the Tiger II, also known as King Tiger, but too few were produced to impact the war in any discernible way. Germany also developed the heavy Tiger I, released in 1942. Its 75 mm gun could penetrate the new Soviet tanks. This led Germany to develop the Panther or Panzer V in response. During the invasion of Russia in 1941, the Germans encountered the famous and technologically advanced Soviet T-34 tanks. The IV became the backbone of Germany's panzer force and the power behind the blitzkrieg. The German Army first used Panzer I light tanks, along with the Panzer II, but the mainstays were the medium Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs which were released in 1937. He ignored the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and began rearming, approving the development of many German tank designs he was shown. Although he initially headed a coalition government, he quickly eliminated his government partners. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany. German demonstration against the Treaty of Versailles in front of the Reichstag building Almost all were eventually scrapped, and the various postwar treaties forbade the former Central Powers from building or possessing tanks. As it became clear that the tank could play a significant role on the battlefield, Germany began working on designs for both heavy and light tanks, but only a small number of prototypes were completed by the end of the War.Īfter the Armistice, all tanks in German hands were confiscated. They suffered from numerous design faults, and Germany actually used more captured British tanks than A7Vs. Initially unconvinced that tanks were a serious threat, the High Command ordered just twenty A7Vs, which took part in a handful of actions between March and October 1918. The German response to the modest initial successes of the Allied tanks was the A7V, which, like some other tanks of the period, was based on caterpillar tracks of the type found on the American Holt Tractors. The Germans, on the other hand, were slower to develop tanks, concentrating on anti-tank weapons. The British and French both began experimenting in 1915, and deployed tanks in battle from 19 respectively. The development of tanks in World War I began as an attempt to break the stalemate which trench warfare had brought to the Western Front.
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