Thomas L. Jentz & Hilary L. DoyleContents Introduction Chapter 4: PANZERKAMPFWAGEN “TIGER” P2 4.1: Chassis Development... 4.2: Turret Development...... 4.3: Production Contracts .. Chapter 5: TIGER Il DEVELOPMENT ... 5.1: Chassis Development. 5.2: Turret Development... Chapter 6: PANZERKAMPFWAGEN TIGER AUSF.B... 6.1: Description 6.2: Tiger Il Production ... 6.3: Modifications During Production 6.4: Modifications After Issue. 6.5: Modifications Under Developmen\ 143 1144 Appendice: Appendix A1: Porsche “Tiger P2” Proposals Appendix A2: Porsche Design Data ...... Appendix B1: Data for Panzerkampfwager Appendix B2: Tiger B Technical Specifications ... Appendix C: Part Numbers for Turrets .. Appendix D: Armor Specifications -155 -157 158 160 162 166 168Introduction As data were gathered for this book, it was astounding that so much new information was found that had never been published before on such a well-known Panzer. What really amazed Hilary and myself were the new discoveries every time we looked in detail at a Tiger in a museum or thoroughly studied the manuals. We ourselves hadn't rec- ognized some key modifications before, such as three di ferent commander's cupolas and three different loaders hatches on Tiger fl turrets. In addition, we found that the shape of the Serien-Turm (series turret) for the Tiger Il is asymmetrical. The left side of the Serien-Turm is bowed outward 2 om wider than the right side. Our research proved that no one had ever accurately created scale drawings of an entire Tiger 1|, not even in the original drawings from Henschel. To ensure full coverage of the modifications, ex- tra effort went into abtaining and including rarely seen top and internal views of the surviving Tiger I. Over twenty years of intensive research went into find- ing the original documents needed to create this history of the development, characteristics, and tactical capabilities of the Tiger Il. An exhaustive search was made for surviv- ing records of the designiassembly firms (including Krupp, Henschel, Porsche, and Wegmann), the Heereswaffenamt, the Generalinspekteur der Panzertruppen, the D656 se- ries of manuals on the Tiger, and the war diaries with their supporting reports from German army units. This was supplemented by our collecting hundreds of photos and climbing over, under, around, and through almost every surviving Tiger Il All information contained in this book is extracted i- rectly from original source material. Net one single bit of information has been derived trom other published books. If | coukin't find it in an origina! document, photograph, or surviving Tiger Il, it isn’t in this book. My sources of mation are stated in the text. Those desiring footnotes an extensive bibliography are advised t0 look elsew! My goal is to create an accurate record of events, no tify opinions derived from other publications Events only occur in one way. A clear picture of # events cannot be oblained from stories, military intellip reports, expert opinion, analyses of raw data, or s20or sources. Either the events were recorded by 2 partic or they weren't. No amount of conjecture, supposition soning, or opinion can fil gaps in the original records. though participants in the design of the Panzers mad casiGnal mistakes in their records and sometimes sig reports to be more or less favorabie, they were the direct observers. Any gross errors that may have made original report can be discovered by careful examinati the end product and comparison to other independently ated original reports and drawings Many errors have crept into postwar publications the the use of popular nicknames for the German Panze the author doesn't even know the correct name fora Pa what else is wrong with his information? The most monly used names are often the most misleading. 7 never was a "Porsche" turret ora “Henschel” turret. Po and Henschel cid not design turrets. Krupp designe, turrets, Porsche and Henschel designed the chassis which turrets were mounted, Even using comect nome ture tut sloppily mixed together, such as Tiger ll At leaves people wondering just what was the Tiger Il Aur To set the record straighi, the names found in the oF documents have beer used in the text and listed in troductory sections of chapters 4 and 5. As can be from these lists, there was no single official name.