How Bad Was The Tiger? 

I've been asked about this a few times, so I'll clarify. The concept of a breakthrough tank existed long before the invasion of France, I meant that the Tiger as we know it did not take shape until afterwards, wherein the requirements of the program shifted drastically. My writing style can be very blunt so sometimes fine details like that don't get through.

Imagine building a tank prototype so complex that even ww2 germany tells you to chill lmao

“Daring today aren’t we?” lol

I was reading a book about the Tiger I and, if I remember correctly, it was supposed to be one tiger for every bunch of panzer in an assault, doing the heavy lifting, breaking the enemy line and so on. After the assault had succeeded, the remaining tanks could carry one with the rest of the battle, while the tiger could stay behind and be maintained and repaired. On that regard you can understand that it was a pretty ok concept for the purpose it was supposed to be used.

What if you wanted to repair yourself But the Furher said “Less Tanks, Higher Quality”

Lmao calling Hitler “moustache man.”

"The heater pumping carbon monoxide into the turret" It did what?!

" *But* with tanks it evolves into toxicity". Ah yes, because as we all know, sports disagreements are always cordial.

Military History Visualized has a video on the effectiveness of the Tiger 1 as well. Worth watching I think. But the biggest faults (aside from the other myriad of issues) ultimately of the Tiger, in my own opinion, was that it was used improperly most of the time. Both a good or bad tool will fail if you use it what it wasn't meant for.

In the book "Tigers in the Mud" by Otto Carius, there is a section where he and his fellow tankers wrote up a list of mechanical problems of the Tiger I, and how they proposed each should be fixed. Its not only mechanical and technical situations that help or hinder a tank's performance, but the crew training and tactics they use can also make a big difference as well.

It's nice to hear some Subnautica music in the background and like always, thanks for a well made video

Oh this one will generate a hell of a reaction. Very brave, Spookston.

I HEARD THAT SUBNAUTICA MUSIC, brought back some nice memories

Simple : "Tiger is as good as its crew" Summed like this by Sir Fletcher (also a known "moustache man")

better question before even watching the video: 'How bad are the players?'

“Most tiger players wanna be like wittman, well they end up like him, but without the kills and the wife…”

From the reports I've had translated to me from old friends that are no longer with us, Porsche's 2 tanks actually out preformed Henschel's two in most areas except speed and production cost. The torque the Porsche machines put out meant it could climb hills faster but due to the poor copper quality and some teething issues that still had to be worked out, meant they had to let the tanks idle after climbing steeper gradians. However the ability to easily access and remove parts like the transmission, motors, and suspension I think is a very underappretiated aspect, even for the time of the trials. As for why the Henschel tank won has two sides from what my research has shown. Side one was that the main leaders of the German Board of Armor that were in favor of Porsche's design had suffered "Fatal automotive accidents" before final judgements. And second was the amount of copper used for the electrics, while making life easy on a well trained driver and spoiling trainees on how easy it was to shift and drive a tiger, was expensive, and very scarce on top of the aforementioned bad production quality. Not that the choice either way would've mattered that much at all, I do appreciate the fact you didn't mention the "Tiger(P) fire starting breakdown" which I've found no mention of in the reports of the trials. Other than that, I'd say a fair and fine video.

"Especially the mind of a certin mustache man" I lost it on that quote

If the tiger didn't die from engine failure it was a pretty good tank tbh

I remember the first time I played the tiger. I fucking hate it and regret so much. After some time, i learn to play heavy tank. Now i love the tiger soooo much.

"Less tanks, higher quality" If I may take a quote from a certain old mercenary: "War is often not kind to the side that makes fewer guns."

Best way to drive the tiger, Never attack, always defend.

I mostly remember the tiger for having a really bad transmission

Another issue is fuel. Considering how Germany experienced severe oil shortages as the war progressed and how these heavy tanks required a lot of it entire offensives were halted because of this. Further hampering the performance of tanks such as the Tiger. Case in point the battle of the bulge which completely ceased due to fuel shortage and the plans success being contingent on acquiring allied fuel supplies. Although you could argue that this is not a fault of tank itself but the conditions of the war itself affecting the tanks battle record. Also the Tiger was not very well suited for fighting in Western Europe considering how the infrastructure such as bridges couldn’t support the weight and size of the tanks. Not to mention areas that aren’t open plains.

The one thing that really caught me off guard with the carbon monoxide poisoning inside the fighting compartment.

Yeah, Chieftain kinda covers about the same. It would've been a good heavy breakthrough tank, if maintenance-intensive, when it rolled out. The issue is the war went from offensive to defensive, and the Tiger wasn't updated to meet that. Because of this, even though its crews did the best with what they had, the Tiger suffered. Hitler, being Hitler, did not help either.

How to remove the transmission on a Sherman: - Unbolt the lower front plate - Pull out the transmission. How to remove the transmission on a Tiger 1 (or any german turreted tank such as Pz.III, Pz.IV, Panther, Tiger 2 etc): - Remove the turret - Remove all the components between the turret and the transmission such as: > the drive shaft, > ammunition and ammunition containers/racks > Basicly the entire driving compartment with the drivers and radiooperators equipment, seats, controlls etc. > Litteraly everything else which is in the lower half of the tank. - Get a crane and hook it on to the tranmission threw the turret ring. - Pull the transmission out threw the turret ring.

I just finished ODST an hearing your outro really hits the feels.

In summery, actually not that bad at all just over-stated, and the usual problems most WW2 tanks had

"So the B1 bis was such an OP tank? Yeah sure maybe it had that great moment once, but overall it was only useful in a 1v1, and there was so few of them, that Germany made sure not to meet them only with 1 tank." "NOOOO YOU CAN'T DESTROY MY INVINCIBLE HEAVY TANK WITH PROPER TACTICS AND OUTNUMBERING IT WITH TANKS WITH WEAKER CANNONS. THAT'S TOTALLY UNFAIR. IT WOULD WRECK ANY OF THEM IN 1V1." -Propably a wheraboo

Thanks again for the great video. Your knowledge and research is appreciated

Loved the video mate! I love this kind of format

"The Sagittario 2 Experience" when??

The Tiger was prone to transmission failure and its clutch was infamous for falling to pieces, not to mention when the Firefly showed up it scares Tiger crews to death because it would shred a Tigers front armor from up to 1000 yards away with the famous and extremely powerful OQF 16-Pounder 76MM anti-tank gun that could fire SVDS rounds.

I really like the subnautica background sound!! Really good choice for an ambient sound, without distracting the viewer!!

Another great video no joke I like watching them

Personally, I love the tiger, not becuase of its combat performance or mythos, but that 𝕒𝕖𝕤𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔, it just looks like pure coolness.

3:07 In the chat on the bottom-left: “He gay and a furry, das bad” With allies like that, who needs enemies?

Do a video of "how bad was the m4 sherman"

The Tiger Porsche prototype is such an odd and bizarre looking machine to me, I don’t know exactly how to describe it. It has this, brutal mechanical look to it.

I always say about the Tiger and Panther: "It isn't the best, but it was the only option that didn't lead to immediate failure."

Hitler's generals: "so should we go with quantity or quality?" Hitler: "neither >:)"

For anyone interested in a more in depth discussion on specifically the design and requirements of the tiger (what spook covered in the first part of the vid) I highly recommend the chieftains video it covers most aspects of the tigers development with a focus of how the tiger ended up being equiped with the 8.8cm gun that it is so famous for.

I would love if you made longer format videos that go more in depth on the topics!

The transmission is likely a conflation of the Tiger I with the Panther, and even then it wasn't the transmission that was troublesome on the Panther but rather the final drive gears

Chad Matilda vs Virgin tiger

Subnautica music? I see you’re a man of culture!

Good rundown.

Hans ze transmission broke!

Anything too difficult to repair and too costly to build is a burden. This is especially true in case of the Tiger.

Spookston - Great info here, and another well presented fact based video. Word of advise: please slow down in your speech and give yourself enough time to enunciate. Your videos are consistently highly researched and entertaining as well as informative to watch. With all the time and effort you put in to make these great videos, you deserve to be understood by as many people as possible. Cheers!

Some things I think you could have mentioned too are ergonomics, visibility and suspension. German tanks tend to be known for fairly comfortable crew conditions, and the typical style of cupola made it easier for the commander to see whats goung on. Those wheels on the side of the trach were very good as a suspension system, but they were so close together that they could get jammed by smallish rocks and maintaining them was a nightmare because to get to the back wheels you gotta remove the ones in front.

Can you maybe check in on the rumor that Gaijin secretly changes SL and RP rewards of vehicles? I feel like some toptier vehicles have now up to 30% less rewards and other players as well feel like this

3:06 look at the in game chat lol

I love how you playing subnautica music in the background lol

I think what also bears mentioning with regards the Tiger's combat record is that by the time it was widely used in the field (first against the Soviet Union and later to repel the allies on the western front) Germany was almost exclusively in a defensive position, and the Tiger was used accordingly. This meant in most engagements it got to shoot first, had the benefit of concealment, and had its pick of targets at almost any range it wanted, giving it a massive advantage in the opening moments of combat. All of this made it more deadly than if it had been in an offensive role as originally intended.

Ah yes Porsche Tiger lost mainly due to "complexity" not like the fact that it literally burned during its showing

Driver: smh I broke the transmission requesting repairs Moustache man: REPAIR ZE TANKS QUICK His wt account: not enough silver lions

the subnautica music "in the abyss" make this vid so much better

Apparently the Tiger 1 was one of the most ergonomically well designed and comfortable tanks of WW2 for the crew (according to Nicholas Moran). Most WW2 tanks were extremely cramped, and often had terrible ergonomics. Given that it was a heavy tank, it probably shouldn't be quite as impressive that the designers were able to make it relatively spacious and comfortable inside, but ergonomics were definitely an under-appreciated aspect of design for a lot of WW2 tanks, and it seems like an important thing to highlight with the Panzer VI. One of the other WW2 tanks which was ahead of its time in terms of ergonomics was the M4.

My dude, you just provoked a gang war

I just can't see past the fact that in the middle of a battle, I'd rather be in a tiger than anything else at the time.

I like the subnautica music in the background!

Loving that Subnautica music in the background.

B-b-but muh Fury scene!!!1!!1!!1!1!

The Germany mains are angry

you gotta admit that epic thunder sound mod is great

The Subnautica music in the background is an interesting choice.

The fact that the Tiger was produced by a side that literally could not win therefore guaranteeing its destruction was probably its main issue.

muh Tigor the mighty furry weapon

I’ve never been recommend a video so new

The channels "Military History non visualized" and "Military History visualized" are a good source about this topic. ;)

Tiger was good, the issue was it's hard to fight 7 Shermans/T34s with no air cover, no fuel, and lack of parts.

In reality the Tiger was probably what Spooks said but in game, if u angle properly it’s a fun tank to play

I don't know if I enjoy the video because of you saying tiger is a bad tank or because I love the subnautica song

I'm loving the Subnautica music dude

Tiger was good when they had parts and worked, same with panther

Ah yes the tiger 1 the only tank the Wehrmacht had from 1939 to 1945. And we all know it’s true from our dear friend holloywood who makes stuff that is 100% real and not made up

gotta love the subnautica music in the backround

I just realized you used part of the subnautica sound track in the beginning of the video

Wheerabos- Nooo, You can't just kill my Glorious Tiger!!!! Germany Suffers!!! Meanwhile Chad M18 and Sherman players- LeL, learn to Angle

“You’d be hard pressed to find anyone that hasn’t heard of the Tiger” the girls in my World History Class would like to disagree They came to the conclusion that flamethrowers were the most effective weapon of WW1 when we did a small study on weapons used in WW1 😂

Very Precisely said and true too.

if you did one of these tank overviews with the M-10 GMC i think it would be quite interesting.

Does this mean I’m better?

Love the vid as usual, and the salt it will inevitably generate from wheraboos, just lowkey irritated when you pronounce Porsche's name wrong. It's Por-sha. I'm a car nerd, so that's why I say it lol.

wooooo baby subnautica song. also good video

One thing I think you missed was the psychological effect of the tiger. That added to its effectiveness and utility.

NO THE TIGER WAS THE BEST TANK OF THE WAR!, IM DISLICKING THIS VIDEO IT IS INNACURATE, I AM GOING TO GO WATCH 10 HOUR VERSION OF ERIKA

Hot take: Hitlers ‘quality over quantity’ approach was the correct one because Germany did not have the fuel reserves to field massive fleets of cheap armoured vehicles.

Not to be rude, but the Tiger origins date back to around 1936-1937 when the Germans were figuring they needed a heavy breakthrough tank. France and the low countries helped with this belief but the VK 3000 series was well in development by mid 1940. Took the Germans along time to figure out exactly what they wanted in the breakthrough tank, as they went from using the low velocity 75mm from the PZ 4 to the Panther’s 75 to the 88. Originally they wanted to switch from the 88 to the long 75 but this was considered to impractical to make 50 or so tanks with the long 75 then switch to the long 88 as it was hoped the kwk L-71 would be ready by that point for tank use.

I’m surprised, almost disappointed that you failed to mention the Durchbruchswagen (Breakthrough Vehicle) series that was the true genesis of the Tiger. Much of what you said early is effectively “feature creep” added to the D.W. Program over time, I.e. the inflation in weight from the original DW prototypes, the VK. 30.01s, the VK36.01s until it finally came down to Henschels up-armored VK36.01H & Porsche’s Type 100 (Tiger P). The Chieftain has several videos on the subject.

My wehraboo bois are on the way to ur floor.

As much as peope don't want to hear it, Fury showed the Tiger accurately. They often charged into gun lines and got themselves killed. People forget they trained in breakthrough, not long range gun duels. For great examples, the tank battles South of Caen show time and again this happened, initial salvo, then charge out of perfectly good positions and out of protection of flank support

the way you talk i sometimes have trouble understanding you, but i still enjoy your videos. like the sober/neutral approach to these topics.

My condolences for,your notifications EDIT: Nice loophole dance around the certain moustache man

Oh no, the wehraboos are coming. Take cover.

Hey, when you were listing stuff you said it a bit quick, the only thing i managed to pick up was the suspension taking days to replace, maybe slow down a little, or have little pauses, or even give a really short explanation

Maybach HL230 had 700 of horsepower and the 4 carburetors was a Solex double offroad carburetors which in total was 8 carburators that run on the engine. But a safety mechanism allowed only 2 (which it was 4) of them to run, the reason was not to get the engine over the max RPM rate of 3000 which the engine might had overcooked, it was almost inpossible to get a backfire and had also a Safety from Bosch which shutted down the engine if the raised max RPM and the cooling temperature of max over 130 where reached and booted into a emergency state which it still generated enough power to still move the turret or at least for not let the engine to complete shut it off (which can be a serious problem when fighting in the winter), A working temperature was from 80-85 celsius and in idle 70 but could be tweaked from the driver up 90. Which was also a gadget for operating in the Eastern front. overall it was a very powerful engine with lots of modulation in mind, almost 3 types of starting options, very small it took 24 % of the entire hull space, in the Panther 36%. And a Air filtering system which was combined with a Oilbath filtering, because they learned of having a simple airfilter would create intensive service windows for the engines. It had a dust removal efficiency of 99% of the production which also was developed for operating in harsh enviroments like the vast countryland of the East. Sure it had its issues that it was service intence but where almost entirely erradicated in 1944 and had despite of the resource shortages a approved service warranty of atleast 2000km (100hours), After that it needed regular service. But from eye witnesses it was not always the opportunity of keepin wiht the service book and the engines often times where pretty stable. The HL230 and 234 where then further developed by Henschel for the French TigerIIs and Panthers and also for the AMX 50 programm and it was the HL 294 which came out. It was a diesel engine and reached 1000 horsepower by 2800RPM. This engine type and the typical building method and design which where developed in 1948 are still in production and deployed on Tanks and other Heavy duty machinery still today. I personally dont believe these sources you are using on the engine part.

I love the subnautica background music