Tiger I is the common name of a German heavy tank used in World War II, developed in 1942. The final official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E, often shortened to Tiger. It was an answer to the unexpectedly formidableSoviet armour encountered in the initial months of Operation Barbarossa, particularly the T-34 and the KV-1. The Tiger I design gave the Wehrmacht its first tank mounting the 88 mm gun, which had previously demonstrated its effectiveness against both air and ground targets. During the course of the war, the Tiger I saw combat on all German battlefronts. It was usually deployed in independent tank battalions, which proved to be quite formidable.
A Tiger I in-game, camouflaged for the Normandy theatre.
While the Tiger I was feared by many of its opponents, it was over-engineered, used expensive and labour intensive materials and production methods, and was time-consuming to produce. Only 1,347 were built between August 1942 and August 1944. The Tiger was prone to certain types of track failures and immobilisations, it was however, generally mechanically reliable but expensive to maintain and complicated to transport due to its interlocking wheels. In 1944, production was phased out in favour of the Tiger II.
In-game[]
The Tiger I is a powerful, heavily armed and armoured vehicle, rarely seen due to its low production numbers. It is maneuverable but slow, owing to its Maybach HL310 engine which wasn't powerful enough for the weight of the vehicle, almost 60 tons. Its legendary 88mm L/56 cannon can deal with many Allied or Soviet vehicles without trouble, the reload time is fairly slow in comparison to their weapons though. It costs 65 points to purchase online. However, most players usually save up for the Panther tank as it is more effective all-round and only 10 points more expensive.
Armament and Armour[]
The 88mm Tiger main gun is effective against Light, medium and some heavy tanks at even long range and can even pass through walls, huts etc. without losing much velocity. It is also armed with 3 MG-36 machine guns for defence against infantry and aircraft. Its 100mm frontal armour is thick enough to withstand many calibers at long range but at close range it isn't so effective. M4A1 Shermans and T-47/76s will still struggle to penetrate this armour even at point blank, however. When enemy tanks such as the Firefly and IS-1 begin to appear the Tiger starts to lose its edge on the battlefied. The side and rear armour aren't so thick and the operator must be careful to always follow the real-life German rule of engagement during the Second World War- always point your frontal armour towards the enemy.
Weaknesses[]
While the Tiger may look dangerous and impossible to defeat, it has its weaknesses. Chief of which are the large, wide tracks. These can be broken from almost every angle and when broken allow said player to flank and knock out the Tiger by penetrating its thinner side and rear armour. The turret traverse is also very slow, meaning enemies close to the Tiger will be able to circle around it without the barrel being able to keep up with them. If the whole vehicle is turned with the barrel this can cancel out this problem somewhat but if a track is broken all is lost. As mentioned previously, the cannon also has a slow reload time, around 7 seconds. This will allow the user to advance while the Tiger is reloading.