Titan Tank Killers: The Evolution of German Tank Destroyers in WWII

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With the Second World War firmly establishing the tank as a major player on the battlefield, it was perhaps inevitable that the tank destroyer would emerge to become its greatest threat.

The first German tank destroyer appeared on the battlefield as early as 1940 – the Panzerjager I. Whilst not technically a tank, their designers would still have to grapple with the Iron Triangle of mobility, firepower and protection to develop tank destroyers that could counter the tank’s increasing dominance on the battlefield.

After the fall of France, Germany found itself with a surplus of French military vehicles, and began adapting this fleet for their own purposes. From this emerged the fairly successful Marder family. Whilst this packed some serious punch, it’s main issue was survivability – as a high-profiled, thin-skinned it made for an easy target.

The Wehrmacht soon decided it wanted a tank destroyer that could field the 88mm Pak 43 gun – a huge and highly effective anti-tank gun. Designs such as the Nashorn and Elefant made use of this weapon, but arguably the most successful was the Jagdpanther. Well-armoured with a thick super-structure, but still light enough to reach speeds of almost 30 miles per hour, some consider this the perfect tank destroyer.

Pushing the concept of using existing tank chassis for new tank destroyers to its illogical conclusion was the Jagdtiger. Again, this vehicle was a nightmare for Allied tank crews to face, but its poor power to weight ratio and the fact that no existing recovery vehicle could shift it meant it had a limited impact on the war. The Stug III stands in vast contrast – being the most produced fully-tracked vehicle in the German army, it is credited with as many as 30,000 tank kills. Tank destroyers could be devastatingly effective, proving that the retreating Wehrmacht still had a sting in its tail.


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00:00 | Introduction
00:59 | The First Tank Destroyers
04:14 | Avoiding Close Combat
06:59 | Jagdpanther
12:05 | Jagdtiger
15:31 | Hetzer
18:01 | Stug III
22:51 | Conclusion