Do you know how crazy Nazi Germany's tank program was during World War II? They once designed a "steel beast" of more than 1,000 tons, this tank in addition to having "absolute defense" armor, but also directly mounted the battleship's continuous heavy guns on the hull, it can be said that the perfect interpretation of what is called "on the basis of indestructible, with indestructible strength." It was the last super heavy tank designed by Nazi Germany and fascinated the "Führer" Hitler, but in the end it stayed in the drawings and could not even build a rut. It is the protagonist of our current episode, the closed mountain of Nazi Germany's super heavy tank program, the largest single tank ever designed by mankind, known as the "Land Cruiser": the P1000 "Giant Mouse" tank.
As for the origins of the Giant Rat tank, like the Nazi super heavy tank program we talked about in previous issues, it also originated from the World War II period in 1941. After the French proposed a truce to Nazi Germany, Hitler saw the French 100-ton super heavy tank plan, coupled with the inability to do so with the Soviet heavy tanks, he ordered the acceleration of the German super heavy tank program, and in April 1942 proposed the standard for the new German super heavy tank: the latest super heavy tank should be more than 120 tons, and on an indestructible basis, it should be indestructible. So on June 23, 1942, in addition to submitting the "rat" plan weighing nearly 200 tons, Krupp Company also proposed another earth-shattering plan, which is what the old Fan wants to share with you in this issue, the P.1000 "giant rat" tank plan.
History
Since in April 1942 Krupp considered hitler's hard target for the new heavy tank to be too simplistic, they were ready to surprise the "Fuehrer" by presenting Hitler with a tank plan weighing 1,000 tons on June 23 of the same year and giving it the resounding name "Land Cruiser Landkreuzer P.1000". The tank reached a length of 35 meters, a width of 14 meters, a height of 11 meters, and its armor was an average thickness of 23 centimeters, while its main gun was even more powerful, it would directly use a double 280 mm caliber naval gun. When Hitler saw this plan, he could be said to be deeply fascinated by it! With this thing, not to mention the whole of Europe, the whole world can make up its mind! Don't say anything, just do it!
Thus, on December 29, 1942, the blueprints for the plan were largely completed, and the code name of the plan was Ratte Rat, which was later known as the Giant Rat Tank. However, it was such a "ultimate chariot" that Hillett and the Germans had high hopes for, but less than a year after the plan began, it was urgently stopped.
Well, here's the problem! Not to mention such a powerful weapon, why didn't it last until the end of World War II, and why didn't even the actual construction begin? And how amazing is the design of the giant rat tank? If you are also interested in these questions in front of the screen, I hope that everyone can long press the like button, help Lao Fan to a wave of highly recommended, listen to Lao Fan to tell you about it, thank you!
Super defense
Since the giant rat tank and the rat tank are products of the same period, we can see a lot of rat shadow from the giant rat, especially the thickness of the body armor, which basically maintains the same standard of the rat type (25 cm, the rat type is 22 cm). But the giant rat's turret armor was unmatched by the rat, because its steel plate thickness reached 36 centimeters, which meant that at that time, no bullet or shell could penetrate it. So, rather than saying it's a tank, it's more appropriate to describe it as a movable steel fortress.
Exaggerated attack power
As an offensive weapon, the Giant Rat tank can be said to be the most powerful tank designed by Nazi Germany during World War II. Because the turret of the giant rat was directly modified from the guns of the German Scharnhorst-class battleships (the Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser built two: Scharnhorst and Gneisenau), the difference was that when used in battleships, this turret had three barrels, and in order to save space in the turret and reduce the weight of the turret, the designer removed one of the barrels and successfully reduced its weight by 50 tons. This double-barreled naval gun, which has also appeared on a variety of large weapons such as the Bismarck-class battleship (Schlachtschiff Bismarck), has a caliber of 280 mm (SKC series naval guns) and can fire 300 kg armor-piercing shells with a speed of 890 m/s, which can penetrate the armor of any aircraft and battleship at that time, and the weak armor of the tank can be said to be vulnerable in front of it.
In addition, these are nothing more than its main guns, which are also equipped with a 150 mm howitzer on its hull, a 128 mm KwK 44 L/55 anti-tank gun, two turrets with twin 88 mm guns, and two MG151/15 auto cannons of 15 mm caliber used against infantry, plus eight 20 mm Flak 38 quad anti-aircraft guns for air defense, in order to control these equipment, if the Giant Rat tank participates in the battle, It is expected that about 20-40 officers and soldiers will be required to participate. The scale of this weapon is comparable to that of Germany's Z-class destroyers, which is why the giant rat tank was developed and code-named "Land Cruiser".
"Strong" momentum
In the face of such a huge "building", designers also understand that it is basically impossible to make it "run". After calculating the tank's weight, they were ready to install two 8,500 hp (6.2 MW) MAN V12Z32/44 24-cylinder diesel engines for the Rat, or eight 2,000 hp (1.5 MW) Daimler-Benz MB501 20-cylinder diesel engines to achieve enough power to power the tank at 16,000 horsepower (11.8 MW). Such a huge power system, naturally need a strong oxygen supply, at the top of the Rat designed with multiple intake and exhaust ports, these upward inlet / outlet in addition to oxygen and heat dissipation, but also as far as possible to avoid the engine water when crossing the river. According to the design drawings captured by the Allies at that time, Krupp planned to make this "mobile fortress" have a speed of 40 miles per hour, but later scientists calculated that even if Rat had such a "strong" power, even on paved roads, I am afraid it could only have a top speed of 25 miles.
Extended functionality
In addition to being a giant tank, the Rat also has a powerful loading capacity. Inside, a small infirmary, a toilet, and several small storage rooms were designed. In addition to these unexpected designs, it has another amazing design, which is that it also reserves a cabin that can accommodate two BMW R12 motorcycles for reconnaissance. If all of these spaces had been used to load officers and soldiers, the maximum "passenger capacity" of Rat would have reached about 40 people, and these versatile designs were very avant-garde at the time.
weakness
Although Rat's powerful armor makes it an indestructible mobile fortress, it also makes it bearless weight. The weight of more than 1,000 tons is distributed on the ground by six 1.2-meter-wide and 21-meter-long tracks, distributed on the ground by more than 10 large wheels on each side, which together form two composite tracks with a width of 3.6 meters. However, although this can ensure that Rat moves on the ground, it cannot change its own weight, and the huge weight makes Rat's movement speed extremely slow, and it becomes a large "living target" while becoming a moving fortress.
In addition, due to excessive weight, rat can hardly pass through any bridge, nor can any kind of vehicle drag it, that is to say, it can only rely on its own slow movement speed to complete the battlefield conversion, which is undoubtedly a "burden" for the German army that was in urgent need of fire support at that time. The most deadly thing is that although Rat's body armor is "invincible", its tracks can only be designed to be 25 mm thick, which means that almost any kind of bullet or shell can easily stop the Rat tank from moving.
These were the hard weaknesses of Rat, and the reason why the German army at that time could not continue this plan was that they did not have enough resources and time to devote themselves to such a "bottomless pit", because the resources and time required to build a Rat could completely build another 30 Tiger King tanks. So in early 1943, Nazi Germany's Minister of Armaments, Albert Speer, realized that the plan could only hasten Germany's defeat in World War II, so he submitted an application to Hitler and cancelled all of Rat's research and development projects.
The rhapsody of the "Fuehrer"
After the war, some historians believed that the captured blueprints and manuscripts of Rat's designs were either a hoax or a mere amusement to some designers, and they firmly believed that no one of this level of chariot could have built it. But on May 1, 1945, when Nazi German Army General Heinz Guderian surrendered to the U.S. Army, he was asked why such a huge tank was conceived when he spoke about Hitler's military ideas. Guderian thoughtfully said: "The overwhelming strength of the German army at the beginning of World War II, coupled with the sweeping of all of Europe, made Hitler's fantasies more and more ambitious, resulting in the german military's later military plans becoming more and more unrealistic." It is conceivable that the plan for Rat was indeed real and approved by Hitler himself. If it were not for the decline of Nazi Germany, this huge steel beast would probably become a reality, but this grand and unrealistic plan was ultimately defeated by reality.
Well, that's all for this issue, and I hope you enjoy it. Finally, Old Fan also wants to ask his friends in front of the screen, do you think that if Nazi Germany had not been ended, Rat might have been made? In addition, if you have any opinions about Rat and the contents of this issue in front of the screen, Lao Fan welcomes everyone to leave a message in the comment area to discuss. Video production is not easy, but also hope that everyone can long press the like button at the bottom of the screen to support me, I am the old Fan, pay attention to subscribe to my channel, we will not see the next program is not scattered, bye-bye!