The Tiger II heavy tank is one of WW2’s most famous vehicles, and this is the only working example left in the World today.
Officially designated as Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. B, it was also known as the ‘King Tiger’ or ‘Royal Tiger’.
The Tiger II was designed in 1943 and conceived to be Germany’s most advanced WW2 tank, blending heavy armour with a powerful, long-range, 88mm gun.
While it was created to be superior to most other tanks on the battlefield, it was also one of the most expensive to produce.
Each unit cost over 320,000 Reichsmark in 1944 – around US$160,000. By comparison, a Sherman cost around US$45,000 at that time.
Around 1,500 units were planned, but only 492 were built between 1944 and 1945 due to Allied air raids destroying the factory producing the Tiger II.
The hull of the Tiger II was designed and produced by Henschel and the turret by famed German armament and steelmakers Krupp.
A prototype hull was also built by Porsche, but this design didn’t make it to the production stage.
A common misconception was that Porsche produced a turret for the Tiger II but… while there were two turrets used by the Henschel hull, both were actually manufactured by Krupp.
Fifty turrets with a curved front – often erroneously called the ‘Porsche turret’ – were used in early production units.
These were replaced by a more standard production turret – erroneously called the ‘Henschel turret’.
It’s the standard production turret, with its flat, sloping front, which you can see on this example at Saumur.
Both turrets were designed to accommodate the chosen gun for this tank – the 8.8cm KwK 43 L/71.
The barrel of the KwK 43 was 6.24m long and could accommodate a larger propellant charge than that of the Tiger I, giving the ability to penetrate thicker armour at longer ranges.
The Tiger II carried up to 86 rounds with both armour piercing and high explosive types of ammunition used.
It had a maximum firing range of over 9km, but most battles were much closer, and this improved the Tiger II’s armour penetration.
At 1km it could penetrate over 20cm of vertical armour and over 17cm at 2km distance – enough to wipe out most Allied tanks at the time.
It was deadly accurate too, with tests showing a 100 per cent hit rate on a 2m x 2.5m target at 1km range, dropping to around 85 per cent success at 2km.
The Tiger II was incredibly well protected itself with the hull boasting 150mm of armour at the upper front, 100mm at the lower front, and 80mm on the sides and rear.
The production turret also featured 80mm armour all around and benefitted from sloping armour like the hull, adding to its ability to resist penetration.
It was only at the top where the armour was much thinner, just 40mm on both the turret and hull.
With all that armour, the heavy gun, ammunition, and five crew, this 70 tonne tank would require a powerful engine.
Henschel installed the Maybach HL 230 P30 V12 petrol engine into the Tiger II, the same engine fitted to earlier Panther and Tiger I tanks.
As the Panther and Tiger 1 were much lighter tanks, the engine was somewhat underpowered in the Tiger II, even though it produced 690 horsepower.
It was a thirsty engine too, the 860 litre fuel tank giving the Tiger II a range of just 190km on roads and 75km over rougher terrain.
Its top speed was just 41km/h on roads, dropping to around 15 to 20 km/h across country.
Like many German tanks of the time, it suffered from reliability problems too, particularly with failing drive trains and steering, and issues with the double-link track.
Some of the breakdowns were attributed to a lack of crew training as Germany rushed to get the new tank operational.
The Tiger II made its battlefield debut during the Battle of Normandy on July 18, 1944, and was first used on the Eastern Front against the Soviets on August 12.
It was Germany’s 503rd Panzer Battalion which first saw action in the Tiger II, receiving 14 of them but losing two as they fought Canadian forces on the eastern outskirts of Caen.
The Musee des Blindes Tiger II is an assembly of two tanks – one from the 503rd and one from the 101 SS Panzer Battalion – both of which fought together in Normandy.
Assembled for post-war testing, the turret and some of the mechanics come from the command Tiger II No. 300 which was the tank of Hauptmann Walter Scherf.
This tank broke down due to a gearbox failures on August 28, 1944, near Brueil-en-Vexin – between Paris and Rouen – and was abandoned by its crew.
Tiger No. 123 of the 101st suffered two hits and was abandoned near Magny-en-Vexin, around 16km away from Scherf’s Tiger II. It’s this tank’s hull which you can see today.
Salvaged in September 1944, it was stored at the French Army site at Satory before being donated to the museum in 1975.
Over the years the turret has sported several numbers – the original 300 was replaced by 233 by the museum’s founder Colonel Michel Aubry.
This was in honour of the tank which knocked out his own Sherman towards the end of the war.
Today it has been repainted with its original 300 number.
Fully restored to working order, it has a huge following around the globe and is regularly stars at the biggest military vehicle shows, wowing the crowds with its size and power.
For most of the year though, it stands inside the German exhibition hall at the Musee des Blindes in Saumur where it lines up alongside Panthers, Panzer II, III, and IV, and a unique collection of WW2 tanks and assault guns.
We are indebted to the staff and Directors of the museum for allowing us out-of-hours filming opportunities and access inside the Tiger II. Look out for a full walkaround film on our NormandyBunkers YouTube channel.

More info at www.museedesblindes.fr