PANZER VIII MAUS

The 188-tonne tank

MADE BY: GERMANY DATE: JULY 1944

What was it with Nazi Germany and big things? Like so many of the attempted superweapons of the Axis forces, this was perhaps too large for its own good. The Maus was a massive new tank – the biggest created at that time – weighing 188 tonnes with armour 200 millimetres deep at its thickest points. The intention was for it to be a battering ram against the enemy lines, punching holes through anything that the Allies could throw against it and barely taking a scratch in the process. There were a number of issues, however, not least that actually getting the thing to move with an engine that could actually fit inside the tank was a challenge. Several engines were tried, but it only ever reached a maximum speed of 12 miles per hour. Then there was the fact that with its immense weight it couldn’t use any bridges, but this led to it becoming submergible with a pressurised cabin. While five were originally ordered, only two prototypes were completed, and even then only one gun to mount on them. Not long after this happened, the Soviet Army captured the testing ground for the Maus in Böblingen.