The Maus super hevy tank was the largest fully realised armoured vehicle made by the Germans during WWII. With a weight of 188 t., it was a giant which was never to be exceeded, and most likely never will be. The specification set for the vehicle in 1942 was a Panzer, which should weight at least 100 t., and mount a 15 cm L/40 gun. The gun was later changed to a 12,8 cm L/50, and the length changed until it was set at the 12,8 cm Pak 80 L/55 - the same cannon as the Jagdtiger. 100 grenades were originally to be stored. The vehicle was also to mount a co-axial 7,5 cm gun. The Maus was intended to take over the role of the Panther and Tiger I 1944, together with the Tiger II.
In 1942-03, the contract for the vehicle was given to the Porsche factories. Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche had some discussions about the vehicle, and Hitler became convinced that the vehicle could not function as a tank. Therefore, the Maus was changed to be a mobile fortification. This was because of Hitlers priorities for a Panzer: heavy armament, then high speed and then armour. Mobility was not mentioned at all!
The co-axial weapon was to be the 7,5 cm Kw.K. L/36,5. The number of grenades was changed to 55 for the Pak 80, whereas the 7,5 cm should have 200 grenades. Why the high number of small-calibre grenades was chosen as a priority in stead of 12,8 cm grenades is anybody guess. As it is highly unlikely that 200 grenades would be needed before the vehicle could reload, some of the space should have been given to 12,8 cm grenades. The 7,5 cm canon was placed on the right side of the main canon, with an M.G.42 on the left side.
The production was very slow, especially that of the hulls. The planned hull production was very low, with only 2 in 1943-11, 4 in December, 6 in January 1944, 8 in February, and after that 10 each month. The turret production was 1 month ahead. The total number of Maus ordered was 120. Already then it was realised that the Maus would not be able to fill any major holes in the Panzer divisions. This would have meant that 22.000 tons of steel was needed - 0.15% of the entire German iron ore production during 1944, including conquered countries! Considering the high fuel consumption, so many Maus Panzers would have meant the waste of a lot of oil.
The Maus was to have 24 roadwheels, with 1,100 mm. wide tracks. The road contact surface was to be 5,880 mm. This gave a very high ground pressure - over 50% more than any German tank.
The lightes armoured place was the roof and bottom, each with 50 mm. Every other place, the armour was minimum 100 mm., with 200+ mm. to the most exposed areas. The Topfblende, which housed the gun, had 250 mm. armour. This meant, that none of the most common western Allied anti-weapons could penetrate ANY of the Maus' armour, and only a few Russian anti-tank guns could have penetrated the armour. The Maus could destroy most Alied tanks from all angles at over 3,500 metres. The Maus didn't feature any anti-aircraft weapons, but Flakpanzers would have protected the vehicle (in Hitlers imagination), so this was no problem. The Maus featured a 1,540 hp. re-build aircraft engine, which was the limit of what was possible at the time. Despite this, the Maus had a rediculously low maximum speed, and only because of the large fuel capacity (of which some was stored externally in a large cylinder on the back), was the operational radius acceptable.
As for other driving abilities, they were quite good. The Maus could turn within its own axis, which was one of the features Ferdinand Porsche had operated with. At one point, the engineers reported that the Maus was able to almost turn within its own axis. The professor hurried to the factory, a part was replaced, and the Maus managed to do as the professor had promised. The driving system was electric, which was one of Porsches favorite abilities.
The total amout of Maus' produced amounted to 1½; one prototype, without a turret, and another prototype with. This was because of the halt of the production to give way for more realistic tanks. The crew consisted of one commander, one gunner, 2 loaders, one driver and one radio operator. Many hulls were under construction when the project was cancelled, and were not re-used for other purposes.
No Maus were ever in combat. Many reports states so, but evidence shows that the Maus with a turret was blown up, destroying the hull. The testing hull was then equipped with the turret, and exhibited in the Kubinka tank museum. It is stripped of all equipment, and is nothing but an empty shell. It was for a while used as a target, but was not destroyed (which would probably have taken too long time).
| Physical specifications | |
|---|---|
| Length | 10.085 m. |
| Length (without gun) | 9.034 m. |
| Width | 3.67 m. |
| Height | 3.63 m. |
| Weight | 188 t. |
| Engine | Daimler-Benz MB 509 12-cylinder 44.5 l. gasoline |
| Horse powers | 1,540 @ 2,500 rmp. |
| Crew |
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| Armour | 50-250 mm. |
| Armament | |
| Main gun | 12,8 cm Kw.K.80 L/55 |
| Ammunition storage | 75 |
| Secondary guns |
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| Ammunition storage |
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| Performance | |
| Maximum speed | 20 km./h. |
| Road speed | 18 km./h. |
| Range (on road) | 160 km. |
| Range (cross country) | 62 km. |
| Fuel capacity | 2,600 l. |
| Fuel usage (on road) | 16.25 l./km. |
| Fuel usage (cross-country) | 41.94 l./km. |
| Fording | 2 m. (6 m. with submersion kit) |
| Step climbing | 0.75 m. |
| Climbing, degrees | 35° |
| Trench crossing | 3.5 m. |
| Ground pressure | 1.45 kg./cm2 |
All contents written by Christian Ankerstjerne unless stated otherwise