Welcome everybody! To one of my new series, where we discuss interesting military equipment, vehicles, and technology. We're going to start this series with the biggest tank ever made. So let's get started!
How it all started.
During the 1940s, Hitler was obsessed with Super Weapons. From Super Sonic Rockets to Jet Aircrafts, Hitler wan't things to always be bigger. So June, 1942, A project was proposed by the director of Krupp, Edward Grotte. He submitted designs and drawings of a 1000 Ton Super Tank. He named it "LandKreuzer", Hitler was intrigued and approved the project, Later renaming it to "Ratte" which means Rat in german.
Dimensions, Weaponry, and Armor of the Ratte.
This Tank was HUGE! Standing at 11 Meters (36ft) Tall and was 35 Meters (115ft) long. It was 5 times heavier than the previous model Panzer VII "Maus", weighting around 1000 Metric Tonnes. It was armed with two 240 MM Guns, One 120 MM Gun, Eight 20 MM Guns and Two 15 MM Guns. These Tanks were planned to hold a crew of 20 Men or as many as 40. It was also Armored with 360 mm(14.2 Inches) of Steel and had an Engine of 17,000 HP and had a maximum speed of 40 KM/h(25 mph).
So what happened to it?
The Project was canceled in 1943 by the Minister of Armaments. It was deemed to Big and Useless and the Nazis didn't have the resources
available to go through with it. The Ratte also had problems crossing bridges, since it was heavy as hell and also was a easy target for artillery attacks. There were plans to make a prototype but they never made it.
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2.Hitler's Super Tank: The Ratte