The Tiger II, or the Panzerkampfwagen VIB Tiger as the official German designation was, is a German heavy tank from World War II
. It is also known as the Königstiger (German name for the Bengal Tiger), often translated by the Americans as King Tiger, and by the British as Royal Tiger. The design basically followed the same concept as the formidable Tiger I
, but was intended to be even more formidable. It did this by combining the thick armor of the Tiger I with the sloped armor of the Panther
. The tank weighed almost 17 metric tons, was protected by 100 to 180mm (3,9 to 7,1 in), and was armed with the 88mm KwK 43 gun
, also used on the Tiger I.
The Tiger II was very heavy and slow and prone to breaking down, most Tigers II were abandoned by their crew and destroyed by them rather than the enemy. It also did not help that the fuel situation in Germany at the time was very critical.
The Tiger II was developed late in the war and made in relatively small numbers. 1500 Tiger IIs were ordered, but only 492 of them were produced. The production was disrupted by Allied bombings, for instance, five bombing raids destroyed 95% of a fabric, causing a loss in production of some 657 Tiger IIs.
Company of Heroes
The Wehrmacht can in the Company of Heroes franchise
get a King Tiger through the Terror Doctrine. It is even more powerful and resilient than the Tiger
tank, because of its impressive armor thickness (it should be noted that its armed with the same guns). However, you can only call in one King Tiger throughout the entire match, so make sure you keep some Pioneers nearby to repair it when needed. It costs 500 Manpower to call into the battlefield, which is considered cheap for a tank of this calibre ( Panzer IV
costs 410 Manpower and 80 Fuel).