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Elefant
German Heavy Assult Gun
Ferdinand and Elefant
This German tank destroyer was named after Dr Ferdinand Porsche, its designer. The design originated when Porsche was called upon to produce a prototype medium tank in competition with Henschel; the Henschel design was chosen for production and became the Tiger tank. The Porsche design, using petrol-electric drive and several other mechanical novelties, was at first authorized to go into production in parallel with the Henschel design, but this was later changed and the chassis were converted into fixed-gun tank destroyers mounting an 88mm gun. Only 90 units were made, and they were later renamed Elefant; some authorities say this was official, others aver that it was a name bestowed by the troops after seeing the weapons in action in the Russian mud.
The Ferdinand was used to equip Panzer Abteilung 654 and first saw action in "Operation Citadel", at Kursk in 1943. Due to their bulk and the fact that the guns had but 14degrees of traverse each side, these vehicles were extremely vulnerable to flank attack. Given a fair shot they could demolish any tank they met, but Russian infantry were able to creep up on their blind quarters and immobilize them. Numbers were lost at Kursk; more were lost in subsequent actions. The survivors were withdrawn and sent to Italy, but the conditions there were even worse for such a heavy vehicle and they were all eventually lost.
Crew: 6
Weight: 70.0 ton (elefant), 65.0 ton (ferdinand)
Dimensions: 8.14 x 3.38 x 2.97
Armor: 40 - 200 mm
Range: 150 km
Speed (max): 20 km/hr
Main gun: 88mm L/71
