There is a certain mystique which surrounds German armor of WW II. Whether it is their gargantuan size, exotic paint schemes, prowness on the battlefield or the complexity of their designs, these machines have fascinated modelers for decades. Much of the lore associated with these machines has become distorted with the passage of time, so much so that it is often difficult to separate fact from fiction. Such is the case of the legendary 88mm Armed Jagdtigers. Did they ever actually exist? If so, were they ever used in combat? A great deal of speculation swirls around this topic. To this date, no photographic proof is known to prove the existence of these vehicles. So did they ever exist?
Oooo peridexion has laid out the powder keg for sure! Who wants to light the fuse? [:D]
Well unless someone proves it’s wrong, I’d say no it didn’t happen.
I thought the idea or the Jagd was to get a platform for that monster cannon, what would be the point of using an 88? Saving on turret mechanisms?
Holy Haft-Hohlladung Batman, this could be a paradox!
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Ahhh funny ???. Well there is a pic of one that a friend has I will tryto see if I can get it.
Just to emphasize how wrong the internet can be, this guy’s site claims that all Jagdtigers were armed with 88’s;
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/2833/heer/antitank/jagdtiger/jagdtiger.html
All “48” of them…[D)] (He is only missing 40 of them)
Nah, I think that guy just wanted to give a brief history lesson on “the beast” without spending alot of time (or energy) on it. You can still give him a ring if you’ld like Peridexion [;)][:D]
I don’t know what he is saying? To quote him; “The superstructure was designed to mount the very formidable 128mm PaK 44 anti-tank gun; this combined with its very thick armor made the Jagdtiger the most powerful armored fighting vehicle of the war. However, shortage of the gun due to Allied bombing meant the Jagdtiger had to settle with the 88mm PaK 43 instead.”
Sounds like he thinks they were armed with 88’s to me.
Here we go!!
“Jagdtiger,Operational History”,by Devey,pp.276&277,
report from Nibelugenwerk,4 88mm Jagdtigers,delivery expected
by end of April,1945…no optics available,not test fired,
NO PHOTOS as of 1999 publication. Anyone seen anything
to contadict this or possibly a PHOTO ,possibly from Russian
postwar sources???
Very Curious
Roowalker
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Roowalker; This is the same information I have, from the same book. If you read on a little further to 40.10, it states that 4-88mm Jagdtigers were confirmed as completed, chassis # 305078 through 305081, but they had no optics. On page 277, it states that 7 or 8 had been built, all 88mm, all without optics. On May 4th, the order was given to Lt. Hans Knippenberg of s.Pz.Jg.Abt653 to blow up these Jagdtigers to prevent their capture by American forces. Without their optics, they were completely useless. The report sent from Nibelungen Werk on April 29th is the only piece of documented evidence of the existence of these 4 confirmed, (7 or 8 total possible) vehicles. At least so says Mr. Devey, but since he spent 20 years researching these 2 books and he has the bibliography to back it up, I’m going to tend to believe this…until someone else proves him wrong.
http://klub.chip.pl/krzemek/ferdinand.htm ← Is this what you arelooking for? I can’t read German but I think one of the pictures states that the SD.KFZ.185, has an 88 on it…
It was also intended to arm Jagdtiger with 88mm KwK 43 L/71 gun instead of 128mm Pak 44 L/55 gun.In April of 1945, four were armed with 88mm Pak 43 L/71 gun and were designated as Panzerjäger Tiger mit 88mm Pak 43/3 (Sf) Sd.Kfz.185, while those armed with 128mm Pak 44 L/55 were designated Sd.Kfz.186.
I gotta head out for a while, I will continue my search when I get back…
Sorry the above site is Polish not German… and if you look at that top picture closely it looks like an 88 on that Panzerjager Tiger…
God My bad again… thats a 184, not a 185… Sorry about that
Rusty,
Those are Panzerjaeger Ferdinand/Elefants, not the Jagdtiger that Peridexion is talking about. The Ferdinand/Elefants were built on Tiger chassis but the Jadgtiger is a totally different beast.
Yeh, I seen that after I posted… [banghead]
I have seen comparisons of the russian 122mm gun as used on the js2 and the good ole 88 and the armour piercing capabilties were very similar , the 122 had the upper hand in HE dept however as should be expected , the 88 was one powerful gun for sure , I do believe the JT had a 128 as posted in almost all literature , why would they bother to put an 88 in that massive superstructure , thats why it was concieved , to house the PAK 44 cannon , just like the jagdpanther was built for the 88 , you can’t cram 50 lbs of S@#$ in a 5lb bag as the old saying goes , so they delete the turret and put a huge cannon in its place , the tiger 2 already had an 88 so why put an 88 in its jagd sister?
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