How Did Germany Build World War 1-12 Tanks

Jackson Riecken

English II

Saunders

10-12-15 Tanks were a new piece of armored artillery that were pioneered before World War One (Dougherty 7). They had many purposes and were different in many ways (Prado). The Germans started creating their first tanks in World War I, and the first model was known as the “A7V Sturmpanzerwagen” (Dougherty 14). According to Dougherty, the A7V was “essentially a large armored box containing the crew of 18 men, the power plant, and up to 7 machine guns plus one 57 millimeter gun. The German tanks grew more effective as armor became thicker, guns became larger, and engines became more powerful (Dougherty 132). The A7V was Germany's first tank, and was very large for its time period (Canberra – Australian

Dougherty stated “a powerful concentration of a fighting force in a single package” (Dougherty 132). “The Tiger I's massive gun could destroy any other tank, and the armor was proof against most weapons that might be ranged against it” (Dougherty 132). However, according to Dougherty, “it was only available in small numbers” (132). "Under this classification, heavy tanks were to act as support to infantry and artillery, but the main purpose of heavy tanks was to “penetrate the enemy's defenses, thus allowing the medium tanks through” (Prado). The Tiger I was a very advanced tank for its time, and could be a huge threat to enemy on the battlefield (Dougherty 132).

The Tiger I and A7V had different strategical objectives. The Tiger I tank was clearly more advanced, with thicker plating and a larger cannon (Dougherty 132). The Sturmpanzerwagen had a 57 millimeter gun with thinner armor, but bristled machine gun ports out the sides (Dougherty 14). The crew sizes varied between the tanks, the Sturmpanzerwagen had an 18 man crew while the Tiger I had a smaller crew of 8 (Dougherty 14) (Prado). These tanks had differing chances of survival on the battlefield due to the age of the tank and the evolution of technology (Dougherty

While the A7V had two four cylinder engines, the Tiger I had one massive Maybach 12 cylinder engine (Dougherty 132). As a result of this, the A7V was very slow and the Tiger I needed large amounts of fuel to stay on the field (Dougherty 132). As the war raged on, these two machines developed and new warfare technologies were developed. The Tiger I was equipped with "the dreaded 88 millimeter tank killer” which was a very infamous German gun that could take out most other opponents on the battlefield (Dougherty 132). The 88 millimeter was also well renowned as an Anti-Aircraft Artillery gun (Prado). On the other hand, the Sturmpanzerwagen was armed with one 57 millimeter gun, and many machine guns bristling out small ports (Dougherty 37). Each tank was effective, but numbers on the battlefield determined how successful they were (Dougherty 132).

The Tiger I was an effective tank but needed large amounts of fuel to function and had poor strategic mobility (Dougherty 132). The A7V was just an impractical machine that couldn’t cross trenches like many of its counterparts (Dougherty 14). The A7V also had many defects (Dougherty 36). There were only 20 A7V tanks produced and they were not very useful to the war effort (Canberra – Australian war museum) (Dougherty 14). Despite this, each tank was effective in its own unique