Maus tank

Non-naval discussions about the Second World War. Military leaders, campaigns, weapons, etc.
paul.mercer
Senior Member
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Joined: Fri Mar 26, 2010 10:25 pm

Maus tank

Post by paul.mercer »

Gentlemen,
Watched a documentary which mentioned the 'Maus' tank and having looked up the specifications on 'Google' it seems to me that it was almost a battleship on tracks weighing in at around 180 tons with massive armour and mounting a 125mm cannon, but dreadfully slow and far too heavy for most bridges.
No doubt it was a A fearsome weapon and the allies had nothing to touch it, but out of interest, I wonder how it would fare against modern tank shells?
OpanaPointer
Senior Member
Posts: 550
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 1:00 pm

Re: Maus tank

Post by OpanaPointer »

There were any number of bridges in Europe that it couldn't cross without crashing the structure, so it couldn't easily pick its battlefield. An M1A2 could run rings around it. The M1's APSD rounds would brutalize it. Shall we go on?
HMSVF
Senior Member
Posts: 347
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:15 am

Re: Maus tank

Post by HMSVF »

paul.mercer wrote: Mon Jul 05, 2021 9:18 am Gentlemen,
Watched a documentary which mentioned the 'Maus' tank and having looked up the specifications on 'Google' it seems to me that it was almost a battleship on tracks weighing in at around 180 tons with massive armour and mounting a 125mm cannon, but dreadfully slow and far too heavy for most bridges.
No doubt it was a A fearsome weapon and the allies had nothing to touch it, but out of interest, I wonder how it would fare against modern tank shells?
As OP said.

Seeing as modern tanks now rely on Chobham or "Reactive" style armour I think a Maus would look like a colander pretty damned quickly.

That's if the damned thing didn't total itself by lunching its drivetrain. Its a great example of "Hitler/Nazi folly".

Except that he didn't stop there and had a paper study produced for the Ratte! The man was one gear short in the turret ring.
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