The gargantuan vehicle retained the same 690-horsepower Maybach HL 230 P30 used on the Panther tank—even though the Jagdtiger was 60 percent heavier. Theoretically capable of going twenty-one ...

The result was the monstrous Jagdtiger (“Hunting Tiger”), then heaviest tank to see action in World War II—and still heavier than modern M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks!

Among them was the 512th Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion, led in part by famed tank ace Albert Ernst. Armed with 128mm guns, these steel giants were designed to stop the Allied advance.