The Tank Museum
Published 27 Feb 2026By late 1943 Germany was losing the war …
They needed tanks, and lots of them, if they were going to wrestle back the initiative. Instead, they became obsessed with wonder weapons they hoped could change their fate
From the logistical paralysis of King Tiger, growing ever bigger and more unwieldy with the Maus, ultimately reaching the madness of the thousand tonne Ratte.
Like Augustus Gloop, German tank development in the Second World War greedily ate up more and more resources.
While an absolute boon for historians working at The Tank Museum, it made no logical sense … What were they thinking?
This is the bewildering story of the “Super Heavies”
00:00 | Introduction
00:48 | The Panther Problem
02:27 | Bigger is Better
05:42 | Pushing the Limits
09:19 | Gigantic Fantasies
12:03 | Losing the War (and the Plot)
This video features archive footage courtesy of British Pathé.
This video features:
Maus Model by Gerhald: https://skfb.ly/pCBCI
Jagdtiger Model by Adipriatna: https://skfb.ly/6xrL9
Ratte Model by Herdyn: https://skfb.ly/6VxCV
German Soldier Model by Vr-cvantorium: https://skfb.ly/6V9BY
Stuka Plane Model by scorpion81: https://skfb.ly/LULF
Photorealistic Bush Model by Adrian Sheremet: https://skfb.ly/6RntGIn this film, Paul Famojuro and James Donaldson step into the gigantic world of German tank development, and the pursuit of super heavy tanks. Instead of refining and beefing up their existing designs, the Germans would start again from scratch – coming up with some of the most bizarre and overblown ideas ever committed to paper. This obsession only served to use up time and resources that simply weren’t available – so what were they thinking?
Want to learn more about the German super heavy tanks of WWII? Here are some of the sources we used to make this film:
A Maus Tale, Willey, https://tankmuseum.org/article/a-maus…
American Tanks and AFVs of WW2, Green, 2018
“Building a Tiger Tank”, Hudson, https://tankmuseum.org/article/buildi…
German Tanks of WW2’, Gander and Chamberlain, 1975
“Paper Panzers”, Panzer Tracts (20-1, 20-2), Doyle and Jentz, 2002
Red Army Tanks of World War II: A Guide to Soviet Armoured Fighting Vehicles, Bean and Fowler, 2017
Super Heavy Tanks of WW2, Estes, 2014
Tanks in Detail – Panzer VI Tiger I & II, Gander, 2003Support The Tank Museum!
Patreon: / tankmuseum
Membership: / @thetankmuseum
Friends: https://tankmuseum.org/support-us/fri…
Online Shop: https://tankmuseumshop.org/
Workshops Channel: / @tankmuseumworkshop
June 29, 2026
Stupid Super Heavies: Germany’s Biggest Tanks
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
