"Maus super heavy tank" Topic

From Takom….

Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

Takom make some amazing experimental, rare and unusual subjects in 1/35th all right. Not sure how useful they are for game purposes, but they are excellent models.

I usually read the armor-modeler blogs for painting and weathering hints (and the model railroader blogs and magazines for scenery ideas to steal).

Thought we saw a teaser that Warlord may release one this year, in 1/56th scale.

The Peter Pig 1/100 one is great.

Just finished painting the one for Black Forest Peaks High School last week.
^,^

Blitzkrieg Miniatures does a Maus in both 1/48th and 1/56th scale resin. Excellent models in a variety of scales for different combatants.

Very interesting!

Glad you like it my friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Is that Maus "mock-up" in the last photo at Bovington ?

GHQ and some on Shapeways makes a Maus and E-100 in 6mm …

The Maus in the photo is at one of the Russian museums [Kublinka I think] and is a combination of two Maus [turret from one and hull from another] as far as I am aware.

Hence not a mock up.

Sadly not one at Bovvie

Many Thanks kabrank ! That makes sense since as far as we know only one or two Maus prototypes were ever made. And it appears the Russians got them …

By the way…

Warlord Games announced the Panzer VIII Maus…

Main page
us-store.warlordgames.com

Amicalement
Armand

Glad you like it my good friend!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The Allies' View of the Maus

link

Armand

Do think it is a "Neat" looking AFV … but would not be very useful in many cases.

'Track Bashing' on That Thing? LOL!
Still, don't expect that it would have gone very far…

Fantastic armor protection. Except of course for the lower mantlet shot trap that will deflect the round into 50mm of hull roof armor. The Sherman 75 can knock it out.

What a waste. The allies should not have bombed the factories and allowed the Germans to make as many as they could.

Wolfhag

Fantastic armor protection. Except of course for the lower mantlet shot trap that will deflect the round into 50mm of hull roof armor. The Sherman 75 can knock it out.

What a waste. The allies should not have bombed the factories and allowed the Germans to make as many as they could.

Both of the completed hulls had 'shell deflectors' mounted on the top of them which eliminated the shot trap. Consequently a Sherman 75 would not have been able to knock out a Maus via this route.

Whilst Allied bombing did delay production somewhat, the biggest delay was caused by the cancellation of the project as a whole, and reducing the numbers ordered from 120 (later 135) to just two hulls and one turret. So overall, bombing had no effect upon the final production numbers of Maus.

The exam question is surely which you'd rather have: one Maus, or 20 Panthers?

Would not wanted to have fixed or replaced a track(s) on one of those monsters.

deephorse,
Yes, I missed the deflectors. Thank you.

I'd like to modify my analysis. The Maus engine is located in front of the turret and seems to have a very exposed grating over the engine just behind the deflectors. Just like the Tiger and Panther. It would be interesting to see how this would hold up to multiple rounds of 75mm WP from a platoon of Shermans.

If the engine did not catch fire the Maus would be blinded. Every time it needs to move there is a chance of it getting stuck. It would make an interesting scenario. Just calling 155mm artillery or a TOT in on it would not be fair.

Wolfhag

Thanks!.

Armand

Good intel …

Many gamers seem to ignore or underestimate the Sherman's use of WP rounds and its fast engagement time for a first shot. I don't.

During a training exercise at Quantico, I had a WP grenade thrown at me instead of a smoke grenade. I didn't notice it until it "popped" about 10 yards away. I never ran so fast in my life.

Wolfhag

Dear God. Willy Pete that close must have been horrifying. Good job it was open air and not in a confined space. What moron allowed a WP to appear in a training exercise.

Your comment about M4s using WP is very important. The best enemy tank, with the biggest gun, is helpless when wreathed in smoke and blinded. Place de la Concorde August 1944 par example!

I dunno about routine use of wp vs tank.
I'm not sure how often wp was used in that way.
Weren't there lots of complaints about lack of hvap?
If they had a silver bullet already in a different form, why were they demanding hvap?

Basically this was a dead duck. Its weight was far too high for most bridges so it would have extremely limited flexibility of employment. A super weapon in the wrong place is just a pile of scrap. Me I'd rather have 40 Sherman's than 20 Panthers and never a Maus.

deadhead,

What moron allowed a WP to appear in a training exercise.

So it was the exercise the new 2nd LT's were doing at the Basic School to learn how to be Platoon Leaders. The drill is "Blind (smoke grenade)-Burn (real live flamethrower)-Blast (dummy satchel charge)". I was in a trench next to the concert bunker. My SL gave us the work to pull back before they threw the smoke but my M60 feed cover jammed and I still had a belt of about 80 rounds hanging out. Rather than pulling back right away, I tried to open the feed cover. When I heard the pop and saw the WP going up in the air I knew exactly what it was and broke the belf off and hopped out of the trench running. I clearly remember being surprised how loud the WP particles made a sizzling sound as they fell around me. Fortunately, I was untouched.

I guess it was a breakdown in communication about the "Blind" part of the exercise. I think the moron was me for being the FNG (my first duty station out of ITR) and not listening to my SL. Fortunately, they missed me with the flamethrower too. I was so embarrassed about it I didn't tell anyone until later and we had a good laugh at my expense.

That experience influenced my infantry rules. When a WP is thrown into an enemy position and "pops" many of them will have a few seconds to fall back. However, this is before the WP smoke provides any cover so any guys attempting to fall back can be cut down by overwatching infantry. Any survivors that fell back will be safe as the WP screen will cover them.

I'm impressed that lesson to my son on many occasions. He said while on patrol when his local interpreter said to "duck" he didn't hesitate. The bad guys normally opened an ambush with a sniper firing at the SigInt guy (my son) or his interpreter. On several occasions, his radio antenna just behind his head was shot off. Combat is a game of seconds and inches – and luck.

Wolfhag

Wolf +1

No one wants to be anywhere near WP when it goes off !

The Germans already had a Pak 44 128mm anti-tank gun and a Pak 43 with the 88L71 gun. Put either of these into a concrete bunker and you are much better off.

Andy,
I would not say WP was a silver bullet but it did give the Sherman 75 a fighting chance by getting the first round off and blinding their opponent. It could force an AT gun crew to bail out too.

The 76 also had WP as far as I know.
link

From Zaloga: The 75 mm gun had a white phosphorus shell originally intended for use as an artillery marker to help with targeting. M4 tank crews discovered that the shell could also be used against the Tiger and Panther—when the burning white phosphorus adhered to the German tanks, their excellent optics would be blinded and the acrid smoke would get sucked inside the vehicle, making it difficult or impossible for the crew to breathe. This, and the fear of fire starting or spreading inside the tank, would sometimes cause the crew to abandon the tank.

Patton in his book War As I Knew It: When tanks are taken under surprise fire by anti-tank guns, or by other tanks, they should immediately fire several rounds of white phosphorus short of the target and maneuver to get a telling shot when the smoke clears, or when the enemy emerges from it.

The US M89 White Phosphorus round was used alongside standard smoke rounds. The smoke is more dangerous in enclosed spaces, where it can cause asphyxiation and permanent respiratory damage.

The rules I'm using allow the player to shoot short or attempt to hit the target. If missing the target we determine if it went short or long. I'm not sure of the burn time but I use 60 seconds. With the Sherman having a commander override on the turret and a vane sight to line up a shot, a good commander could get off a round in 4-6 seconds with an excellent chance of being effective out to 500m or more. It also has the advantage of marking a target for everyone else to pile on.

Wolfhag

Wolf +1

The 128mm PaK44 strikes me as a completely gratuitous weapon and further proof that Hitler was a wargamer. What target could it deal with that the PaK43 could not?

" Bigger is Better !" …

My grandfather lived in the desert and passed a WP manufacturer regularly. He said they used water in the process and at night as the water in the drain tank evaporated you could see the WP burn off along the edge.