"The German superheavy Maus tank left a mark in the history of tank building. This was the heaviest tank in the world, developed as an assault tank, practically invincible to enemy fire. In many ways, its fate was the same as the fate of another giant, the French FCM 2C, which holds the title of the world's largest tank to this day. Like the French heavyweight, the German tank never saw combat. In both cases, the tanks were blown up by their own crews. Another similarity was that the tanks became the subject of a careful study.
Defender of the German General Staff
Work on superheavy tanks and SPGs in Germany was cancelled in the latter half of July 1944. In practice, even the order of the 6th Department of the Armament Directorate to turn over the already built hulls and turrets, given on July 27th, was not followed. Krupp hid the existing parts in their warehouses, where they were later found by British and American soldiers.
On August 19th, Krupp's management informed Porsche that the Armament Service ordered the cessation of work on the Typ 205. Specialists assembling the second prototype left Boblingen. However, this did not mean that trials of the Maus were finished. In the fall, the second prototype of the tank, called Typ 205/II, was equipped with a new engine. Instead of the gasoline Daimler-Benz MB.509, the tank received the diesel MB.517 engine. The first proposal to install this engine into a tank was made in the fall of 1942. This time, the engine was turbocharged, which increased its power output to 1200 hp. It is not known when the MB.517 was installed, but correspondence dated December 1st, 1944, states that the engine was installed into the Typ 205/II, but trials have not yet been performed…"
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