Introduction to the Sturmtiger
After Stalingrad, the Germans decided that they needed a special vehicle to deal with bunkers, fortifications, and buildings in urban combat. Enter the Sturmtiger. Built on a Tiger chassis, it was equipped with a Kriegsmarine depth charge thrower launching a 380mm rocket-assisted projectile weighing about 376 kilos. Two types of ammo were available: one equipped with a shaped charge capable of blasting a hole through 2.5 meters of reinforced concrete, and one equipped with a 125 kg HE warhead.
Only 19 of these vehicles were ever manufactured.
The Final Battles
The last battle of the Sturmtigers was their most successful: The Battle of the Reichswald in 1945 (Operation Veritable, Operation Grenade, and Operation Blockbuster). Some Sturmtigers were used as defensive weapons, shelling allied troops, slowing them down, and sometimes stopping them temporarily.
Impact of Sturmtigers in WWII
The action of those Sturmtigers combined with German flooding of the plains and strong resistance from elite paratroopers enabled the Germans to ferry and save a lot of men and hardware across the Rhine and escape encirclement. This was one of the last battles of WWII on the Western Front.
-RBM
