Were the Tigers worth it? Definately not!
The main battle tank of the Third Reich throughout the war was the Mark IV. Superior in design to either British and American designs, it could (just about) hold its own against the T34. Both the Mark V and Mark VI were introduced to battle the Russian tank. However, as America was to prove, concentrating on a tried and tested design and producing them in overwhelming numbers was the way to go. Both the Tiger and Panther were notoriously unreliable and difficult to manufacture. They diverted attention away from production of the Mark IV much to the detriment of the German war effort. They were also difficult to transport and handle in restricted battlefields because of their size and weight. No amount of aces like Whitman could make up for the loss in numbers of actual tanks that the German desperately needed. As with the Luftwaffe, quantity (Germany's only real hope) was sacrificed for quality.