German "Maus" Tank

I was just reading a book on "German Secret Weapons", and came across the "Maus". I guess it was suppose to dwarfed the Tiger II. The Tiger II weighed 156,747 lbs. and the "Maus" weighed 425,488 lbs. It's main gun was a 15cm KwK 44, it's secondary weapon was to have been the 7.5cm gun (Panther's main gun). Also it had 2x 7.92mm MG 34 machine guns on it.

What else does anyone know about it?

 

'Maus' was quite preposterous but exerts a considerable fascination. I'm quite sure that apart from possible use as a (barely) mobile fortress it would have been a waste of time and effort.

Ther's one left at the Russian Tank Museum at Kubinka & I'd love to see it someday...

http://www.members.aol.com/kubinka/kubin3a.jpg

 

Indeed,

Hitler was with Maus really going too far with his " the bigger the better" ideology...

Here´s some sites:

Nice 3D site on Maus:

http://models.gunpoint-3d.com/model-Maus.html

facts:

http://freespace.virgin.net/shermanic.firefly/maus.htm

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/pz7.htm

 

Neat little graphics on the 3-D site - I like it !

 

Martin-
I definately agree with you about how preposterous this tank was and the facination about it. My "specialty" in WW2 is aircraft, but I've always had this facination for the heavy German Tanks. I don't know what it is. Mabye it just the thought of seeing one of those break throudh a house wall, or come crashing through some brush, and how in a sense, they seem almost "unstoppable".

 

Were any Maus tanks actually built?

 

Two, maybe more, but they were prototypes and I am clueless towards any effect/role they played.

I've even seen design works for Maus IIs, these things never got pasted the drawing board, but they were titans, one man believed he could slam around ten 88mm Self-propelled on the thing.

Their were best off producing more Panthers and Tigers, the Maus sucked up alot of resources and to no avail it seems.

 

That's right, they only reached prototype stage and I'm not even sure if guns were ever fitted.

The closest type which saw any active service was the 'Jagdtiger'.

 

There were 9 prototypes in various states of completion. the 2 that were finished were blown up at Kummersdork before it was overrun by the russians. This is why the Kubinka Maus is a 'mut'. Read this article:

http://freespace.virgin.net/shermanic.firefly/maus.htm

[ 11. July 2003, 04:42 AM: Message edited by: Mahross ]

 

I can't see the Maus as being anything other than a complete and utter waste of investment, being little other than a massive aiming point for the tactical air forces of the RAF/USAAF/VVS (USSR's air force).

 

Seems like the Germans would have learned their lesson with extreme weight from the "Ferdinand/Elefant" SP's on the Eastern Front. Even the weight of the PzKpf VI gave them some troubles as I remeber.

 

There are some suggestions that these two were actually deployed. From what i remember, one was said to have broken down on route, the other taken out by enemy fire.

As to the original post, everythjing i've read says it was armed with the 12.8cm gun, not a 15cm.

 

Yeah i've just read a different account which claims that one was used at Kummersdorf and the other was used to defend OKH headquarters. Just goes to show how little we know about the last hours of the Reich.

 

Here's the beast. It was even painted to be ready to go into combat. I have got somewhere the scheme it was supposed to be in.




http://www.wwiivehicles.com/html/germany/maus.html

 

I believe that two did attempt to engage russian forces at the end of the war. One i think ran out of fuel or broke down, the other I have read reports of engaging JSII's but this may have been in some rather fanciful history so will check it out. The Kubinka one is defo post war, the damage to it was done by soviet weapon tests. None of the hits penetrated the hull, by the way...

 

While the stories about the Maus being used in action are entertaining, German records show that both prototypes were destroyed before the Russian advance reached the testing ground at Kummersdorf.

 

Greetings:

Indeed, as several have stated, the Maus saw no action in combat. Of two prototypes, one of them was not even fitted with a turret.

The Maus wouldhave been pretty much impenetrable to enemy shellfire, but then again, the majority of German big tanks, like the Tiger II were taken out by aircraft.

The maus moved at 9 km/h, and was fitted with a snorkel to cross rivers, as no bridge would support it. It was utterly silly.

Germany should have stpped with the Panther and the Tiger I, and worked on improving those models, rather then creating new ones.

 

The following site shows a Maus with a "wading trunk." With such weight how could they expect this to work?
www.lonesentry.com/articles/maus

 

We need a GIF for back-from-the-dead threads

 

Always good for a laugh though ;

And who on earth gave the Baron and Ross negative rep in their absence! seems most unfair.

The Maus/Kummersdorf/action thing intrigues me more and more as time passes, I used to easily dismiss it too but there's a few photographs out there along with personal accounts of locals that at least make me see enough doubt to be interesting. The most intriguing personal account has one setting off with that odd cobbled together Kummersdorf unit and breaking down on the short march to meet the Russians at a crossroad near a local settlement, pretty standard end for a German heavy. Great contemporary photograph of it from a local chap in the schiffer Kummersdorf book.