- Yes, as an event vehicle
- Yes, as a premium vehicle
- Yes, as a tech tree vehicle
- No, it does not belong in War Thunder
[Preface]
The E-100 is a tank that at this point does not need much introduction. It one of the most iconic “super-panzers” produced by the Germans towards the end of the war being overshadowed only by the Maus. In addition, the vehicle is also infamous within War Thunder, both for the cheating scandals surrounding its initial release tournament, and for the remaining ones being driven by some of the best ground players in the game. However, the way the vehicle is depicted within war thunder is not only ahistorical, it is also physically impossible considering the engineering of the E-100 hull and the production situation surrounding the Maus, Maus II, and E-100 projects. As such, I believe due to the original E-100’s iconic status as THE tournament prize in war thunder, as well as several people paying 2,000 dollars to acquire this coveted vehicle, it would not be appropriate to retroactively change the entire turret of the vehicle after nearly nine years. As such, this proposal is for a separate E-100 to be added to the game featuring the Maus II turret and be named and distributed in such a way that Gaijin Entertainment deems appropriate.
[History]
The history of what would become the E-100 begins with a contract given to the German engineering firm Porsche on the 22nd of March 1942 for a 100-ton panzer. This contract would eventually give birth to the Maus as well as the Tiger-Maus (which would eventually become the E-100). After design conceptualization and preliminary engineering work at Porsche, on the 12th of October 1942 the resulting vehicle would be the Typ 205A “Mauschen”. This is the earliest vehicle in this development process that can be recognized as a true progenitor to the Maus.
The Typ 205A “Mauschen” however, features many features that would not be present on the final design of the Maus. These include an M.G.34 machine gun mounted in the front of the hull, commander cupola, vision slits mounted onto the sides of the turret, a flat slab-like gun mantlet, the 15cm K.w.K L/37 gun, the 7,5 cm K.w.K L/24, no periscopic gun sight, and several other distinct differences. This Typ 205A turret which was designed by Krupp will become very relevant later on.
While work had been ongoing on Porsche’s “Mauschen”, Krupp had been approached by Generalmajor Fichtner, Oberstleutnant Holzhaeuer, and Oberstleutnant Krohn on the 11th of September 1942. The idea was raised to Krupp that like with the development of the VK 45.01 (P), Porsches project would be problematic due to Dr. Ferdinand Porsche being far too liberal with the application of experimental technologies on the tank. As a result, Krupp had been instructed to develop a rival Maus project using as many available components from the Tiger and Panther as possible. This resulted in the birth of what would be referred to as the Tiger-Maus. The Tiger-Maus went through several designs of either 130 ton, 150 ton, or 170 ton weights with either center or rear mounted turrets being considered. In addition, drive train configurations ranged from the 700 hp Maybach HL230 mated with the Olvargetriebe OG 402016 12 speed transmission to a proposal for a 1200 hp supercharged engine from Maybach with an 8 speed Mekydro Hydraulic Transmission.
The final form of the Tiger-Maus as of the 8th of December 1942 was of a 130 ton panzer with a mid mounted turret with the engine and drivetrain from the Tiger I. Krupp had used a lightened version of the Typ 205A turret also used in Porsche’s “Mauschen”. Performance would have been anemic with an abysmal horsepower to ton ratio of 5.4. However, it was also considered advantageous as production of the Tiger-Maus could potentially start significantly faster than the “Mauschen” due to the off the shelf nature of the engine and drivetrain. Down the line, this could be improved by the more powerful Maybach HL234 promising to deliver 1,200 hp. However, on the 5th of January 1943, the Tiger-Maus design was rejected by Hitler in favor of the Porsche “Mauschen” design, as it was believed that design held more promise.
While the Tiger-Maus had been cancelled, the Porsche “Mauschen” (now referred to as Maus) continued development. The hull was redesigned with many changes including the deletion of the hull machine gun, replacement of torsion bar bogies with volute spring suspension units, general up armoring, and other changes. The turret underwent even more significant changes. The 15cm K.w.K L/37 was formally dropped and the only main armament would be the 12,8 cm K.w.K. L/55, the turret was enlarged and up armored, the gun mantlet was changed to a large cast piece with conical guards to the main and coaxial guns, the coaxial gun was replaced with a 7,5cm K.w.K L/36 gun, the commander cupola was deleted, a 2.1 m range finder was supposed to be mounted, a periscopic gunsight was installed, the vision slits and pistol ports were eliminated, a nebelwurfgerat was mounted to the turret roof to fire grenades and smoke shells, and many other changes occurred. The Maus tank with these changes was shown to several high ranking members of the Panzerkommision on the 10th of February 1943. Some impractical features such as flamethrowers and anti aircraft guns were removed from the design, and it was approved for a production run of 135 panzers. However, one major concern was noted with the turret design. The front face of the turret consisted of a 240 mm curved piece of armor plate. This introduced the potential for a shot trap. In addition, only one plant in Germany had a metal press capable on handling such a thick piece of armor.
This concern would prove to be very real as on the 6th of March 1943, an allied bombing raid on Krupp’s Essen plant had destroyed much of the technical documentation on the Maus turret and the metal press needed to manufacture the turret. This completely crippled production of Maus tanks. This resulted in an order to cease development of the tank in late October 1943 issued by Hitler himself. At this point, two hulls had been fully fabricated, five more had been assembled and were awaiting installation of internal machinery, three had armor plates cut and were awaiting assembly, and 20 additional hulls worth of armor had been delivered and not cut. One Maus turm had been fully fabricated, and six more were assembled and awaiting internal machinery. This means, that the full completion of only seven Maus tanks with the original Maus turm design would be possible. Any other hulls could be completed but would have no turrets available to mount.
In March of 1944, Dr. Porsche as well as Krupp attempted to restart Maus production with the Maus II. The hulls had the side armor reduced to 170 mm in order to keep the hull tolerances fully within German rail loading gauge. The major changes were to the turret. The Maus II turm was designed to be significantly easier to manufacture compared to the Maus turm. Gone was the curved front, and instead the turret face consisted of a single flat 220 mm thick plate angled back 30 degrees. Side and rear armor consisted of 200 mm thick plates angled back 30 degrees. Roof armor was 60 mm. The coaxial gun was relocated above the 12,8 cm and was now a 7,5cm K.w.K. L/24. A 1.9 m to 2.1 m range finder was mounted on the roof of the turret. The turret ring and turret basket were both enlarged to increase the space for the crew working in the turret and increase stability. The result was a turret with simplified manufacturing, an improved ballistic shape, and a weight reduction of 5-7 tons. However, this meant if Maus hulls were altered to except the Maus II turm and its enlarged turret ring and basket, they would not be able to be back modified to accept the old Maus turm. This is because the roof of the Maus hull was known by the engineers at Porsche to have questionable structural integrity. The enlarged turret ring and lesser weight of the Maus II turm would greatly reduce this problem. However, modifying the hull back to accept the Maus turm would even further weaken the roof, meaning that it may fail under the greater weight of the Maus turm. The completed engineering drawings for the improved Maus II turm are drawing Bz.3276 dated the 23rd of March 1944. It is known that Maus hulls 8 and onward were either being modified to the Maus II standard or were manufactured to it.
This now brings us to the E-100 itself. After the cancellation of the Tiger-Maus on the 5th of January 1943, the design was taken by Oberbaurat Kniepkamp at Wa.Preuf 6 and was given to Adlerwerke. This occurred early in the spring of 1943 which would be after Krupp’s Essen plant was bombed and Maus production was completely crippled. The Tiger-Maus was to be reworked into the E-100, the super heavy tank crowning Oberbaurat Kniepkamp’s Entwicklung project to develop a set of “Standart-Panzers” with common components covering all panzer weight classes needed by the Wehrmacht. Work on the E-100 proceeded slowly at Adlerwerke. By the 18th of March 1944, the E-100 hull and drivetrain were effectively identical to the Tiger-Maus, with the only discernable difference being the switch to a Belleville-washer sprung suspension from the torsion bar suspension from the Tiger-Maus. By the 17th of May 1944, a turret design for the E-100 had been delivered by Krupp. This E-100 turm was based of the Maus II turm and only differed in armor thickness and weight. The E-100 turm had a 200 mm front, 80 mm sides, 150 mm rear, and a 40 mm roof. This reduced the weight of the E-100 turm to 35 tons. However, this turret also featured the enlarged turret ring and basket of the Maus II turm. This would mean only two modifications were done to the E-100 hull, the switch to a Bellevile-washer sprung suspension, and accommodation for the enlarged turret ring and basket. The Maybach HL234 was the intended replacement engine for the E-100. It had been promised by Maybach that the HL234 with supercharging and higher grade fuel would be able to achieve 1,200 hp. However, even with these modifications, the engine was only able to achieve 900 hp. It was noted that the engine horsepower could not be increased further without dramatically decreasing reliability and engine life. If higher horsepower was to be achieved a brand new engine design would be required from Maybach, this never materialized. The HL234 was intended to be delivered to Adlerwerke for installation into the E-100, but the war ended before this could occur. At the end of the war the E-100 hull at Adlerwerke was nearly complete but still had the HL230 installed.
[Timeline Of Important Events]
22nd March 1942: Porsche is given the contract for a 100-ton panzer
11th September 1942: Krupp is instructed to develop what would become the Tiger-Maus
12th October 1942: The first version of the Typ 205A “Mauschen” is designed at Porsche
8th December 1942: The finalized 130 ton version of the Tiger-Maus is designed at Krupp
5th January 1943: Hitler rejects the Krupp Tiger-Maus in favor of the Porsche Typ 205A “Mauschen”
10th February 1943: The Porsche Maus is finalized and approved for a production run of 135 panzers
6th March 1943: A bombing raid at Krupp’s Essen plant completely cripples Maus production
Early Spring 1943 Oberbaurat Kniepkamp gives the Tiger-Maus design to Adlerwerke to develop the E-100
Late October 1943: The order is given to halt development on the Maus by Hitler
March 1944: Krupp and Porsche try to start development of the Maus again under the Maus II
23rd March 1944: The Maus II turret design is finished
8th April 1944 Wa.Preuf 6 awards Krupp a contract for a 1:5 scale wooden model of the Maus II turm
15th May 1944 Wa.Preuf 6 modifies the contract to also include a 1:10 scale mode of the Maus II turm
17th May 1944: A lightened version of the Maus II turret design is given to Adlerwerke for the E-100
12th August 1944: Wooden 1:10 and 1:5 scale models of Maus II turm are well under development
15th January 1945: E-100 hull progress is sent to Wa.Preuf 6 by Adlerwerke
Late January 1945: Maus hulls 8 and later start being remanufactured to the Maus II standard
9th May 1945: Nazi Germany surrenders, ending the Second World War in Europe
[Justification For Implementation]
As mentioned in the preface, the E-100 is an extremely iconic and infamous tank in both War Thunder’s competitive ground battles scene, as well as in the games overall history. However, the vehicle as it is currently implemented is ahistorical in the sense that the vehicle could not physically exist.
The E-100 is currently depicted as having the Maus turn. As laid out within the history section this would not be possible. Only seven Maus turms could ever be completed due to the destruction of Krupps Essen plant in March 1943. In addition, there were already seven Maus hulls which were fabricated and in various stages of final assembly to be paired with these seven potential turrets. This means that even if the E-100 was designed to be equipped with the Maus turm, it would be impossible to acquire a Maus turm for it. However, this is compounded on even further by the fact that the E-100 was designed to accept a derivative of the Maus II turm. This turret as mentioned previously is both 5-7 tons lighter in the case of the Maus II turm or 20 tons lighter in the case of the E-100 turm and features an enlarged turret ring and basket. A Maus turm would be incapable of being mounted to the E-100’s hull without modifying the turret ring to accept the smaller Maus turm turret race. These modification combined with an increase of 5-7 to 20 tons in weight very likely would lead to either structural failure or extreme structural stresses in the roof of the E-100’s hull.
In addition, the E-100 was also never depicted in any of its blueprints carrying the Maus turm. From its conception in the Spring 1943, it was depicted as having a lighter variation of the Typ 205A “Mauschen” turret. It was only in May of 1944 did the E-100 receive its own turret design based on the Maus II turm. After the war, members of Adlerwerke were asked by the Allies to redraw destroyed E-100 blueprints and drew them featuring the Typ 205A “Mauschen” turret. This is clearly evident as the turret in this blueprint has the slab faced gun mantlet, 15cm K.w.K. L/37, side by side mount for a 7,5 cm K.w.K. L/24, commanders cupola, side vision ports, rear escape hatch, and several other features of the Typ 205A turret that were removed on the Maus turm.
This blueprint appears to be the source of the incorrect modelling of the original E-100 by Gaijin Entertainment. The Typ 205A “Mauschen” turret while being different, still has many features in common with the later Maus turm. This is also supported by the initial devblog for the E-100 in War Thunder. In this devblog, the E-100 was shown with a shortened 12,8 cm gun with muzzle brake that bears an overwhelming resemblance to the 15cm K.w.K. L/37
Now officially, the Maus II turm and E-100 turm may be considered to be paper projects. As of right now, we do not have official documentation stating that the turrets had been produced. The trail ends when Wa.Preuf 6 issued contracts for 1:5 and 1:10 scale wooden mock ups to be made in April and May 1944. Anything past this if it happened, the documentation was either destroyed or is buried in archives and has yet to be rediscovered. This to some, would be enough to dismiss this proposal.
On the other hand, there are several factors around this that seem to indicate that the turrets went much further along than simply blueprints and scale wooden models. By March of 1944, work on the Maus had been ordered to cease 5 months ago. Despite this however, Krupp themselves had initiated the idea of both the Maus II and resuming Maus production to Wa.Preuf 6 and Porsche in March 1944. Krupp was not some small uninvolved and inexperienced firm, but was both the largest armor and tank manufacturer in Germany as well as the firm entrusted to manufacture and assemble the original Maus design. Krupp would not have initiated this program if it did not believe it would be possible to manufacture the Maus II turm, especially considering the order to cancel Maus development came from Hitler himself in 1943. If Maus II turm production was infeasible, the retaliation from Hitler against Krupp would be extreme for wasting resources at this point in the war. In addition, Wa.Preuf 6 being the weapon proving grounds responsible for distributing official development contracts saw fit to endorse the Maus II turm and distributed two contracts for wooden models also in spite of the order from Hitler. On the 14th of May 1943, a wooden model of the Maus was displayed to Hitler, with the first hull being welded together on the 7th July 1943. This being roughly two months from completion of the wooden mock up to beginning of production on the first hull. There were more than 9 months between Krupp reporting the wooden models to be well under development to the war ending. In addition Maus hulls 8 and 9 were fabricated shells, and there are reports that the hulls had modifications done to bring them in line with the Maus II standard (reduction of side hull armor to 170 mm and enlarged turret rings) during this time. The armor plates for hulls 10 and beyond also had side armor milled down to 170 mm. As mentioned previously, the modifications to the turret ring would make these hulls likely incapable of ever bearing the Maus turm again if the order came to restore them to Maus standard.
This to me very strongly indicates that while there is no official documentation stating the Maus II went past the blueprint phase, the Maus II turm likely went well beyond merely being a paper project, and was very close if not already starting some early manufacturing.
In addition, this also puts the Maus II turm well ahead of several vehicles currently in War thunder in terms of completeness of their development. The Ostwind II and Zerstörer 45 both have Wa.Preuf 6 contracts for their development. However, the actual designs for these two vehicles are unknown, and they were recreated using the specifications in the Wa.Preuf 6 contracts. The Ho-Ri production is completely hypothetical with statistics deduced from a wooden mock up and fragmentary design blueprints. The Radkampfwagen 90 mounted a mild steel mockup of a Leopard 1a3 turret to simulate the weight of a turret as its turret had not even been designed yet. This turret was bolted to its hull and completely dysfunctional, being little more than a metal shell with a gun welded into it. Yet it is represented in game as having a fully functional Leopard 1a3 turret. There are several other examples of vehicles which are less historical than the Maus II turm that are implemented currently in game.
[Meta Analysis]
The E-100 with a Maus II turm would be an attractive vehicle for Gaijin entertainment to implement within War Thunder. The hull of the current E-100 is historically accurate, and would need little to no modifications. As such, development time would not need to be spent on recreating the hull. In addition, the 12,8 K.w.K. 44 is already modelled in game on the Maus, E-100, and Jagdtiger, further minimizing development time required. The only part of this vehicle which would need to be modelled from scratch would be the Maus II turm itself. This means that compared to other prospective vehicles that can be added to War Thunder, the development time required to add the E-100 with Maus II turm would be significantly reduced.
In addition, the E-100 is also a very highly sought after vehicle War Thunder. People are willing to put themselves through the most difficult tournaments in this game or pay up to 2,000 dollars just for the opportunity to play the E-100. There is without a doubt an enormous demand for the E-100. Many of War Thunders players would jump for a reasonable chance to acquire the E-100, but it is effectively locked to only the most skilled or most wealthy War Thunder players. This means that an E-100 with the Maus II turm if added as an event vehicle or premium would likely draw an enormous amount of players to both participate in its event as well as purchase gold to acquire it netting Gaijin Entertainment a likely significant profit in both premium shop purchases and market transactions.
[Maus II turm or E-100 turm]
Now the only question left is which turret would be mounted to the E-100. Both turrets are candidates to be mounted in this case.
The Maus II turm is the original turret in this case. It weighs 47-50 tons and has 220mm angled back 30 degrees on the front, 200 mm angled back 30 degrees on the sides and rear, and a 60 mm thick roof. This turret would be at best a side grade to the current Maus turm. It would raise the horsepower per ton ratio from 6.405 to 6.742 which would only be a paltry increase of 5.26%. The turret face would have an effective thickness of ~254mm head on. This removes the cheek weakness of the Maus turm head on but is weaker than the upper and lower thirds where the curving induces significant angling. The angled performance would be marginally better. This combination would result in a tank that is marginally more mobile than the current E-100, with slightly worse head-on turret armor and slightly better angled performance. It would be a pure side grade to the E-100. This would make for a vehicle however, that is easier to balance appropriately.
The E-100 turm is the derivative turret in this case. It weighs 35 tons, and has 200mm angled back 30 degrees on the front, 80mm angled back 30 degrees on the sides, 150mm angled back 30 degrees on the rear and a 40mm thick roof. This turret would raise the horsepower per ton ratio from 6.405 to 7.469 which would be a a 16.6% increase. Compared to the Tiger II, this would be 7.469 compared to 10.02 which would be a 25.45% decrease. The turret face would be ~231mm effective head on, which is across the board worse than the Maus turm by a significant margin. In addition, 80mm thick sides would severely harm the turrets ability to angle reducing survivability drastically. This would result in an E-100 that has the dynamic mobility of what is effectively an obese Tiger II, but with a relatively vulnerable turret. This would be interesting, however, the hull armor and fire power of the 12,8cm K.w.K. 44 would make this nearly impossible to balance, much more so than the current E-100 and Maus.
Between these turrets, the Maus II turm is more appropriate from both a manufacturing perspective considering the real world situation around the tank, as well as from a game balance perspective. However, mounting the E-100 turm would not be ahistorical either, but would be less realistic and significantly more difficult to balance properly.
[Specifications]
Armor:
Hull:
| Front | Sides | Rear |
|---|---|---|
| 200mm upper glacis at 60° | 120mm + 75mm skirt upper | 150mm glacis at 30° |
| 150mm lower glacis at 50° | 120mm + 40mm wheels lower |
Maus II Turm:
| Front | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|
| 220mm at 30° | 200mm at 30° | 200mm at 30° | 60mm |
Mobility:
Engine: 900hp HL234
Weight: 135.5 tons
Speed: +30 km/h / -10.2 km/h
Hp/Ton: 6.712 Hp/Ton
Firepower:
Main Gun: 12,8cm K.w.K. 44
Secondary Gun: 7,5cm K.w.K. L/24
Machine Gun: M.G. 34
Vertical Guidance: -7°/+20°
Turret Traverse: 8.6°/s
Reload Rate (aced): 17.5 s
Secondary Reload (aced): 6.5 s
Ammunition: 12,8cm K.w.K. 44
| Shell | Type | Muzzle Velocity | Pen at 10m at 0° |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprgr. L/5 | HE | 750 m/s | 37mm |
| PzGr | APC | 930 m/s | 252mm |
| PzGr 43 | APCBC | 940 m/s | 272mm |
| 12,8/8,8 Pzgr.TS | APCBC | 1230 m/s | 312mm |
Ammunition: 7,5 cm K.w.K L/24
| Shell | Type | Muzzle Velocity | Pen at 10m at 0° |
|---|---|---|---|
| K.Gr.rot Pz. | APCBC | 385 m/s | 52mm |
| Hl.Gr 38B | HEAT | 450 m/s | 80mm |
| Sprgr. 34 | HE | 420 m/s | 10mm |
| Hl.Gr 38C | HEAT | 450 m/s | 115mm |
| K.Gr.Rot Nb. | SMOKE | 423 m/s | 0mm |
[Sources]
- Jentz, T. L., Doyle, H. L. (2008) Panzer Tracts No.6-3 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen Maus and E-100 development and production from 1942 to 1945 (Secondary Source)
- Fröhlich, M. (2016) Panzerkampfwagen Maus: Der überschwere Panzer Porsche Typ 205 (Secondary Source)
- https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/e100-entwicklung-100/ (auxiliary source)
- https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/maus-ii/(auxiliary source)
- https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/panzer_maus.php(auxiliary source)
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/tiger-maus-krupp-170-130-tonne-panzer-maeuschen/(auxiliary source)
