Nazi tanks, Blitzkrieg and the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte

A Nazi colonel-general once said, "Hitler's fantasies sometimes shift into the gigantic". There's no better evidence of that than the Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte" megatank.

Nazi Germany's overnight dominance

I have written several posts about The Mongols, the most devastating of military empires. However, what the Mongols took half a century, the Nazis achieved in a mere two years between late 1939 and 1941. There has never been an army as ferocious as the 1940-41 Wehrmacht.

By 1942, the Nazis controlled most of Europe, from Normandy to Moscow, from Oslo to Marrakesh. The closest Europe has ever been to a true European Union.

Blitzkrieg and the importance of tanks

The Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe had a deceptively simple but almost invincible strategy. Short, rapid attacks that'll drive the opponent to chaos and take over vast amounts of land before they even figured out what happened. Battles would be over in mere hours, if not minutes!

The Luftwaffe would begin coordinated attacks on strategic areas which have the potential to cause panic.

Before the opponent is given the chance to react to the air attacks, tanks would totally overwhelm the land forces by sheer brute force. It would be all over before they figured out what hit them.

This needed tanks, thousands of tanks. War economy aside, it needed a tank economy.

The Panzer tanks were made by the thousands and were the workhorses of the Wehrmacht. But it was the Tiger tanks which were the flagships.

Hitler wasn't satisfied. He wanted something bigger. Much bigger.

De Ratte

Enter the Landkreuzer P. 1000 "Ratte". But before that, how did the Nazis end up losing, despite there utter dominance in the first few years of World War II? The answer is simple - the Soviet Union out-tanked them. They ended up building nearly a hundred thousands T-34 tanks alone! Dozens of millions of people were employed in tank production, and they started churning out tanks like candies. Even Hitler couldn't believe the sheer quantity of tanks produced by the Soviet Union in the thick of World War II.

Many of them were crudely put together and there was complete disregard for tolerances, but it didn't matter - sheer numbers of tanks won the Eastern Front.

Back to that Ratte. In 1942, Hitler approved Kruppe's Landkreuzer P.1000 design, branding it "Ratte" (rat) himself. This would have been a tank of truly epic proportions!

At 35 metres long and 15 metres, it would have been as wide and longer than a Basketball court! Up to 40 people would need to operate it, and there would be some devastating artillery on board.

The primary weapon would have been 280mm SK C/28 gun turret. If that looks familiar, yes, this is the same one as used on battleships! There would be a dozen other more traditional weapons lifted from Tigers and Panzers.

The Ratte would have weighed an incredible 1,000 tonnes. In comparison, some of the largest tanks ever built are only 100 tonnes. To get this tank moving would require 16,000 horsepower, supplied by anywhere between 4 to 8 of the most powerful engines at the time.

There would be an even more ludicrous design made by Kruppe, the Landkreuzer P.1500 Monster. A tank as long as the football field! Even for Hitler that was far too ridiculous to approve.

Right when the Ratte was being prepared for production, Minister of Armaments Albert Speer canceled the project. No surprise, given he was arguably the only level-headed person in the Nazi high command.

Sources -

http://www.achtungpanzer.com/p1000.htm
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/landkreuzer-p-1000-ratte-hitlers-idiotic-heavy-tank-design.html
http://www.nuttyhistory.com/biggest-empires.html
http://germany19001939.blogspot.com/2013/06/deutsch-wunderwaffen.html
http://imgarcade.com/1/landkreuzer-p.-1000-ratte/