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| This is a portside view of the Elefant. You can appreciate the great length of the pak 43/L71 here, this gun was later fitted to the King Tiger and the Jagdpanther. The version of the gun visible here is the single piece early type, the latter model being a two piece barrel ( look at the Jagdpanther or Porsche King tiger on this site). Beneath the barrel can be seen the gun cradle, unlocked in this view. The gun would be secured whilst moving to prevent the heavy barrel from moving around the fighting compartment and possibly crushing the crew with the breech!!! This view also offers a nice view of the wheel arrangement, a patented drive system designed by professor Porsche and later used for production of a few Jagdtigers. This system was simpler to manufacture and cost effective, with ease of maintainance in the field compared to the Henschel torsion bar suspension found on all marks of Tiger. The six wheels are mounted to three independant suspension arms, two wheels per arm. Although the suspension was effective, the actual drive system, originally a hybrid electro/chemical drive was a failure, the engines themselves being redesigned and moved forward on the vehicle to allow for the fighting compartment. Also visible is a heavy duty towing hawser stowed on the superstructure, and the forward machine gun, a retrofit from the legacy of operation Citadel, the Kursk offensive. |