9. The Big Mouse in Action
The Panzer VIII Maus was intended to spearhead German attacks. It would smash through any opposition and destroy all enemy armor it came across while remaining impervious to damage from any tanks whose path it crossed. With 9.4 inches of turret armor, 8 inches of hull front armor, 7 inches of hull side armor, and 6 inches of rear armor, the Maus was largely immune from Allied tanks, whose shells would simply bounce off the big behemoth. However, it was built in 1944, by which time the Allies not only had aerial superiority on both the Western and Eastern fronts but well-nigh complete aerial supremacy over the battlefield.
That Allied aerial supremacy was bad news for the Maus, because it did not have enough armor up top to protect it from armor-piercing bombs or rockets dropped or fired from above. Ultimately, only two Panzer VIIIs were ever built, so the Maus’ only accomplishment was to highlight Hitler’s irrational obsession with big things and super weapons. The Fuhrer was incapable of understanding relative cost-effectiveness, and that “normal” weapons might accomplish the same task as super weapons at a fraction of the cost, thus freeing up scarce resources for other uses that could have better served the German war effort.
