From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "K" Panzerkampfwagen (front of the vehicle is at right)
K Panzerkampfwagen
General characteristics
Crew	27
Length	12.7
Width	6.1
Height	~3
Weight	120 t
Armour and armament
Armour	30 mm
Main armament	77 mm (4)
Secondary armament	Maxim (7)
Mobility
Power plant	two V6 Daimler 650
Suspension	unsprung
Road speed	8
Power/weight
Range

The Großkampfwagen or "K-Wagen" (short for G.K.-Wagen) was a German super-heavy tank, two examples of which were almost complete by the end of 1918.

The plan to build the Großkampfwagen was first conceived early 1917 by Chefkraft, the directorate for motorisation. On 28 June 1917 ten were ordered by the ministry of defence, five each to be built by Riebe and Wegmann, mainly for propaganda purposes: the Army actively sought to prevent the order as the type was seen by the military as hugely impractical and a complete waste of scarce resources.

The vehicle weighed originally 165 tons but this was reduced to 120; it was armed with four 77 mm fortress guns and seven Maxim machine guns and had a crew of 27: a commander, two drivers, a signaler, an artillery officer, 12 cannoneers, eight machine gunners and two mechanics. In the beginning of the project it was proposed to incorporate a flamethrower but this was later rejected. The hull consisted of six modules that could be transported separately by rail: the control room, the fighting room, the engine room, the transmission room and two sponsons. The commander could give orders to the crew by means of electric lights: fire control was comparable to that of a destroyer, so the Germans saw the vehicle as a veritable "landship". The drivers would have had to steer the vehicle blindly, directed by the commander.

The type was even bulkier than the Ferdinand Porsche-designed World War II era Maus and therefore the largest tank ever built. It would never become operational however as under the armistice conditions Germany was forbidden to possess tanks and all hulks were scrapped. The record for the largest operational tank is still held by its contemporary, the French Char 2C. In 1942 Hitler had a full scale wooden mock-up built for comparison with his own examples of tank gigantomania.