The Ferdinand or Elefant (Sd. Kfz. 184) was a German tank destroyer from the Second World War. The first prototypes of the vehicle were created in 1942, and serial production continued in 1943 only, ending with the production of only about 90 cars. Ferdinand was powered by two Maybach HL 120 TRM engines with 300 HP each. It was armed with 1 88 mm PaK 43 L / 71 gun and - later - 1 7.92 mm MG34 machine gun.
Ferdinand was created at Porsche and Alkett plants on the basis of the chassis of the Tiger heavy tank, which was not adopted for mass production, designed by the first company. Series production took place at the Nibelungenwerke plant in Steyr, Austria. The new tank destroyer had a great anti-tank gun, capable of destroying any armored vehicle of the Red Army or the Allies at the time. It was also very well armored - suffice it to say that from the front it was protected by 200 mm of steel, which made it unattainable for enemy vehicles at distances above 500 m. !) and at the beginning of his combat career he did not have a machine gun - later, at the end of 1943, it was changed. Ferdinands made their debut during the Battle of Kursk in July 1943 as part of the 656th Heavy Armored Cannon Regiment, where they destroyed nearly 320 enemy vehicles! However, they themselves suffered relatively high losses. After this battle, the surviving cars were transferred to Germany and modernized, e.g. before adding Zimmerite. After modernization, they fought primarily on the Eastern Front until the end of the war, with a brief episode (February-June 1944) on the Italian Front.
