The Sturmtiger made its combat debut during the Warsaw uprising. Two crews of factory engineers manned the Sturmtiger assault howitzers giving a hands-on field display of this new weapon’s capabilities. Staying well behind the lines, these two behemoths devastated city blocks with their 38cm RW61 shells from up to 4600 metres away.

Built on the chassis of a Tiger heavy tank, the Sturmtiger carried 14 rounds of the 600lb/270kg shells. Each shell contained 125 kilograms of explosives. It had one hull-mounted 7.92mm MG34 machine gun. The massive 15”/38cm rocket-assisted howitzer possessed unprecedented firepower when targeting large targets such as buildings or bridges. 

Tiger-Mörser 38cm RW61 auf Sturm [Strumtiger]

German M15/42 tank from the 12th Panzer Polizei Company with Hungarian infantry in December of 1944 near Budapest. 

German M15/42: 12th Panzer Polizei Company

The Sturmtiger was armed with a short-barreled 38cm Raketenwerfer 61 L/5.4, breech-loading rocket launcher/mortar. The RW 61 launcher fired short-range (4,600 to 6,000 meters, or 2,850 to 3,720 yards) high-explosive rocket-propelled projectiles. The launcher was fitted with a PaK Zielfernrohr 3 x 8 telescopic sight. Each projec-tile was almost 1.5m (five feet) long and weighed 345 to 351kg (759 to 772 pounds). Two types of ammunition were available-high-explosive Raketen Sprenggranate 4581 (with a 125kg, or 275 pound, explosive charge) and shaped-charge Raketen Hohladungsgranate 4582 for use against fortifications. The shaped-charge round could penetrate up 2.5m (8 feet) of reinforced concrete. The Sturmtiger main arma-ment was originally developed by Rheinmetall-Borsig in Dusseldorf from an anti-submarine depth charge launcher developed for the Kriegsmarine.