The Elefant (German for "elephant") was a heavy tank destroyer used by German Wehrmacht Panzerjager during World War II. Ninety-one units were built in 1943 under the name Ferdinand, after its designer Ferdinand Porsche, using VK 45.01 (P) tank hulls produced for the Tiger I tank design abandoned in favor of a Henschel design.

In January to April 1944, Ferdinands received modifications and upgrades. They were renamed Elefant in May 1944. The official German designation was Panzerjager Tiger (P) and the ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 184.

Porsche GmbH had manufactured about 100 chassis for their unsuccessful proposal for the Tiger tank, the "Porsche Tiger", in the Nibelungenwerk factory in Sankt Valentin, Austria. Both the successful Henschel proposal and the Porsche design used the same Krupp-designed turret -- the Henschel design had its turret more-or-less centrally located on its hull, while the Porsche design placed the turret much closer to the front of the superstructure. Since the competing Henschel Tiger design was chosen for production, the Porsche chassis were no longer required for the Tiger tank project. It was therefore decided that the Porsche chassis were to be used as the basis of a new heavy panzerjager, Ferdinand, mounting Krupp's newly developed 88 mm (3.5 in) Panzerjagerkanone 43/2 (PaK 43) anti-tank gun. This precise long-range weapon was intended to destroy enemy tanks before they came within their own range of effective fire.

The Ferdinand was intended to supplant previous light panzerjagers, such as the Marder II and Marder III, in the offensive role. A similar gun was used in the lightly armored Hornisse (later known as Nashorn) tank destroyer, built at the same time.

This particular 1:32 scale replica of a German Ferdinand tank destroyer was attached to schwere Panzerjager Abteilung 653, then deployed to Kursk, Russia, during July 1943. Comes with a pair of removable 300 PS Maybach HL 120 TRM engines. Pre-order! Price and ship date to be determined.

Dimensions:
Length: 12-1/2-inches
Width: 4-1/2-inches

Release Date: ?

The battalion was formed on March 31st, 1943, by the redesignation of the 197th Sturmgeschutz Battalion. The 197th was an assault gun battalion which had been formed in 1940, later seeing service during the Invasion of Yugoslavia and on the Eastern Front. The 653rd was initially equipped with Ferdinand tank destroyers; the Ferdinand was a heavy tank destroyer built on chassis originally intended for the VK4501 variant of the Tiger I, mounting a powerful 88 mm gun.

It was assigned to the XXXXI Panzer Corps, and fought at the Battle of Kursk in August, and around Nikopol during the Battle of the Dnieper. After heavy losses in Ukraine, the battalion was withdrawn to Vienna to refit. The 1st Company received 11 new Elefants - the new name for the added defensive hull-machine gun mount armed version of the Ferdinand - and was sent south to Italy where it fought at the Battle of Anzio in February 1944. The 2nd and 3rd companies were equipped with 30 new vehicles in April and sent to the Eastern Front, where they were attached to the XXIV Panzer Corps.

By August, the 2nd and 3rd were reduced to twelve vehicles between them; these were withdrawn to refit in Krakow, where they were combined into the 2nd Company. It remained on the Eastern Front, as part of 17th Army, and was redesignated the 614th Heavy Panzerjager Company. It would see out the rest of the war fighting the Soviet Army, with two Elefants surviving until the Battle of Berlin in May 1945.