Hitler’s “Ratte” Monster Tank was a Disaster for the Nazis
The Ratte supertank was a time-consuming fever dream that further delayed the Reich’s deluded leadership from addressing the reality that they were being utterly defeated.
Nazi Germany was many things—none of them good.
But throughout the Second World War, Adolf Hitler’s tyrannical regime had one major edge over its enemies: its outstanding engineering acumen. Specifically, the Germans were second-to-none when it came to developing Main Battle Tanks (MBTs). Germany’s Panzers were next-level systems. Indeed, the only reason they were ultimately overwhelmed was because Germany’s industrial base, by the war’s end, could not meet the heavy demands placed upon it by a failing two-front war.
Indeed, Berlin’s attempts to create more with less backfired. As the war progressed, each iteration of its tank became larger and more complex. One of those systems, the P-1000 Ratte, was an insane Nazi attempt to dominate the European battlefield with what amounted to a battleship on land.
Why Hitler Wanted the Ratte
In 1942, as Germany’s fortunes in the Second World War were reversing, the German Wehrmacht met stiff resistance on the Eastern Front against the massive Soviet Union. At the same time, the Western Allies were gaining momentum—chasing the Nazis out of Africa and gearing up for an invasion of Italy. So Adolf Hitler increasingly obsessed over the prospect of the wünderwaffe (wonder weapons) saving them from their declining fortunes.
Edward Grotte was a German engineer employed by Krupp, a major industrial firm responsible for much of the Third Reich’s armored vehicle production. Grotte trended toward what some might describe as gigantism when it came to developing armored weapons, and his designs increasingly found favor with the artistic fantasist, Adolf Hitler. Like Grotte, Hitler believed that only the fantastical and grandiose could save the Third Reich, as they were all engaged in a Wagnerian duel of the gods.
Grotte’s P-1000 concept was part of a broader family of Landkreuzers (“land cruisers”, including the slightly less ambitious P-1500 Monster. What made the Ratte so unique was its sheer audacity. The project was intended to create a mobile fortress capable of dominating any battlefield—an armored monster that would dwarf anything the Allies or their Soviet partners could field.
The Ratte Supertank’s Specs
Weighing an estimated 1,000 tons—over ten times the weight of the already-gargantuan Tiger II tank—it was envisioned as a 155-foot-long and 46-foot-wide leviathan.
The Ratte’s armament reflected its outsized and utterly impractical ambitions. It was to be equipped with a twin 280mm naval gun turret, adapted from the main batteries of German battleships such as the Scharnhorst or Gneisenau. This alone would have given it awesome firepower that would have certainly obliterated any enemy tanks, fortifications or even small towns from a distance.
The tank would have been further armed with a 128mm anti-tank gun, multiple 20mm anti-aircraft guns, and eight 7.92mm machine guns, ensuring it could engage threats from all directions, including aircraft. The tank’s armor was equally imposing, with thicknesses ranging from 150mm to 360mm, designed to withstand virtually any contemporary anti-tank weapon.
Powering this monstrosity required two 24-cylinder submarine engines, producing a combined 17,000 horsepower—though even that was barely sufficient to move it at a projected top speed of 25 miles per hour on flat terrain.
Living up to its “land cruiser” designation, estimates suggest that twenty to forty personnel would have been required to operate the P-1000 Ratte. These included gunners, engineers, and commanders to operate effectively. The Ratte was even conceptualized with amenities like a small infirmary and a motorcycle bay for reconnaissance, underscoring its intended role as a self-sufficient war machine.
The P-1000 Was an Example of Nazi Germany’s Profound Madness
Yet the P-1000’s design betrayed a profound disconnect from the realities of modern warfare generally, and the significance of what was occurring on the European battlefields, where Nazi Germany’s once fearsome army was steadily being beaten back. Indeed, the tank’s development was a microcosm of the denial and fantastical thinking that was coming to consume the increasingly deranged mind of Adolf Hitler.
Any tank commander could instantly grasp the impracticality of the monster. The Ratte’s immense weight would have rendered it incapable of crossing most bridges, necessitating specially designed rail transport or amphibious transport—in other words, logistical nightmares in a war where Germany was already at its breaking point. The tank’s sheer size and its relative slow speed would have made it a perfect target for Allied heavy bombers, such as the Lancaster or B-17.
That’s not even considering the massive amount of steel, fuel, and manpower needed to build and maintain the P-1000. Germany was already facing raw materials shortages and industrial strain, and the Ratte was a time-consuming fever dream that further delayed the Reich’s deluded leadership from addressing the reality that they were being utterly defeated.
Albert Speer, the Pragmatist, Puts an End to the P-100 Mania
Hitler’s favorite adviser, Reich Minister of Armaments and War Production Albert Speer, managed to cancel the project in 1943. Speer’s intervention was a rare moment of lucidity on the part of late-stage World War II Nazi leaders, though it ultimately came too late to redirect efforts effectively.
Indeed, the Ratte affair—in which Speer clashed with Hitler and other increasingly deluded Nazi top brass over the tank’s impossibility—would inform his actions during the violent closing days of the Third Reich. As the Nazi empire collapsed, Hitler issued orders to destroy all of Germany’s infrastructure as part of an insane scorched-earth policy.
Fortunately for posterity, Speer ignored that order, helping defeated Germany avoid an even more painful postwar era and paving the way for its eventual rise from the ashes.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
