Grille (Cricket Series) 17/21/30/42 [1]
Geschutzwagen "Tiger" fur 17cm K72, 21cm MRS 18/1 und 30,5cm GRW (Sf)
In November 1942, Krupp received order to design the vehicle (waffentrager) using Tiger II components, which was to be part of the "Grille" series. It was to be able to mount 170mm Kanone 72 L/50 gun which could deliver a 68 kilogram projectile up to 25500 meters in range or a 210 mm "Mörser" (a howitzer actually) with a maximum range of 16500 meters firing a 111 kg shell. Grille 17 had its armament mounted on the rail platform inside the hull allowing it to be dismounted at any time and used independent of the actual tank itself. The maximum elevation of the main gun was 65º and its azimuth just 5º at right or left. In order to achieve the 360º fully rotation the gun and its turntable had to be placed in the ground which was folded and carried in the back of the vehicle.
Next in the series was Grille 30. It would be armed with Skoda 305mm GrW L/16 mortar. Project of Grille 42 was under the development. It was to be armed with 420mm Grw mortar.
The lengthened chassis was shaped as the Tiger II but used a much less thicker armor, about 50 mm in the frontal plates and 30 mm at the sides.
Also in order to save nickel the vehicle was designed to use SM stahl which was 130 Kg/ square mm resilient compared with the 150 kg/ square mm of the Nickel alloy.
Each variant was also armed with two 7.92mm machine guns. It would be operated by the crew of eight (driver, commander, gunner, radio operator and four loaders).
Powered by Maybach HL230P30 or HL230P45, Grille would be able to travel at maximum speed of 42 km/h with range of 250km. Grille was 13 meters long (with gun), 3.27 meters wide and 3.15 meters high. Its armor protection ranged from 16mm (side) to 30mm (front). Grille 17 weighted 58000kg but only carried 5 rounds of ammunition. Grille 21 weighted 52700kg and carried only 3 rounds of ammunition.
The project was halted in February 1945, given the worsening in the war situation, which forced Albert Speer to get rid of any nonessential armored vehicle development.
One prototype with 170mm gun was almost completed in May of 1945, and was captured by British troops at Haustenbeck near Paderborn.
[1] In 1942, German designers started the development of a new series, which would utilize chassis and components of various tanks and use them as mountings for various heavy weapons. Designs of the Grille Series incorporated many new technical modifications in order to mount heavy weapons. Some vehicles of the Grille Series were designed to be weapon carriers - Waffentrager. Some of those vehicles reached prototype stage but none of them entered production planned for mid 1945. Model: Armament: Chassis / Components: Grille 10* 88mm Flak 37 (early) 88mm Flak 41 (late) Panzer IV / Sd.Kfz.9 Grille 10 88mm Flak 37/41. Panther Grille 10 100mm K. Panther Grille 10 105mm leFH 43/35. Panther Grille 12 128mm K 43/44. Panther Grille 15 150mm sFH 43/44. Panther Grille 17* 170mm K 72 L/50. Tiger II Grille 21* 210mm Mortar 18/1 L/31. Tiger II Grille 30* 305mm Mortar (GrW) L/16. Tiger II Grille 42* 420mm Mortar (GrW). Tiger II * reached prototype stage. Late Grille 10 with 88mm Flak 41 gun. (Versuchsflakwagen fur 8.8cm Flak 4 1)
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