Developed by Porsche, located at the Krupp factory. Developed by Porsche, located in Boblingen. (Nibelungenwerk did indeed belong to Steyr and took part in Maus production). The plan was to built it at the Steyr factory in Austria. The list of vehicles that British intelligence learned of contained the following: One of them was called 'Mammut', which gave birth to the rumour that the Maus started its life under the name 'Mammoth'. As a result, British intelligence ended up with a plethora of rumored AFVs, a dozen of which were called 'Maus' or 'Mauschen'. There were many sources of it, from POWs to informers in neutral nations. Some information began to seep out in 1944 when the first prototypes of the superheavy tank were built in metal. The Maus as seen by Allied intelligence, spring 1945. For instance, the British had no idea that they effectively killed the Maus themselves by bombing Krupp's factories in Hessen in the summer of 1943. This was especially true for production plans.

No reliable information was obtained by either the American or British intelligence services. The USSR may have ended up with both prototypes and some of the documentation that was stored in Kummersdorf and in Berlin, but the British and Americans kept most of the documents, the factories that took part in its production, and the creator of the tank himself, Ferdinand Porsche.Įven though Allied intelligence was quite effective, the development of the superheavy Maus tank remained a secret until the end of the war. This is especially true for the German Pz.Kpfw.Maus superheavy tank. Various nations ended up with only pieces of information.

A hunt for trophies and even German arms designers began.

VE Day marked not only the defeat of Germany, but the Allies' ability to get their hands on German tank developments.

Maus vs modern tanks war thunder