The King Tiger was the heaviest and most powerful tank to see combat in World War II, and could defeat the armor of any Allied tank at ranges beyond most Allied vehicles' ability to return fire.

In January 1943, a new version of the Tiger tank was ordered that was to be able to mount the powerful 88mm L/71 gun, and to have its armor both sloped and increased in thickness up to a maximum of 150mm.

The resulting vehicle, the Panzer VI Ausf. B Tiger II (SdKfz 182) - also known as the Königstiger - had a conventional layout, with the driver and hull gunner/radio operator in the front; a large centrally mounted turret (which featured a bustle for the storage of ready 88mm ammunition) that housed the commander, gunner, and loader; and the engine mounted in the rear.

The main armament, as mentioned earlier, was the 88mm L/71 gun, which had an elevation of -8 to +15 degrees: the weapon was so large and heavy, that the gunner had to turn the elevation wheel 13 times for every ten degrees of elevation. But it could penetrate 165mm of armor at 1,000m, and the much thinner armor of most Allied tanks from much further. Traverse was by hand or power. Secondary armament comprised three 7.92mm machine guns: one in the front glacis, one coaxial with the main gun, and one mounted on the commander's cupola for air defense. The King Tiger also mounted the Nahverteidigungswaffe close-in defense weapon, which was essentially a grenade launcher in a rotating assembly fitted into the roof of the turret.

Interestingly, the first 50 production vehicles used a turret designed by Porsche that was a leftover from an earlier failed prototype vehicle, and featured a rounded front. Subsequent production vehicles using the Henschel turret had a flat face and were much simpler to produce.

The suspension comprised nine sets of interleaved road wheels, a rear idler, and a front sprocket driven by a 700hp Maybach HL 230 P30 gasoline engine.

The King Tiger was superior to virtually all other Allied tanks; the only vehicles that could pose a direct challenge to it were the Soviet Stalin II tank and SU-152 assault gun. It was only issued to Heavy Panzer Battalions of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS.

Despite its fearsome capabilities, the King Tiger was slow (its engine had the same horsepower as the Panther, but it was far heavier), difficult to steer, and used up great quantities of fuel. Because of its relatively poor mobility, it was vulnerable to coordinated attacks to its flanks and rear, and - of course - attacks from the air.

Nearly 500 of these vehicles were built, along with 77 Jagdtiger tank destroyers, which was the only variant built.

The vehicle on display was manufactured by Henschel in 1944 and served with 101 Schwere Panzer Abteilung of the Waffen-SS in France, where it was captured by American troops. The vehicle was donated to the Panzertruppenschule in december 1960, and restored to running condition in 1982 with the assistance of the Wegmann company.