Following unpleasant experiences with the British Matilda II and Char B1 during the campaign in France in 1940, plans were drawn up for a new German heavy tank. The result was the Tiger 1, first going into battle in Tunisia and Russia in 1942, but unreliability plagued the first engagements. With the major issues dealt with the Tiger went to to be feared by all allied tank crews up to the end of the war, its 88mm main gun the acme of destructive power. But there were never enough produced. 1347 were produced, including variants.