Panzerkampfwagen VI Ausf. B, Tiger II, or Royal Tiger (German: Königstiger) - a German heavy tank of the final period of World War II. It was mass-produced from January 1944 to March 1945. A total of three experimental and 489 production tanks were produced.The last serial heavy tank of Nazi Germany.

Thanks to the powerful 88-mm cannon, it was capable of hitting all tanks of the anti-Hitler coalition during the Second World War in the frontal projection at distances of more than 2.5 km, which significantly exceeded the effective firing range of tank guns of the Allied forces. Thick armor plates located at rational angles of inclination provided the tank with high protection against most anti-tank weapons of that time. At the same time, the high weight and insufficient engine power resulted in poor driving performance and overall low reliability of the Tiger II.After the meeting of the Wehrmacht troops with the Soviet KV-1 and T-34 tanks in Germany, work on the creation of a heavy tank was sharply intensified, which resulted in the appearance of the Tiger tank on the battlefields.The Wehrmacht Armaments Directorate and Hitler personally considered it advisable to have a tank equipped with a powerful 88-mm Kw.K cannon. 43 L/71, which, due to its size and weight, could not be placed on any of the existing tanks.