In September 1943 plans were made for Krupp to fabricate new Tiger I armoured hulls for the Sturmtiger. However, this weapon turned out not to be available at the time and was therefore replaced by a 380 mm rocket launcher, which was adapted from a Kriegsmarine depth charge launcher. Therefore, a decision was made to create a new vehicle based on the Tiger tank and arm it with a 210 mm howitzer. While greatly improved compared to the earlier models, by this time infantry anti-tank weapons were improving dramatically, and the Wehrmacht still saw a need for a similar, but more heavily armoured and armed vehicle. This was essentially an improved version of the earlier design, mounting the same gun on the Panzer IV chassis with greatly improved armour protection. Its successor, the Sturmpanzer IV, also known by Allies as Brummbär, was in production from early 1943.
Twelve of them were lost in the fighting at Stalingrad. At the time, the Wehrmacht had only the Sturm-Infanteriegeschütz 33B available for destroying buildings, a Sturmgeschütz III variant armed with a 15 cm sIG 33 heavy infantry gun. The idea for a heavy infantry support vehicle capable of demolishing heavily defended buildings or fortified areas with a single shot came out of the experiences of the heavy urban fighting in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942. The fighting vehicle was known by various informal names, among which the Sturmtiger became the most popular. The few vehicles produced fought in the Warsaw Uprising, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of the Reichswald. Its primary task was to provide heavy fire support for infantry units fighting in urban areas. The official German designation was Sturmmörserwagen 606/4 mit 38 cm RW 61. Sturmtiger ( German for 'Assault Tiger') was a World War II German assault gun built on the Tiger I chassis and armed with a 380mm rocket-propelled mortar.
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