In 1940 Germany began designing a new heavy tank with anti-shell armor and improved weaponry. The design was only completed in 1942, however, because the design specifications were constantly changing. The Porsche and Henschel companies both participated in the design and bid process.
Hitler liked the Porsche tank so much that they began production of it before the commission had even made a final decision. The design by Henschel, however, was ultimately chosen by the commission, forcing Ferdinand Porsche to make a quick decision about what to do with the 90 units he had already managed to manufacture. The Elefant did not have turret, but a thick and spacious upper hull seated on the chassis. It housed a non-traversable 88 Pak cannon and was protected by 200 mm of frontal armor – the thickest for any tank at the time. Although the tank could not be pierced by any cannon at the time, its lack of off-road ability and underpowered engines relegated it to more of a defensive duty tank, similar in many respects to self-propelled artillery. The tank officially became known as the Elefant in 1944, two years after entering service, but to this day many still refer to it by the name of it’s creator, Ferdinand Porsche.
The Elefant made a name for itself on the Eastern front during the battle of Kursk. One account tells of a single Elefant that terrorized an entire division for a day while suppressing all of their anti-tank defenses. Only on the next day were they able to destroy it by setting up an ambush with heavy cannons and shooting into it at point-blank range. This event demonstrated not only that the Elefant could be stopped, but also its inability to traverse many types of terrain – at times it even got stuck in open fields. Many of the surviving Elefants were sent to Italy where the rocky soil provided a firmer footing for the tank.
Despite the fact that very few Elefants were manufactured, and because of this did not manage to play a major role in the war, it did become an excellent propaganda weapon. The Germans widely publicized its specifications without mentioning how many were produced. This was enough to convince many opposing soldiers that any self-propelled artillery unit with a long barrel was in fact an Elefant!
The high cost of manufacture, as well as maintenance ensured that a large number of Elefants were never produced and almost all of them were eventually destroyed in combat. Today only two exist, one in the Kubinka museum outside of Moscow, Russia, and one at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. The Elefant is widely considered to be one of the best self-propelled artillery units of the WWII.                                                                                                                                          -- Video Game "Blitzkrieg"