It was therefore decided that the Porsche chassis were to be used as the basis of a new heavy panzerjäger, Ferdinand, mounting Krupp's newly developed 88 mm (3.5 in) Panzerjägerkanone 43/2 (PaK 43)[2][3][4] anti-tank gun.

The now empty rear half of the hull was covered with a heavily armored, full five-sided casemate with slightly sloped upper faces and armored solid roof, and turned into a crew compartment, mounting a single 8.8 cm Pak 43 cannon in the forward face of the casemate.

The two Porsche Type 101 15-litre gasoline V-10 air-cooled engines each developing 310 PS in each vehicle had considerable problems with cooling difficulties and excess oil consumption during testing.

The engines drove a single Siemens-Schuckert 500 kVA generator each, which powered two Siemens 230 kW (312.7 PS) individual-output electric motors, one each connected to each of the rear sprockets.

In addition to this high fuel consumption and poor performance, the vehicle was maintenance-intensive; the sprockets needed to be changed every 500–900 km.

Suspension for the "slack track" equipped Ferdinand consisted of six twin bogies (three per side) with longitudinal torsion bars, without any overlapping wheels or return rollers.

In addition, the Ferdinand was hampered by flaws such as the lack of peripheral vision blocks, or a machine gun as secondary defensive armament.

Apocryphal reports say that Soviet infantry, quickly recognizing this flaw, could easily hide in their trenches until the Ferdinand advanced through their lines, then swarm the vehicle with their grenades and Molotov cocktails from the sides.

[10][page needed] On the other hand, Heinz Guderian himself complained in his autobiography that the Elefant, much as other failed designs, suffered from lack of close-range protection against infantry assaults.

The units were deployed at a company level, sometimes sub-divided into platoons, with infantry or tanks in accompaniment to protect the flanks and rear of the vehicles.

On the attack, this Jagdpanzer was a first-strike vehicle; while in defence, they often comprised a mobile reserve used to blunt enemy tank assaults.

[citation needed] The surviving Ferdinands fought various rear-guard actions in 1943 until they were recalled to be modified and overhauled, partially based on battle experience gained at Kursk.

They were issued to the 1st company of the 653rd Heavy Panzerjäger Battalion (German: schwere Panzerjäger-Abteilung 653, sPzJgrAbt 653), which was immediately deployed in Italy in response to the Allied landing at Anzio-Nettuno.

On 1 May 1944, the Oberkommando des Heeres (OKH, the German Army High Command,) issued an order to formally change the name from "Ferdinand" to "Elefant".

[12][page needed] Three Bergepanzer Elefant armoured recovery vehicles were converted from Ferdinand/Elefant hulls and issued with the 2nd and 3rd companies of sPzJgrAbt 653 to the Eastern Front in the summer of 1944.

One company of Elefants saw action during the Soviets' January 1945 Vistula–Oder offensive in Poland, and the last surviving vehicles were in combat at Zossen during the Battle of Berlin.

[13] This impressive average ratio was due to its superior firepower and protection, which gave it an enormous advantage when used in head-on combat or a static defensive role.

Abt 653, was captured at Anzio by the Americans, and is now part of the United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility's collection at Fort Gregg-Adams, VA.