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Although a major threat on paper, it operational limitations on the battlefield were realized on the drawing board.  It was an "open-field" tank only, incapable of crossing even the sturdiest of bridges or the best-laid roads due to its immense weight; fording rivers would have been impossible, and if engaged in battle it would have been picked off by aircraft like any other tank.  More than five times the crew of a standard Panzer tank was needed to man the tank or maintain it on a daily basis.  

Although a major threat on paper, it operational limitations on the battlefield were realized on the drawing board.  It was an "open-field" tank only, incapable of crossing even the sturdiest of bridges or the best-laid roads due to its immense weight; fording rivers would have been impossible, and if engaged in battle it would have been picked off by aircraft like any other tank.  More than five times the crew of a standard Panzer tank was needed to man the tank or maintain it on a daily basis.  

By late 1942 German resources and production during the war were beginning to show a decline, and the Ratte represented an exotic, impossible system that could bring nothing decisive to the war in time.  Albert Speer, German Minister of Armaments and War Production, saw the project as fruitless and cancelled it early in 1943

By late 1942 German resources and production during the war were beginning to show a decline, and the Ratte represented an exotic, impossible system that could bring nothing decisive to the war in time.  Albert Speer, German Minister of Armaments and War Production, saw the project as fruitless and cancelled it early in 1943.