January 19, 1939, the Panzer and Motorized Equipment Branch (WaPrüf 6) of the German Army Weapons Agency announced development of a 65-ton tank. The Henschel and Krupp companies received an order for production of pilot vehicles on September 1st, 1939. A wooden dummy was created by April 1940 and, according to various sources, one or two more prototypes in unarmored steel and with no turret were produced by mid-1941. In 1942, development was discontinued and the prototypes were destroyed.