Posted on 08/11/2013 1:35:55 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
cool post
bump
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Former 19k/19d bump!
It seems like every time I see any old footage of WWII combat, there will be a Sherman in it somewhere.
We should get a FR clan together for World of Tanks...a free online game for ww2 tank nuts. Right now, im new but kicking ass in a T18 with a Derp gun ;)
I believe the first PzKfWgn MkVIs (Tiger 1) was encountered in the last months of the Tunisian Campaign Jan-May 1943, http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/tigers-in-tunisia/
and again in Sicily. http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=187180 Thus we knew about them and captured a couple in Tunisia. How fast the study of them got back to the Armor Board, I don’t know, but it would have been fairly quickly.
Schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504 - sPzAbt. 504
The 504th was the second Tiger unit to be sent to Tunisia. It was issued 25 PzKpfw III plus two Panzerbefehlswagen Tiger Ausf.E in January, and 18 Tigers, comprising the battalion staff, workshop company, and 1st tank company arrived in Tunisia on 12 March 1943. The 2nd company remained in Sicily. The tank company had four platoons, each with two Tiger I tanks and two Pzkpw III support tanks. All of the sPzAbt. 504 Tigers were destroyed or captured. The surviving elements surrendered on 12 May 1943.
On 13 April 1943, the OKH ordered that six Tigers were to be stationed on Sicily and that until transferred to Tunisia, the 2.Kompanie/ schwere Panzer-Abteilung 504 was to be attached to PzAbt. 215 with a reinforced platoon of six Tigers being immediately shipped to Sicily. Altogether 17 Tigers gathered on Sicily: the original nine from 2. Kompanie of the 504th, two Tigers that had been used as replacements for the 501st in February, and the six Tigers issued in April 1943 for the 215th.
Attached to Panzer Division Herrmann Göring, the 17 Tigers under the 2. Kompanie of the 504th attacked the American landing zone on 11 July 1943, but were neutralized by naval gunfire. Within the first three days ten out of the 17 Tigers were destroyed to prevent capture and a further six Tigers were destroyed later for the same reason. The last Tiger was shipped back across the straits of Messina to Italy.
This picture was taken in 1945 in Berlin by my Father. The old man and my Father became friends. Daddy was actually visiting with him when they got notice that their son had been captured by the British. His name was either Wolfgang or Fritz. I just happened to notice the tank in the back ground. Anyone know what it was? I know there is not much to go on.
Thanks, I figured someone on FR would know.
NG 19k myself.
T34 most likely. Can’t tell if its a 76mm or 85mm gun
T34 most likely. Can’t tell if its a 76mm or 85mm gun
I was in Sagan Poland, and there were old barracks there from the Soviet occupation. They had tanks displayed in the front of what I believe was the main building. There was a Sherman there. It was next to a statue of one of the Polish generals who fought in WW II. So the first thought that came to mind was, he must have landed in Normandy or fought in Italy as a Tank Commander. WRONG! It seems we sent “thousands” of Shermans to Russia under lend lease. I later found a picture of a captured Sherman in Russia by the Italian troops. The tank I saw had a cupola that looked like a German Panther. I later learned, they were modified and they added an upgraded gun to it. There was a Russian Tank Division that used all Shermans.
This was the first tank to enter Berlin. That is Daddy sitting on the monument. Only a few days after this picture was made, the tank and monument was blown up during the night. I posted a similar picture of the same monument while it was being constructed, sometime back, and was told it was a JSII I think.
That's as may be, but the US certainly had to be aware of the T-34 (sloped armor, diesel engine, higher muzzle velocity, slightly faster and with double the range of the Sherman) by late '41 or early '42. Should have given us some vague idea that the Germans were going to do their damndest to build something better.
Armor Ping
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