good stuff...reminder to send to Mark
Tank info
Quite the article, thanks.
Thought you might be interested.
Because the Germans didn't use any at Kursk, and the Allies had no reports from the Russians as to the effectiveness of it, or what it would take to kill one.
Ping.
Great article. As informative as any by Steve Zaloga.
Amazing find!
A great book on the subject is “Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II,” by Belton Cooper. The author was in charge of recovering, cleaning out and repairing or dismantling damaged and destroyed tanks for Patton’s 3rd Armored Division.
One of the revalations in the book is that the US was ready to replace the Sherman before DDay. The US Army could have gone to war in France with the M26 Pershing, which was ready to start being produced as the US main battle tank in late 43. The major oppenent of the change was none other than Gen. George Patton, who falsely believed that a heavier tank with wider tracks would have to be slower on roads. He took the view that tanks would fill the roll of cavalry, running free behind enemy lines, and did not consider tank to tank fighting to be a major role. The Germans had other ideas, and the Amecans were forced into unequal battles that cost over 100% casualties in his tank crews over a period of 8 months.
Great article. Clarifies a lot of the organizational response to the panzer threat in the desperate days of 1944.
good stuff...So how exactly does the tribe go about wiping the Chieftan’s hatch.
Or does he wipe himself?
Excellent article, and thanks for posting. BTT.
Thanks.
I had the good fortune to talk to a couple of the American Officers involved in the Battle of Nancy/Arracourt. I think one was Jimmy Leach. He talked of the advantages of the Sherman’s powered turret over the Panther’s hand-cranked turret.
ping
Very thorough and informative article. Thank you. In regard to some of the earlier posts, and some additional comments:
The Germans did indeed employ Panthers at Kursk. In part, Operation Zitadelle had been delayed until a quantity of Panthers was available. However, those Panthers had been rushed into production before they had been properly tested and were prone to breakdown, particularly their transmissions. The gun and armor scheme was still the same that the Allies would face in Normandy a year later. The Soviets captured a number of Panthers, and several of them were undamaged and had simply broken down. The Soviets knew exactly what they were faced with and as a result, they up-gunned the T-34 from the 76mm to the T-34/85.
The problem was that our Soviet friends didn’t allow an American military mission to go to the front or make a meaningful personal inspection of the captured German equipment. They didn’t tell us that they knew their T-34/76, which was comparable to the Sherman, was not a match for the Panther. And they didn’t tell us that the Germans were producing the Panther in substantial numbers.
These things would have been nice to know from our allies. It’s not like it would have compromised their national security, unlike that bomb thing we were working on.
Thanks for posting that.
Really cool stuff. Thanks for posting it.