[Spktyr]

You are forgetting the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, the most feared armored vehicle on the Western Front. Relatively small, fast and stealthy, when they weren’t ambushing and running with their accurate 76mm high velocity cannon, they were circle-strafing even the most advanced German machines to death.

And they truly were stupendously fast for tracked vehicles. Design top speed was about 60mph, but several are in the historical record as having been able to go considerably faster. At one point during the Battle of the Bulge, an M-18 and a Jeep suddenly had to relocate. Once on the roads, the Hellcat accelerated and left the Jeep behind ‘like it was standing still.’

The Germans feared the Hellcat because it could *always* flank them, the gun was accurate and unlike all other US tank destroyers, they couldn’t run from it. Anywhere a Panzer could go, a Hellcat could - and at a much higher rate of speed.

They *really* hated the Hellcat.

[wally_bert]

Glad someone else remembers the hellcat TD.

[PLMerite]

M-18

[archy]

Relatively small, fast and stealthy, when they weren’t ambushing and running with their accurate 76mm high velocity cannon, they were circle-strafing even the most advanced German machines to death. ....

The Germans feared the Hellcat because it could *always* flank them, the gun was accurate and unlike all other US tank destroyers, they couldn’t run from it. Anywhere a Panzer could go, a Hellcat could - and at a much higher rate of speed.

They *really* hated the Hellcat.

The M319 76mm HVAP round was a late-war development, but was reasonably efficient against the MkV Panther ans MK6 Tiger I, which needed redesign into the *Kingtiger* to lose the easily HVAP-penetrated shot traps of the early Tiger Turret.