A towbar is preferred to cables, but cables are indeed carried for recovery ops. They're pretty hefty, around 1½-inch in diameter, about like these on the back of this Australian Leopard tank
The M88A2 Herky recovery vehicle, aka the *VTR,* has a turbine engine rated at a bit over 1000 HP, pretty close to what a late XX-Century railroad switch engine had for power, Herk details here: M88A2 Hercules VTR
my main concern was recoil/crew endangerment from the big gun in such a situation, but true to form, GI tankers are resourceful and will overcome...
Muzzle blast is pretty sporty with the main gun tube just a foot or two off the ground. If inclined to do any shootin' while stuck like that, I think I'd tend to do it buttoned up.
I guess in a sick scenario, cept for the mobility, that is the ultimate in 'hull down' position ???
Naw, that's just *Hull Defilade.* Turret Defilade has the tank in the goo clear up to the gun mantlet, and then there is a good chance there's no turret rotation possible, or at least advisable. There's also the condition known as *Cupola Defilade* in which the mudplane is even with the turret roof. Those take a little longer to get out, and are generally the result of hitting a bog with an active spring underneath it, in which case waiting to figure out what to do resolves the problem, but results in lots of unpleasant paperwork.
