I once knew a man in Patton’s tank brigade. Used to love listening to his stories. One he used to tell was that during a heated battle, being inside the tank was hell. Every time a round would hit or ricochet off of the outside of the tank, paint chips would fly off the inside and cut the crew to shreds. I would have never guessed that side of battle in one of these cans.
Having spent 7 years of the Cold War in Germany and assigned to the 3d Armored Division (Spearhead) I was somewhat offended that the director had the 2d Armored Division patch (Hell on Wheels) on the tanker’s uniform and tank bumper markings.
Those weren’t paint chips. They were spalling, fragments of the tank’s armor.