LordBlo'edius
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War WW2 Tanks: KO'ed (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter DeathHand
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Zeke the plumber
Fresh Meat
Incredible
Maybe a typo in Pc.48. It's a half-track troop transporter SdKfz. 250. The 'smaller brother' of the 251.
*Thanks for that - not sure what I was thinking about, lol - corrections made
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For the T-34, the statistics were much worse. The fires in them often started in the fighting compartment because of the fuel tanks located there. From a burning tank, in the worst case no one managed to bail out, and in the best case, two might have been able to save themselves, usually the tank commander and driver-mechanic.
In the T-34 the driver-mechanic had the best chance of survival. In the first place, he was seated rather low and was partially screened from enemy shells by folds in the ground. Secondly, he was protected by a 45mm thick frontal hull plate, sloped at an angle of 60º from vertical, which was equivalent to 90mm of armour. The opening for the driver-mechanic’s hatch weakened the frontal armour, but on the other hand he was able to clamber quickly out of the tank through it. The radio operator and loader, however, had to wait for their turn to bail out, because they didn’t have their own hatches.
Set 19.
54.
55.
56. This crew was probably taken out after they bailed.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61. I wan't going to include this one at first - it's a very common photo that almost all have seen.
62.
63.
The Sherman tank (all variations) had a good crew (5) survival rate when compared to other allied and late war German tanks because it had relatively large hatches for the crew to get in and out of the tank quickly. Compare the size of access hatches on a US Sherman and a British Cromwell and you’d assume that the British tank crew were comprised of hobbits. When a Sherman tank gets knocked out, most if not all of the crew usually manage to bail out but then take casualties while they are on foot. If an AP round penetrated a tank, any tank, there would be casualties inside. The shell would often ricochet around inside and obviously anybody in the way would be hurt badly.
Tank on tank encounters were often a one shot affair. If your tank got hit but not knocked out, the crew either bailed out or put the tank into cover, they didn’t hang around around for the second shot which would be expected to follow immediately after. So the first shot might only superfically damage the tank, but still cause the crew to bail out. (Before anybody starts thinking coward, the crew would go and get another tank then return to the fray. There are reports of some tank crews going through 2 or 3 tanks during a battle).
For each tank loss, an average of one crewman was killed or wounded. Interestingly, although gunfire accounted for the most tank and crew casualties, infantry anti-tank rockets (such as the Panzerfaust) inflicted 13% of the tank losses, but caused 21% of the crew losses along with the deadly German 88mm flak gun which could take out a Sherman tank with one hit and did so on many battle fields, even though Tigers/Panthers were present.
Of all tankers deployed by the US during WW2, 3% were killed while the rate was 18% for the US Infantry. An American tanker (Sherman tank, and others) had an 80% survival chance if you're tank was KO'd. Nearly half of all US tanker deaths happened outside of their tanks. American tankers supposedly nicknamed the Sherman the “Ronson” because it “lights the first time, every time.” However, the Ronson Corporation did not start using this slogan to advertise their lighter fluid until the 1950s, and the Sherman was actually a very capable tank on the battlefield. Against the early-war Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, the Sherman’s 75mm M3 short-barrel gun was capable of delivering knock-out punches. Moreover, the tank’s sloped frontal armor was adept at bouncing the incoming German fire.
As newer German tanks like the Panther and the Tiger appeared on the battlefield, the Sherman’s combat ability in a tank-on-tank fight was diminished. To counter the new threat, the Sherman was equipped with thicker frontal armor and a new gun. In 1944, the U.S. fielded the 76mm M1 high-velocity long-barrel gun which could actually penetrate a Tiger’s armor from the front. The gun had already seen action with U.S. Tank Destroyer Battalions. Mounted on the lightly-armored M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, the 76mm M1 was undoubtedly a threat to the German tanks.
Two main deficiencies of the Sherman was that it used a gasoline engine (more combustible than diesel like the T-34) and it's profile, which made it hard to conceal and much easier to spot and hit due to it's height.
Set 20.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
Tank on tank encounters were often a one shot affair. If your tank got hit but not knocked out, the crew either bailed out or put the tank into cover, they didn’t hang around around for the second shot which would be expected to follow immediately after. So the first shot might only superfically damage the tank, but still cause the crew to bail out. (Before anybody starts thinking coward, the crew would go and get another tank then return to the fray. There are reports of some tank crews going through 2 or 3 tanks during a battle).
For each tank loss, an average of one crewman was killed or wounded. Interestingly, although gunfire accounted for the most tank and crew casualties, infantry anti-tank rockets (such as the Panzerfaust) inflicted 13% of the tank losses, but caused 21% of the crew losses along with the deadly German 88mm flak gun which could take out a Sherman tank with one hit and did so on many battle fields, even though Tigers/Panthers were present.
Of all tankers deployed by the US during WW2, 3% were killed while the rate was 18% for the US Infantry. An American tanker (Sherman tank, and others) had an 80% survival chance if you're tank was KO'd. Nearly half of all US tanker deaths happened outside of their tanks. American tankers supposedly nicknamed the Sherman the “Ronson” because it “lights the first time, every time.” However, the Ronson Corporation did not start using this slogan to advertise their lighter fluid until the 1950s, and the Sherman was actually a very capable tank on the battlefield. Against the early-war Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks, the Sherman’s 75mm M3 short-barrel gun was capable of delivering knock-out punches. Moreover, the tank’s sloped frontal armor was adept at bouncing the incoming German fire.
As newer German tanks like the Panther and the Tiger appeared on the battlefield, the Sherman’s combat ability in a tank-on-tank fight was diminished. To counter the new threat, the Sherman was equipped with thicker frontal armor and a new gun. In 1944, the U.S. fielded the 76mm M1 high-velocity long-barrel gun which could actually penetrate a Tiger’s armor from the front. The gun had already seen action with U.S. Tank Destroyer Battalions. Mounted on the lightly-armored M18 Hellcat tank destroyer, the 76mm M1 was undoubtedly a threat to the German tanks.
Two main deficiencies of the Sherman was that it used a gasoline engine (more combustible than diesel like the T-34) and it's profile, which made it hard to conceal and much easier to spot and hit due to it's height.
Set 20.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
Especially when the shell had a hardened steel core that kept more or less intact after the impact explosion. The rarely handed-out Panzergranate 40 with a tungsten core is a good example but the Jerries couldn't afford this kind of shell for long and only in small numbers.
I like the idea from the Brits in the '40s too, the squash head HESH. Not trying to penetrate the armour but giving it a blow with a 'hammer' made of plastic explosive in its warhead. Leads to deadly splinters and fragments flaking from the inner side of the armour.
That they did...I think the Brits did too, lol.
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Originally, I had set out to find images of dead tankers (preferably with or near their KO'd tanks) but they are not easy to come by. You'd think with all the tank on tank battles, like the huge one at Kursk (which a number of these came from), that there'd be all kinds. For obvious reasons, there are more Russian and German dead tankers than US ones. For the rest of the photos, we can only imagine or guess whether the crew made it out of the tank while others it clear that if they were in it they were toast.
Set 21.
74.
75.
76.
77. A US Sherman that was captured by the Germans, used and then knocked out. The dead crewman is a German.
78. German tank and tanker.
79. A KO'd Churchill at the scene f the doomed Dieppe raid by the Canadians.
80.
81.
82.
83.
Broadsword
Rookie
Great pics, man. Thank you.
Set 23.
94. Removing a dead and burnt Russian tanker.
95. The remains of the highly decorated German tank ace Michael Wittmann's Tiger Tank. Aug. 4, 1944, near Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil, Normandy. After a hit by Canadian or British forces the tank's ammunition ignited and blew the turret off. Michael and his crew all perished.
96. Painting of Michael Wittmann in his Tiger Tank. He was also known as the "Black Baron."
97.
98. Dead Russian tanker and his burning tank at the Battle of Kursk.
99.
100.
101.
102. Burning Russian tank, probably at Kursk.
103.
94. Removing a dead and burnt Russian tanker.
95. The remains of the highly decorated German tank ace Michael Wittmann's Tiger Tank. Aug. 4, 1944, near Saint-Aignan-de-Cramesnil, Normandy. After a hit by Canadian or British forces the tank's ammunition ignited and blew the turret off. Michael and his crew all perished.
96. Painting of Michael Wittmann in his Tiger Tank. He was also known as the "Black Baron."
97.
98. Dead Russian tanker and his burning tank at the Battle of Kursk.
99.
100.
101.
102. Burning Russian tank, probably at Kursk.
103.
Thanks and Wittmann was good - the story is that while in command of a Tiger I, Wittmann destroyed up to 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and two anti-tank guns within 15 minutes for the loss of his own tank (he survived). In his final battle, his tanks were ambushed: Canadian tanks destroyed two Tigers, two Panzer IVs and two self-propelled guns, while British tank fire destroyed three other Tigers, and also ofcourse, Wittmann's. Wittmann and the tank's dead crew members were buried in an unmarked grave. In 1983, the German war graves commission located the burial site. Wittmann and his crew were reinterred together at the La Cambe German war cemetery in France. Apparently, the body of his tank was closer to the turret than shown in the photo but had been rolled forward to remove the tracks.Great thread DeathHand, thanks for the trouble of putting it all together.
I once visited Villiers-Bocage once where Michael Wittman destroyed a column of British armour in 20 minutes in 1944 IIRC. Must have took some guts.
Set 23.
104. Little hope surviving that hit, unless it fizzed out once inside...where ordinance often bounced around for a while, hitting the crew inside.
105. Another Sherman. Others can be seen in the background.
105.
106.
107. Tigers knocked out.
108. Dead tankman. Judging by the bullet holes in back of tank this guy was probably gunned down as he tried to escape on foot.
109. A Tiger cooking off.
110. Dead Russian crew or infantry by a knocked out Russian tank. Again, probably machine gunned as they escaped.
111. Two knocked out German Panzer tanks.
112. German Tiger tanks. I'm not sure if this was part of the tank battle at Kursk or if in Africa.
104. Little hope surviving that hit, unless it fizzed out once inside...where ordinance often bounced around for a while, hitting the crew inside.
105. Another Sherman. Others can be seen in the background.
105.
106.
107. Tigers knocked out.
108. Dead tankman. Judging by the bullet holes in back of tank this guy was probably gunned down as he tried to escape on foot.
109. A Tiger cooking off.
110. Dead Russian crew or infantry by a knocked out Russian tank. Again, probably machine gunned as they escaped.
111. Two knocked out German Panzer tanks.
112. German Tiger tanks. I'm not sure if this was part of the tank battle at Kursk or if in Africa.
In pic. 108 there's a Soviet BT series tank to see, a so-called 'convertible'. You could remove the tracks and drive faster on the wheels on the street (Christie system). Easy to spot at the big, rubber-tired road wheels.
It was rarely done in combat/march though because of the lack of proper asphalted streets in rural USSR. But it's said they were comfortable driving on their tracks too.
It was rarely done in combat/march though because of the lack of proper asphalted streets in rural USSR. But it's said they were comfortable driving on their tracks too.
One of my friends Father had a job documenting battlefield damage to Sherman tanks from WW2. He said they would find bone fragments and teeth left in the tanks given the horrific damage to the crew. This was after they were cleaned out. Simply the Sherman was a death trap and a fine example of morons making vehicles that had no clue what they were doing. The only good thing about a Sherman was the fact they were reliable and simple making repairs easy.
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