climber@beaver.cs.washington.edu (climber) (06/05/90)
From: uvicctr.UVic.CA!ssc-vax!climber@beaver.cs.washington.edu (climber) In article <16205@cbnews.ATT.COM> msmiller@gonzoville.East.Sun.COM (Mark Miller - Sun BOS Contractor) writes: > > >From: msmiller@gonzoville.East.Sun.COM (Mark Miller - Sun BOS Contractor) >|>From: L.J. Sparvero <LJS108@PSUVM.PSU.EDU> >|>Hello again, >|> I've finished my study of the American M4 tank (Sherman). Thanks very >|>much to everyone who provided help and info. From what I've read, I don't >The Sherman's side armor was only like 45mm or so. Couple that with the > >|>In one instance, a single Tiger tank commanded by >|>Oberstrumfuhrer (*to Mod: do you know what this rank is in English?*) >|>Michael Wittman held up the entire 7th Armored division on 13 Jume, 1944. MUCH STUFF DELETED. I sent a large response to the fellow who was asking about the Sherman and I thought I might relate my conversation with my friends father who drove one during the war. He considered it a death trap. He really liked the reliability and appreciated the fact that it was so easy to fix but considering he was told he would almost never come into action against enemy armour and AT guns, he resented having it shot out from under him twice (Killing the turret crew in both cases). Everytime they moved around, he had a terrible fear for the really high profile it had and often was shot at before his own crew even saw the enemy. He had a photograph of a Sherman that had been hit with, what they believed, an 88. It had passed completely through the turret so you could see through to the other side. This did little for the morale and their regiment started to stay a little closer together after that. In one of my books on tanks, it says that an American commander once determined that it required an average of five Shermans to deal with one Panther (if you actually got to see one that had not been wrecked with airstrikes). Neverthelss, almost 50 thousand were made and against that, the Germans had no hope. Craig