stuka
Sergeant
The one and only
Posts: 1,205
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Post by stuka on Jan 16, 2016 10:18:32 GMT -5
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Post by volkssturm on Jan 16, 2016 12:23:08 GMT -5
Hey, it's like they say in the real estate business: "location, location, location." Pretty much every tank was vulnerable to a shot from the back. You can't put thick armor everywhere, or you'd have a tank that wouldn't be able to move. And there were vulnerable places on all tanks. The early Panthers were vulnerable to AP rounds hitting low on the gun mantle and being deflected into the driver/gunner positions. At the Battle of Mortain, a 57mm AT gun took out a Panther by scoring a hit on the hull MG socket. You can imagine how surprised that gunner must have been when a solid shot drove the pieces of his MG right through him. (Actually, he probably didn't have time to be surprised). Probably a 1 in 100,000 shot.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 16, 2016 22:26:45 GMT -5
That's an amazing story. Can you imagine the courage and tenacity of that crew? I'll bet they had to hose out the interior of the M8.
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2nd Bat
Master sergeant
Posts: 11,813
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jan 17, 2016 16:46:35 GMT -5
In exploring this incident further. Incredibly the TIGER was in fact a KING TIGER as they were the only German tanks present at that engagement. The Koningtiger was an even more massively armored vehicle than the TIGER I and that makes this feat even more impressive. Both US and German after action reports support the description of this action.
David and Goliath for sure!
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