On Mon, 1 Feb 2021, Tomasz Rola via cctalk wrote:
Nice article, but certain paragraph made me uneasy:
"By 1941-42, the allies knew that US and even British tanks had been
technically superior to German Panzer tanks in combat, but they were
worried about the capabilities of the new marks IV and V. "
Oh really. I remember that US combat manual (or whatever they were
called) from the era recommended a Tiger should be engaged by at least
four Shermans. Assuming Tiger was waiting for them coming by the road,
the first one was to be destroyed by the first shot, then the next one
or two while they were getting closer to German tank, and finally the
fourth had a chance to outmanouver the Tiger (they really sucked in
dancing, from what I have read) and pack it a shot in the back from
close distance.
Sorry for nitpicking. Perhaps my memory comes from alternative
reality, but it rhymes with data claiming that number of M4 Shermans
produced during 1942-1945 period was almost 50000.
As of the problem itself, here are some links. It is called "German
tanks problem".
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20318184
https://www.eadan.net/blog/german-tank-problem/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem
Thank you for the references.
I know nothing of any actual details about tanks.
But, "Oddball" (Donald Sutherland) in "Kelly's Heroes" said that the only
way that they could take on a Tiger,
"Yeah. Look, a Tiger has only one weak point. That's its ass. You got to
hit it point blank and you've got to hit it from behind."
