Any tank nuts here? WW1, WW2 Korea, Vietnam?

[71airgrabberRR]

Tiger and Panther Problems......

Both the Tiger and the Panther used final drives from the smaller Panzer 4 which was a much lighter tank. I'm pretty sure they used a similar transmission too, but the Tiger had power steering assist. The use of lighter weight tank drivetrain items is one reason why these two tank types broke down frequently.

In fact there was a field order forbidding the use of a Tiger or a Panther from towing another one. Im sure this order was broken pretty regularly especially towards the end.

One major maintenance disadvantage for the Tiger tank was that you had to remove the turret in order to replace the transmission or a final drive unit. On the Panther you had a large armored plate that was bolted down just in front of the turret and above the driver and bow gunner that had to be removed first, which was a little better.

Another drawback was the tanks weight and width. On the Tiger and King Tiger the were often too heavy to cross some bridges, so they were transported by rail car. This caused another problem because the tanks were too wide to fit through some tunnels.So they used "transport tracks" which were not nearly as wide as the normal "battle tracks".

These had to be swapped back and forth as the tank was transported to various locations.

I can tell you from personal experience with changing out tracks on the M60 that you do not want to do this very often. Using OVM hand tools and with our whole platoon helping, we could swap out a set of tracks on a single tank in about 4 hours. The track blocks were very heavy by themselves. That was in the motor pool and not under field conditions.

We did get very good at pulling the power packs which consisted of the engine and transmission.We could have everything out in less that 15 minutes....

I doubt the Germans could even come close.......

This is a trait that the American tanks had from WW2 that we carried over to our modern tanks.

Ease of maintenance.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

More Tiger Photos



Here are a few more pictures of the Tiger showing the transport tracks and rail head transporting. Then there is one that shows the turret removed to gain access to the transmission...

Another maintenance problem that was common with the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger was that the road wheels overlapped. The original idea behind this was to more evenly distribute the weight and make for a smoother ride and therefor a more stable gun platform.

This system worked great, but it had drawbacks from a maintenance stand point.

If an inner road wheel was damaged or needed replacing due to wear, the crew had to remove several wheels from different road wheel arms. Then to make things worse, if you had to replace a broken torsion bar, everything had to be removed from the opposite side to gain access to the anchors.

Then they had a problem with mud and freezing in between the road wheels too. This would keep the tank from moving.

Our tankers would sometimes park their tanks on tree logs to keep the tracks from freezing to the ground in Korea and Europe during WW2.

Enjoy

 

[roadrunner4sure]

Amen to easy repairs in the field. Maybach engine was fickle. Some German tanks has serious issues with mud and road wheels.. Not good when in battle. Breaking tracks no fun in perfect conditions let alone in the field. Most US equipment was pretty easy to work on by comparison. We gave Shermans to Russia and China during the war. They had no repair problems to speak of.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

I agree. I have had to break track in the mud, sand, snow you name it, it all sucked!!!


On a lot of the Tigers and Panthers especially on the Eastern Front during the winter the crews would remove the first outer road wheel to keep the mud and debris from freezing and making the tank immobile.

The Sherman was a pretty simple tank to repair when compared to the German counterparts. My Dad started out in Sherman's and then moved on later to the Pershing & Patton series of tank. He was a Korean War vet and told me that "as soon as your Sherman was hit, you better get out."

He said they lit off pretty quick, sometimes only within a second or two....

The Russians and the Chinese probably still owe us for the tanks we supplied them with......

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Americans vs North Korean T-34's



Here are a few pictures I found on the Internet that show an American M4 Sherman driving past a knocked A North Korean T-34. The other one shows a T-34 knocked out by the men led by Maj. General Dean in the early part of the war....

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The first picture is a drawing, and a mighty fine one at that!!!!

 

[383man]

I believe we only used the 76 mm gun Shermans in Korea. And the US used the M-26 Pershing tanks in Korea. Also there was a few M-24 Chaffee tanks which were a light tank with a 75 MM gun. The Persing of course mounted the powerful 90mm gun. Ron

 

[moparcanuck]

As stated, the Tiger, Kingtiger and Panther had serious mechanical difficulties. These problems can be traced directly back to Hitler. To him, bigger was better. And he wanted these monsters yesterday. So German engineers were not able to design and build drive trains that could match the weight of these tanks. Not to mention that they were too few too late.

But tank for tank, they were superior in fire power and armour plate to the Allied tanks. In open country, they could destroy enemy tanks before they got in range to do any damage. And one of their biggest contributions was psychological. Many veterans today laugh at the fact that whenever they heard a tank coming, regardless of what it turned out to be, they all yelled "TIGER!".

 

[71airgrabberRR]

My Dad was a crewman in the Sherman's and the Pershing's in Korea.

 

[scotts74birds]

Irregardless of the platform that carried it, the German "88" was the bully of the battlefield. Accurate, and hard-hitting. This monster, put on any tank, was a game-changer. Too bad the bloated Tiger platform got it. But if you do your research, there are plenty of "tank-destroyer" units that got the 88 on a limited traverseable chassis. These things were absolute killers.

 

[71airgrabberRR]

The 88 started out as an AAA gun. Then they got the idea to use it against armor and troops. Devastating weapon no doubt. We didn't have anything comparable until the 90MM hit the European Theater in the early prototype Pershing's.

 

[383man]

Even Germany's high velocity 75 on the Panthers was much better then the USA's 76 guns. Ron

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Sad but true.....

Even Germany's high velocity 75 on the Panthers was much better then the USA's 76 guns. Ron

You are absolutely correct.

The German 75 MM was a higher velocity round when compared to either our 75 or 76 MM main guns. The German gun had a longer length barrel and the shell casing held more powder. These 2 things are why it had a higher muzzle velocity and farther effective range.

The US Army introduced a "hotter" 76 MM round for the tank destroyer crews towards the end of the war. The guys in the 76MM Sherman's would try and get their hands on this ammo whenever they could. It gave them a little better chance with a side / flanking or rear shot.

The hot ammo used a different powder formula and more of it packed into the casing.

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I believe we only used the 76 mm gun Shermans in Korea. And the US used the M-26 Pershing tanks in Korea. Also there was a few M-24 Chaffee tanks which were a light tank with a 75 MM gun. The Persing of course mounted the powerful 90mm gun. Ron

We had a few flame thrower versions of the Sherman used in Korea too. These were held over from the end of WW2 and used by the occupation forces in Japan. During the early months of the Korean War we rushed over anything that we could get on a ship. Our Country was not ready for another war and had demobilized the majority of our military, so we were unprepared.

My Dad was a crewman that served in a number of different type tanks in Korea. He never talked much about anything that he went through. But he did open up a little before he passed away last year.

He told me that he was in a flame thrower Sherman when they recaptured Seoul just after the Inchon landing. He said his Army unit was attached to the USMC and his tank was knocked out when a North Korean threw a satchel charge on the rear deck. The resulting explosion took out the tanks engine.

He then added the Sherman could go places where the Pershing couldn't as far as roads and hills go.

But then he told me he liked the Pershing better because it rode more comfortable and had a 90MM main gun. He said the T-34 didn't stand a chance when a good hit was made.

 

[roadrunner4sure]

The Hotter 76mm round was in such demand at the end of the war they were flying them across the North Atlantic to get them to our troops till sufficient quantities could be put on boats. It did help a bit for sure.

 

[383man]

The hotter 76 mm rounds were called the HVAP (Hyper velocity armor piercing). You guys are right as it was going to the tank destroyers first because the US army wanted the tank destroyers to knock out German tanks but of course our tanks had to do it alot also. When you figure the US army had over 5000 Shermans in Europe and about 1800 tank destroyers there was more tanks to go around. They also had about 2500 light tanks but they were mostly for recon units as they were the M-5 Stuart tank with the 37mm gun until late 1944 when the M-24 Chaffe light tanks started to arrive with their 75mm gun.
Also the US army did have a 90mm tank destroyer in Europe before the M-26 Pershing got there. I believe the first 90mm tank destroyers which were the M-36 got to Europe in Sept of 44 but they had to train crews on them and they did not go into combat until Oct 44. They say there was about 269 M-36's with the 90mm gun in Europe around where the battle of the bulge was fought starting on December 16 1944 as they could knock out the Panther and Tiger alot easier then the 76mm and 3 inch gun tank destryers could. By around April 45 almost all tank destroyer batallions had converted to the M-36's. Ron

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I met this German gentleman at a show in Reading PA and I got to sit and talk with him for a few minutes as he was a crew member on a Tiger tank that fought first in North Africa. Very nice man and cool to talk with. Funny as here 65 years later I get to talk with one of the guys who was the enemy 65 years ago and it was very cool to hear his story. Enemy or not he was a soldier doing his job as did all soldiers in the war which ever country they fought for. Now 65 years later we are all friends ! Ron

 

[71airgrabberRR]

How cool is that ???? I had a similar story from a man that I met about 10 years ago. He was a B-24 pilot over Europe, and then went on to fly F-86's in Korea.

His next door neighbor was a German civilian during the War. Once he found out what city she was from, he pulled out his old log books and found the exact date of his mission and showed it to her. She lived in one of the cities he bombed!!!!

They became the best of friends many years later.

We could all learn from this..........

 

[satman72]

This is a local story that appeared in our paper today;http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4021605-second-world-war-act-of-mercy-inspires-song/

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Cool story. Just goes to show you.... What comes around, goes around... We call it Karma.

 

[383man]

I have also met an American and German fighter pilots that are now friends and the American shot the German pilot down. They both understand they were soldiers doing their job. Now they are best of friends doing what good people do in being friends ! I also met them at Reading PA show. The German was flying the 262 Jet and the American was in a P-51 Mustang as he caught the jet trying to land. It was great to meet them. Ron

 

[71airgrabberRR]

That would have been awesome to just be in their company!!!!
I'm sure they both had some great stories......

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I got to meet Dick Rossi once, who was an ace P-40 pilot flying with the AVG Flying Tigers.

He was an outstanding gentleman.

 

[Pops1967GTX]

Cobra king: Where is she today?

http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/cobra-king-today/