"What did tank crews do after bailing out? " Topic

I am creating a WW2 scenario using the NUTS rules. An SU-152 has been abandoned due to engine breakdown near the middle of the board. There are no other Russian tanks in the immediate area, but at the time of the breakdown the crew is safely among surrounding friendly infantry. What did tank crews typically do when a tank was disabled? Seek cover? Retreat back to a rear area for new orders? Or would they come under the command of nearby unit? I'm trying to get an idea of what a crew would realistically do in a situation like this so I can incorporate their actions into the scenario.

From what I understand, they got the hell out of there and moved to the rear. Unless an officer stopped them for some reason. Even if they grabbed weapons from the tank (unlikely) they weren't armed for front line combat. Their weapons were for personal defense.

Run

poop their pants…

Stop, drop, and roll?

There is a Brad Pitt documentary on this issue.

Tank crews were valuable personnel with a very few small arms

The sensible thing (and most tank crews were very sensible) would be to head for the high country ASAP and wait for the tank recovery wallahs to repair their vehicle – or to be issued another one

That's kind of what I was thinking, they'd probably vamoose once they figured out their vehicle couldn't be fixed quickly. I may have to have an officer intervene and give them a reason to stick around for the sake of the scenario

I believe Russian crews were loath to leave their vehicles for fear of being…punished!

In John Foley's book "Mailed Fist" his crew bailed out after being hit by a Tiger 1 at close range. Thgey went to the rear for new tank. His words "Nobody wanted us, we were a tank crew without a tank."

My first thought was run like hell.

We practiced E&E drills so I expect that they did the same. Escape and evade exercises are common in armor and cavalry units.

Roll to recrew the tank.

I recently read "Tank Men" and there seemed to be a number of examples where tank commanders replaced casualties and Troop commanders were required to replace the tank commander in another tank, if they could get to them.
It clearly needed a lot of courage to get right back into the fray after having your own tank knocked out, usually with casualties.
The rest of the crew hunkered down or made their way back as best they could.

I would say they are out of the battle. Not sure how much fighting you're going to get out of a guy who went through getting a tank shot out from under him.

Loved your films by the way Brock.

In Flames of War V3, you roll a D6.

I have read accounts of crews bailing out, taking cover right near the tank, and then realizing that the tank wasn't on fire. Followed by quickly jumping back aboard!

Depends on the failure and the situation. If they abandon the vehicle due to combat, they move to the rear to where the maintenance unit is located or their HQ. They'll either get a functioning vehicle, be split up to fill empty crew slots in other vehicles, help move repairs to the front, help the maintenance unit recover their vehicle and/or catch up on sleep until somebody gives them something to do.

I'm sure their long term goal was to go back to the rear area. The first 10 minutes or so after their vehicle is hit, I'd think they could return fire or provide covering fire for their own retreat. I don't think they'd join supporting infantry in an attack, though.

Grelber

Reading your scenario, it sounds as if in safe area,so would be waiting for recovery team. May even be trying to restart the engine. Once shooting starts then start moving to safety.

A broken down tank is a different kettle of fish to a tank knocked out in combat.

I recall several German accounts (one of them v Ribbentrop at Kursk, I think) where a platoon or company commander had to bail and went to another tank and took it over.

Just noting that the opposite was true in the Japanese army, tank crews were expected to fight as infantry if their tank was destroyed. Not sure about the above example however, they may have been expected to try and fix the tank.

I read a Russian tanker's memoir where, after they abandoned their knocked out tank, the crew returned after dark and destroyed their vehicle so they would not be punished for abandoning it.

"Duck and Cover!"

Agree that an officer with a platoon or more under his command would "bump" someone in a functioning tank. But I note Bob Crisp went through seven tanks in the course of Crusader, and I don't recall him or his crews ever doing anything but going back and getting a fresh Stuart--most likely one someone else had bailed out of previously.

I imagine a unit of however many tanks was a lot less efficient after a few days of this. You'd have crews who had never trained or fought together, drivers unused to the eccentricities of particular vehicles, and tanks put back into action on the "good enough for government work" program to make up the numbers.Don't know how you'd represent it in a game, though.

A number of the actions covered in the Panzer Aces series involve tank crews under fire working to repair suspension damage – including replacing a road wheel on a Tiger.

Others speak of tanks detouring to pick up the crews of tanks disabled.

But then those were Germans.

Haven't read of Russian practices in similar circumstances – the only incidents I have seen there were catastrophic destruction of the tank.

At that point with a dead crew member it was sit tight and then head for the rear.

Same with an incident in Italy – first shot hit the Churchill's track and the crew bails because in a few seconds the second shot will be better aimed. And it was. Still lost a man whose foot was taken off by the second shot while he was on the deck during the bailout. Crew held to cover briefly and then withdrew.

Of course both incidents occurred during attacks rather than defenses, so the action was moving on allowing a reasonably safe withdrawal.

The "driver/mechanic" (an official designation, he/she does the preventive maintenance) is responsible to attempt repairs on the spot.
The Tank Commander has responsibility to "take measures for repair"*, report to the platoon leader, and "- to call on other tanks and infantry if the crew of the damaged tank cannot provide security for it themselves"*.
This is about your starting point?
"- in cases where the tank is in danger of falling into enemy hands, after the last round has been fired, after the tiniest possibility of rescuing the tank no longer exists, to give the order to the crew to abandon the tank taking with them the machine gun and making the tank and cannon unusable."*
* all the above from: Soviet Armored Tactics in World War II, The Tactics of the Armored Units of the Red Army From Individual Vehicles to Battalions According to the Combat Regulations of February 1944 by Charles C. Sharp available from The Nafzinger Collection see Manufacturers Index on the left side of TMP home page. TMP link
Also read Order 227.

I always enjoyed the line from the movie, "The Beast" (1988). A Soviet tank and its crew become lost in an Afghan valley with a group of vengeance-seeking rebels on their tracks.

Daskal (George Dzundza) to his tank crew: "You know our standing orders."

Kaminski: "What?"

Daskal: "Out of commission, become a pillbox. Out of ammo, become a bunker. Out of time, become Heroes."

Further to the previous answers, I recently found this from Robert Forczyk's book on Eastern Tank Warfare:-

Even those tanks that were considered "knocked out" could often be repaired, since the damage inflicted by armour piercing ammunition was usually not catastrophic. Crew casualties were usually limited to 0-2 fatalities per tank knocked out, with the rest of the crew wounded, so it was not unusual for a given crew to have been knocked out several times during the course of the war. In the early years of the war, Soviet tankers often abandoned their tanks if hit, and simply walked back to their lines. The Red Army eventually issued a directive that tank crews that returned to their lines without their tank would be sent to penal units, which forced Soviet tankers to stick with their damaged vehicles.

Check out "Brothers in Arms" by Kareem Abdul-Jabber. (Yes that Kareem). It's a history of the 761st Tank Battalion. Quit a bit from guys having bailed out. Seems the it couldn't shoot or move they got out.