"Panzerschrecks versus Stuarts" Topic

It was a bad day to be in a Stuart tank…

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A very bad day.

Not a good day for French Shermans versus Panzerfausts either:

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Barry

A Panzerschreck against a Stuart, that is just not fair. The photos of the French 1st Army tanks are thought provoking. The stats suggest there was a better chance of the crew getting out than we used to think. Then of course it "brews up" and the turret blows off!

@deadhead:
The trick is not to be inside the tank when it does blow!

Barry

I don't have my books to hand, but IIRC Stan Perry reported his Sherman hit by at least three panzerfaust rounds. He was able to carry on after the first two (sans radio, though) but the third damaged one of the drive wheels(?) and he had to withdraw. So effects of a hit could be variable.

Interesting how as late as Geilenkirchen that the Stuarts still had their hedge-busting forks still attached. I guess it was too much of an effort to torch them off.

Jim

-Ach du lieber Hans,those are only light recce tanks trying to outflank our lines…it would be unfair to interfere with them!- Ja i agree with you Joachim,let them pass….maybe one of them is an expectant father… and Rudi responds "Blood for the Blood God !"

The newsreels used unrelated clips to create/fabricate stories of brave individuals overcoming great odds. The first Stuart missing its entire front-end is clearly a victim of a demo charge. The hole in the M4 looks like that from a normal AP shot

WarpSpeed, somtimes its best to lett rece past and report nothing found than hit it letting them know where you are.

Its interesting even in the Korean war a hit by a HEAT round often did less than catotrophic damage, more like a rifle bullet. The round would penetrate but with not that much excessibe energy. As they became more poerfull the overpressure created in the vehicle became higher and the damage much greater if it penetrated.

I thought that applied more to solid shot. Was not the whole idea of the HE bit to make nasty bang inside the tank?

We read here recently about US tank rounds passing right through lightly armoured Japanese AFVs. Not sure I would care to be inside as it did pass through. A small hole can create an awful lot of metal fragments!

HEAT is not HE. its a concentrated "pencil beam" hot enough to met a hole in the armour. Unless there is a lot spare it may not do all that much damage.

Yea, apparently it depends upon where the HEAT round hits, and what it hits internally.

I always thought of it as creating a lot of fragments, or molten spray, but recently reading about some accounts, that is only sometimes the case.

Most of the impacts only result in a hole about an inch, or a little more in diameter, so sometimes did little to damage vehicles internally, but would obviously kill or severely injure anyone in its path.

I have read accounts of molten splatter inside too, so that probably happens when/if the molten jet hits something more substantial internally, like the gun system, or other heavy metal equipment.

I have read accounts of molten splatter inside too, so that probably happens when/if the molten jet hits something more substantial internally, like the gun system, or other heavy metal equipment.

… or a crew member. Your body liquids are immediately super heated and expand beyond your bodies ability to contain them within your skin sack.

Wolfhag

Was reading recently about some tank actions that took place in Korea. After hitting a Sherman with a shaped charge round that penetrated the tank turret (and killed the TC), the North Koreans then directed MG fire at the hole made. Arguably, that hole was a good deal larger than a pencil poke.

B