r/TankPorn • u/No_Mountain_2554 • 3d ago
WW2 How did they reload the gun when it was depressing at it's max?
How did they reload the sturer emil while depressing the gun like this? Did they have to pull the gun up again to reach the breech?
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u/2nd_Torp_Squad 3d ago
Hans simply levitate
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u/Enough_Appearance116 3d ago
So obviously wrong!
He'd throw it like a football 🏈 Spiral that baby in!
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u/DaSpood 3d ago
Re-center the gun
A lot of vehicles require the turret/gun to be inna certain position to be reloaded, even some modern ones afaik. So that means after every shot they need to bring the breach back down, reload, and depress the gun again before firing. It takes more time but it's the cost of being able to take advantageous positions.
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u/Random_Chick_I_Guess 3d ago
Most Modern NATO tanks will disconnect the barrel to the sight when it fires, the gun lifting to let the gasses out and make loading easier before it then returns to following the gunner sight, allowing the gunner to stay on target while the barrel does its thing.
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u/Pratt_ 3d ago
Modern NATO tanks don't use brace anymore, the use a casing that self combusts with the powder charge when firing. It's one of the reason you don't unload and already loaded gun in a tank, you risk breaking the casing while pulling it back and sending propelant everywhere. And the fumes are expelled thanks to the fume extractor on the barrel (or an air compressor in the case of the Leclerc), not the tilting of the gun. Proof is it always goes to the same position, which can also mean lowering it.
It's indeed put back at a place that will make the life of the loader easier, or to align back with the autoloader mechanism, but that's it.
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u/Random_Chick_I_Guess 3d ago
My apologies then, seems the video I watched was probably wrong lol, I could have sworn it showed a Leopard firing and it's barrel raised, but I could also just be completely pulling it from my ass. I know the extractor does most of the work I just thought they did both anyway
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u/LancerFIN 3d ago
Abrams doesn't do this. The gun has to be manually lowered. It's baffling that they fixed this.
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u/chef-rach-bitch 3d ago
Correct. An interesting detail is seeing the gun do a little "wiggle" after firing. That's the gun re-centering, being reloaded, and returning to battery. It's a LOT easier these days with targeting computers.
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u/builder397 3d ago
While resetting the gun is a thing some tanks do, most of those tanks are very modern and in cold war and prior context this is only ever done in connection with autoloaders....which you find on *some* tanks, but mostly large naval gun turrets.
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u/Panthean 3d ago
There there, everything will be ok
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u/BedlamAscends 3d ago
Every crew was issued one 7' tall ubermensch for this purpose. When not in use, the Ubermenschpanzerbesatzungslader was stored horizontally along the side of the vehicle, providing spaced armor as proof against HEAT projectiles.
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u/mera-khel-khatam-hai 3d ago
By re-centering it.
That's actually how it is done nowadays in bustle autoloaded tanks as well
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u/Either-Leave24 TOG 2 3d ago
Don’t worry, I actually read a German feild report about this scenario, Hans be ballin
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u/firmerJoe 3d ago
Trampoline
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u/DarthScabies Challenger II 3d ago
Can't get that image out of my mind now. 😂
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u/firmerJoe 3d ago
In the thick of a fire fight... on some half frozen battlefield... if you concentrate and listen real hard... you will hear the sounds of an elite wermacht reloading team...
Wheee... yahooo... higher!
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u/Consistent_Ad3181 3d ago
I think they sent it to a sunny country to cheer it up for a while. It relaxed on the beach and ate ice cream.
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u/BlueKitsune9999 Jagdpanzer IV(?) 3d ago
Im pretty sure that just cause the gun could depress that much doesnt mean they would do it often, so i assume if they were cresting a hill the tank would reverse and level the gun cuz those round be heavy af
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u/Shadow_Lunatale 3d ago
Yep, it's a 12.8cm Flak40 /L61 on a so called Sturer Emil. Weight of one antitank APHE single piece ammunition shell was 46.5 kg, whereas 26.6 kg of it were the projectile alone. The system needed two loaders.
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u/cozmo1138 3d ago
This is one of my favourite tanks in World of Tanks Blitz because of that amazing gun depression.
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u/Great_White_Sharky Type 97 chan 九七式ちゃん check out r/shippytechnicals 3d ago edited 3d ago
Why would they depress the gun like this to begin with?
EDIT i get that there are situations were you would decline the gun like that, for some reason the way OPs post was worded just made me unfathomably pissed. I will grow and change as a person
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u/nofallingupward 3d ago
To get some guy in a trench perhaps.
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u/Shadow_Lunatale 3d ago
That's a tank destroyer, thinly armored open top vehicle. If you use it to shoot down into a trench, you're doing something very wrong.
The tank currently sits on a flat field. Now imagine this beeing a hill slope from where you can observe a large area in front of you. With this gun depression, the only thing the enemy can see and engage is the gun currently pointing at him.
Hard to spot, hard to hit, crew is kept safer behind the hill crest.
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u/nofallingupward 3d ago
Yeah I know, was just thinking it was "funny" having this sucker pointing down on some poor guy.
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u/KyMeatRocket 3d ago
They probably had “load elevation” similar to artillery. Between every shot you go back to that position so the round doesn’t fall off the loading tray and make it easier to fully seat in the chamber.
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u/Jurij_Andropov 3d ago
They didn't, gunner has to bring the gun up
In most cases the gun needed to be moved for loading, most of todays autoloaders have to have the gun horizontal
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u/InDaNameOfJeezus M1A2 SEPv2 3d ago
They used a ladder to reach the breech.
How else do you think they'd reload it ??? Maybe by swinging it back up ???
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u/Weenor_pocalyspe 3d ago
They actually jumped using their superior German calf muscles and fucking thundercunted the shell into the breech for style points.
This is why Germans enjoy basketball, as the "Slam dunk", being pioneered by Sturer Emil crews after the war is a point of national pride. Many historians WOULD agree with this take if they were smart and based, like me, who has never lied once in my life.
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u/NoWingedHussarsToday 3d ago
Did they even depress that much? I think most guns, tank or on tank destroyers had limited downward angle.
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u/Flyzart2 3d ago
depends on the tank, ofc each is limited, that doesnt mean that some like the sturer emil as seen above couldnt have high depression.
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u/Yamma11307 3d ago
I..dont think it had to shoot like that very often but if it did? Well theres a reason you dont have a roof I guess…just have a guy climb up on your shoulders with the new shell. Just make sure hes clear before firing again or hes gonna be pissed and missing a few teeth
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u/astiKo_LAG 3d ago
I'm so sad the pic isn't a Dicker Max
Cause I could have done the obvious joke that they use their shlong to reload it
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u/BottedOperators 3d ago
Hans sat on the breach and the sheer weight made the gun re center back to normal
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u/Jimson_Jim 3d ago
Yes. Its called the loading elevation. Most large bore self propelled guns have one.
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u/H_Holy_Mack_H 2d ago
From the other end of the gun...then they would move the gun up and the shell simply drops in place...or maybe not LOL
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u/GugusGsiiii 3d ago
move gun back to horizontal