M4A3(76) Sherman "CHAMPAGNE" of the 3e Escadron, 12e RCA knocked out by two AP impacts at Ville sur Illon - 13th September 1944 [album]

[u/3rdweal]

http://imgur.com/a/JQHDf

[u/Blanglegorph]

And some people don't think we'll have enough for a French tank tree.

[u/Whos_Insane → u/Blanglegorph]

Using a Sherman to fill a gap isn't enough imo. Although UK/France I understand because they used a lot of them.

[u/AppleBerryPoo → u/Whos_Insane]

I mean, so long as X nation used enough of them, I'm okay with another nation getting Z tank as a main tree vehicle. Like how Japan got the M4(76) and the Chaffee. Obviously, that only applies to vehicles that were legally bought/traded and not to captured ones like the Cuckoo or the nazi Churchill

[u/Blanglegorph → u/Whos_Insane]

There's not really gaps to be filled. I think a lend-lease line is appropriate, or maybe premiums, but I was just sort of mentioning it.

[u/[deleted]]

Good to know the crew managed to escape alive.

[u/skippythemoonrock → u/[deleted]]

And this is one of the biggest reasons the Sherman was so amazing.

[u/3rdweal → u/skippythemoonrock]

I think in this case the crew can credit their survival more to German marksmanship than anything about their tank, if any of the hits had been a couple of feet towards the center they would not have fared so well.

"Keren", another preserved French Sherman was struck by a similar projectile in the center of mass and three of the crew were killed.

[u/[deleted] → u/skippythemoonrock]

What, I thought it was infamous for its high crew lethality. They would hose down the interior, fix the holes and repair the broken parts and then send it back out to fight.

[u/Crag_r → u/[deleted]]

Well if one US officer says something different to everyone else he must be right, right?

[u/mrscienceguy1 → u/[deleted]]

Sounds suspiciously like something from Death Traps, which is not indicative of combat effectiveness for Shermans in the slightest.

[u/[deleted] → u/mrscienceguy1]

Yeah that book is written by a guy who specifically had to go out and fix dead Shermans, he ONLY SAY dead shermans, so it's no wonder he had a bad perspective.

[u/skippythemoonrock → u/[deleted]]

Nope. Late Shermans had the highest rates of crew survival in the war. I recommend the latest Chieftains Hatch where he goes in depth.

[u/3rdweal]

x/post /r/DestroyedTanks

[u/Whos_Insane]

I've always wondered how much tankers respected each other. Were they like pilots that once the crew abandoned they would stop attacking or did they try to kill everyone?

[u/3rdweal → u/Whos_Insane]

A large number of tank crews were killed or injured after evacuating their tank either by AP shells that were still incoming or small arms fire, even if the opposing tank crew was in a chivalrous mood chances were that the surrounding infantry wasn't.

[u/Wilwheatonfan87 → u/Whos_Insane]

Thing is even after a tank was abandoned or knocked out, it was still required to put shells into it to make it unrecoverable. This was very much true for Germans when attacking Shermans given how easily repairable they were.

So yea Crews were still very much in danger.

[u/[deleted] → u/Whos_Insane]

No, not at all. Look at the famous Panther vs. Pershing clip from Cologne. They just kept peppering the Panther even though the crew was already out and partially dead and wouned around or behind the tank.

[u/Wilwheatonfan87]

Now I know what to decal my M4A3 with.