In which I wonder about some feats in recorded history, and specifically HOW did they manage that.
And my first question that was gnawing at me for some time has to do with Michael Wittmann's destruction of 6 T-34 tanks in 1941, all alone, starting his long record as an ace tank commander. At the time he was commanding a Stug-III.
Well, there were actually very few T-34 in 1941, but FSM knows it was possible to run into one or six.
But then, how did he kill them?
While the Stug line would eventually account for most tank kills in the war, all through 1941 it was armed with the short barreled 7.5 cm L/24 KwK 37 howitzer. It was an infantry support vehicle. (Probably everyone knows, but L/24 is the length in calibres, including the chamber. So yeah, that was a really short gun, for lobbing HE at infantry at close range. The projectile was actually subsonic, for pete's sake.) It wouldn't be until the Ausf F in 1942 that it got the 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/43 gun, and it wouldn't be until the end of june 1942 that it got the final 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/48 gun that finally made it the tank killer we all know and love.
Most of the ammo carried by a StuG with the L/24 gun was basically a concussive charge. The projectile was a relatively thin steel shell, packed with a pound of high explosive. It was great for lobbing into a trench or through a bunker's window, but that was about it. It tended to do nothing at all even against thinnest armour.
Then it had a few canister shots, which, well, were absolutely devastating against infantry, but did even less against armour.
And a couple of smoke rounds, which, yeah, did even less against armour.
Then came the capped AP shot, which, well, could probably defeat a BT-5, but that was about it.
The best bet would have been really the HEAT shot, but... that wasn't all that great either. The model available in '41 was really able to penetrate anywhere between 39 and 41mm of steel, between 100 and 500m. By 2000m, it fell to 30mm, but it compensated by not being able to hit anything at that distance anyway ;)
So, basically, no ammo he had on that Stug III could possibly penetrate a T34 from the front OR back from more than point blank range, and the low gun velocity meant very unlikely to hit them unless they're stationary. Or, again, point blank. And I'm not sure they even had that many HE shells to start with.
So... how did he do it? Did they get out of the StuG and put some magnetic mines on those T34 or WTH? Or are we talking mobility kills or such?
And my first question that was gnawing at me for some time has to do with Michael Wittmann's destruction of 6 T-34 tanks in 1941, all alone, starting his long record as an ace tank commander. At the time he was commanding a Stug-III.
Well, there were actually very few T-34 in 1941, but FSM knows it was possible to run into one or six.
But then, how did he kill them?
While the Stug line would eventually account for most tank kills in the war, all through 1941 it was armed with the short barreled 7.5 cm L/24 KwK 37 howitzer. It was an infantry support vehicle. (Probably everyone knows, but L/24 is the length in calibres, including the chamber. So yeah, that was a really short gun, for lobbing HE at infantry at close range. The projectile was actually subsonic, for pete's sake.) It wouldn't be until the Ausf F in 1942 that it got the 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/43 gun, and it wouldn't be until the end of june 1942 that it got the final 7.5 cm StuK 40 L/48 gun that finally made it the tank killer we all know and love.
Most of the ammo carried by a StuG with the L/24 gun was basically a concussive charge. The projectile was a relatively thin steel shell, packed with a pound of high explosive. It was great for lobbing into a trench or through a bunker's window, but that was about it. It tended to do nothing at all even against thinnest armour.
Then it had a few canister shots, which, well, were absolutely devastating against infantry, but did even less against armour.
And a couple of smoke rounds, which, yeah, did even less against armour.
Then came the capped AP shot, which, well, could probably defeat a BT-5, but that was about it.
The best bet would have been really the HEAT shot, but... that wasn't all that great either. The model available in '41 was really able to penetrate anywhere between 39 and 41mm of steel, between 100 and 500m. By 2000m, it fell to 30mm, but it compensated by not being able to hit anything at that distance anyway ;)
So, basically, no ammo he had on that Stug III could possibly penetrate a T34 from the front OR back from more than point blank range, and the low gun velocity meant very unlikely to hit them unless they're stationary. Or, again, point blank. And I'm not sure they even had that many HE shells to start with.
So... how did he do it? Did they get out of the StuG and put some magnetic mines on those T34 or WTH? Or are we talking mobility kills or such?
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