M4 Sherman vs Tiger

[Grumbler]

I have read that also and did not find it crediable. The studies were done by the ground pounders that were recovering the wrecks, and were very much subject to political pressure from the top. At the time ( fall of '44) the US Army was taking a lot of shit because guys would write home that they were being transferred to armor and it was all over for them. So there was a concerted drive by the Brass in Europe to portray the Sherman as being able to stand up to the Tiger and Panther 1 on 1. Meanwhile the Army brass stuck to their silly plan of having TD's engage the German Armor and Shermans engage the german infantry. Major General McNair was the front man for this concpt of war, although most of the principal American commanders agreed with him. Gen. McNair was never in combat beyond budget battles. He was completely clueless, but like most ignorant people, very firm in his beliefs.
I suggest "Eisenhower's Lieutenants" by Russell F. Weigley. He has some excellent materiel on the whole issue in his second chapter Ewapons and Divisions. In American thinking, the tank was an infantry weapon, something to help the infantry by shooting them onto their objective. This was not just a military thought, but a matter of Law. National Defense Act of 1920.
Blast from a %"HVAR was more then enough to destroy German tanks and did so many times. After the crew was killed by concussion a tank or TD would come along and pump rounds in them until they burned.
Whittmann was killed by a 5" HVAR, after which Brown put some 17Lber round in his already knocked out Tiger. The 17 Lber rounds got credit for the kill because the Allies needed the booste in morale.
Plenty of gun camera film of P-47's bouncing .50 rounds off the pavement and into the thin underbelly of a german tank.

BTW, guys, it wasn't the altitude, it was the temperature in combination with the moisture. Know what a contrail is? In Europe they form about 15,000 lower then in the pacific. The P-38 did fine at altitudes in the Pacific and Med that it couldn't even reach in the ETO.