M4 Sherman vs Tiger

[McIvan]

I wondered why the Lightning did so well in the Pacific in comparison....I sort of put it down to the temperature but didn't know exactly why....thanks for that.

That's a very interesting view on Wittman's death, I had heard both versions but not a version where they both happened just one after the other. It doesn't really square with the 17pdr version where the Tiger is knocked out when attacking in concert with other German armour. I reckon you should post that at the Battlefront Forums because they have some people over there who are, after extensive debates, probably as clued up as it is possible to be on Wittman's death. I guess it is impossible to be truly sure.

I'm not sure we saw the same studies, since the ones I'm thinking of are based on German total loss records, not Allied post battle inspection at all. I don't disagree that a 5" rocket (or the Brit equivalent) hitting a tank could put the crew out of commission due to concussion or perhaps even kill them; it was just that they were almost never hit. I'm dredging now, and I'm not sure I could find the study if I was challenged on it, but I seem to recall a study showing that multiple aircraft with rockets were almost completely unable to hit even stationary practice targets. The blast from near misses was not going to kill a tank. If I remember rightly (and I may not) it was generally bombs that resulted in the limited number of kills that did occur, because their blast was much greater and the tolerance for missing accordingly more lenient.

When you think about it, bouncing .50cals into the belly of a Tiger is going to do exactly nothing. They'd have greatly reduced energy from the bounce, they'd be misshapen, and they'd be hitting the underside at an extremely shallow angle which would ricochet the rounds even if they hadn't been bounced and battered first. I think it is quite possible that the crews hopped out and ran off till the nasty airplanes had finished strafing, rocketing and bombing their tanks, but I reckon they then hopped straight back in. I would astonished if a single Tiger was ever destroyed in that manner.