True or False?

A co-worker last night said all German tanks had Diesel engines.I said I thought none of them did.Who is correct?

 

Both?

Since diesel is currently slightly cheaper....facter in the inflation since since WW2.....

I dunno Im just guessing they used diesel like everybody else.

 

Idunno... I allways thought they used petrol/gasoline in every machine....!? And allways wondered why they didn't use diesel...

 

Modern or WWII?

Most, if not all German tanks in WWII were powered by gasoline engines, may have been some diesel development later in the war, not too sure though.

 

All the German-manufactured tanks used petrol engines (made by Mayback). Some vehicles did use diesel, or were planned to use diesel, such as the Sd.Kfz.234 series (using a Checzoslovakia Tatra diesel engine) and the proposed German re-design of the 38(t) chassis (38(d)), which was planned as the next main light chassis for use as a tank destroyer, anti-aircraft vehicle and armoured command vehicle.

 

But the wonderful Italian M13-40 was diesel!

:smok:

 

There is a scene in the movie "Patton" where Karl Malden (GEN Bradley) tells George C. Scott (GEN Patton) that the German tanks are diesels and the US tanks are gasoline powered. I think this error is what leads a lot of folks to think that all the panzers were diesel powered.

 

All german tanks used operationaly were gasoline powered. It seems that perception of diesel engines was first introduced during the war as german tanks did not burst into flames as readily as allied tanks.

 

The use of the gasoline engine was already decided before the war after the oil and other industries would suggested that it would work better during the war.

 

According to Len Deighton it proved useful as the Panzer divisions were able to refuel from civilian petrol stations (...and I guess having the 75mm gun of a PzIV guarantees instant credit! :lol: ), however this confuses me slightly since modern day petrol stations offer petrol and diesel (And in some cases LPG now too, however I digress).

Was diesel really that unusual in Europe in the late 30's? I'm being deliberately open minded since LPG was all but unheard of 5 years ago but is becoming slightly more common now and whereas I can't remember diesel not being available, I can't honestly remember further back than the early-to-mid 80s either (I was born 1978, so I can just remember the news reports of the Falklands being invaded).

 

i guess Car diesels were not really common with the first production diesel cars were the Mercedes-Benz 260D and the Hanomag Rekord, both introduced in 1936.

 

Thanks, that's quite interesting because it does put things into context. It's easy to assume that Diesel pumps were not unusual then since they aren't now, but of course times change.

 

Having all of the vehicles run on the same fuel makes logistical sense. When your enemy uses the same fuel (gasoline in thuis case), it's even easier as you can use captured fuel.

 

diesel

I read somewhere the reason German tanks almost exclusively used petrol, was because on start-up the diesel kicked out so much smoke it could be seen from a long way off,but from the Russian viewpoint it was less of a technical problem using diesel, but Germany had a lot of technical ability so no problem
Dennis

 

And important thing,especialy in war condition is that diesel engines use less fuel then gasoline engines.That why T-34 had great range (300km +180 with external tanks) when sherman for exsample had radius off 161Km.

 

Without researching it myself, are you including factors such as fuel size, Sherman variant, vehicle weight, et cetera?

Although it is true that diesel is more effective for range, I don't see (yet) that it can be used as the sole factor in determening the T-34's superior range.

 

The book I was reading that mention what I posted earlier also said something about production of synthetic fuel and other synthetic products.

I assume they are talking about turning coal into gasoline?

 

The Germans did have a process to turn coal into gasoline alternative. Not sure if they could do it with other alternative methods though.

 

If I remember my chemistry correctly which I probably can't the procces is called gasification of coal.

 

mm, i think is called hydogenation of coal, i'm not that sure, been a looonnnggg time since my chemistry classes