Favourite U.S. tank ?

I like the 90 mm M-36 Jackson, it could kill anything the Germans had..

I know its a TD, not a tank..

at another armor forum the SP 155 mm M-40 with posit fuses was voted the deadlist AFV on any battlefield.

 

Welcome to the forum, Stonewall!

Interesting topic, I'd say. Start a topic!

 

Hmmm, according to Belton Y Cooper (maintainance officer with 3rd Armoured Division), the 155 was just as ineffective as the Sherman 75 against the heavier German tanks, as it had a HE round not an AP round.
There were cases of a 155 blowing Tiger II's to pieces - mostly due to lucky shots (hits in the shot trap under the turret, etc).

btw - welcome!
Does your love for the Jackson have any relation to your nickname?

 

Stonewall Jackson, army of Northern Virginia..


Well, the 155mm had a 24 km range...

I could shoot 'sugur crispies' at you and under 1000 meters it would take a Tiger II apart.. 100 lbs at 2800 fps?

The Germans at AAchen complained the US would kill tiger shooting though a row of townhoses. link to follow later on.

Here is a myth denied

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_25.htm

Supposedly the ledgend is thats what stopped Pieffer at LaGlaize (spell)




The American self-propelled 90-mm. tank destroyer and the 88-mm. German equivalent were much feared, or at the least highly respected, for they had the power to penetrate the armor they faced, they could jockey for position along the winding Ardennes roads and defiles, and they were hard to destroy. Both antagonists used 75-mm. towed antitank weapons and both lost these towed weapons and other towed artillery in large numbers. In the mud and snow, and under direct fire and infantry assault, the task of limbering gun to truck or tractor was difficult and hazardous. Furthermore, in heavy and close combat the tow vehicle often was shot up or immobilized while the gun, dug in, remained intact. The mobile, tactically agile, self-propelled, armored field artillery and tank destroyers are clearly traceable in the Ardennes fighting as over and over again influencing the course of battle. Their record should be pondered in the design of tactics




The shells were exploding above him, where the armor is thin topside.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_25.htm


Supposedly the value of the VT fuse is overstated..


Block by block fighting in Aachen


As fighting progressed on 14 October, the 2/26 received augmentation from VII Corps in the form of a self-propelled 155mm gun. (The 3/26 was likewise reinforced on this date.) This weapon fired a 95-pound armor-piercing projectile at a muzzle velocity of 2,800 feet per second[33]—sufficient kinetic energy to penetrate an entire block of buildings. Daniel was strictly enjoined to take good care of this asset.



hhhhmmm



Once in place, the 155 utterly demolished the "pillbox," which later proved to be a camouflaged tank.[36]


etc

http://www.leavenworth.army.mil/csi/res ... TGabel.asp

read the whole thing

Lets see, it would fire though a block of townhoses, then kill a tank

google :Aachen and 155mm and see what you find.

more

http://cpof.ida.org/MOUT-Aachen-1944.pdf

 

Like I said, the German commander complained bitterly about 155 & 200 mm SP firing point blank, though many buildings walls , and then killing tiger tanks with HVAP on the other side a block away.

The American response was 'we gave you a chance to surrender'.

This is a well known episode..
play close attention to pages 12/13

http://cpof.ida.org/MOUT-Aachen-1944.pdf
pictures ect

 

Thought so!

Thanks for the prompt reply with sources. I have no idea one way or the other to be truthful, I simply wrote what I knew.

One little quibble...

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/7-8/7-8_25.htm
...
Both antagonists used 75-mm. towed antitank weapons ...

I always thought that the Americans only had 57mm AT guns - ah, except for a few 75mm recoiless rifles.

 

Well, the Brits were giving us sabots for the 57 mm, the rinky dink little guns were taking out some heavies at close range.

The 75 mm on the Sherman was origianally just a towed piece also.



http://users.belgacom.net/artillery/art ... tml#208488


The 17th airborne Division, the 3rd US Airborne in the Bulge, carried these and 105MM howitzers.

 

oops the 17th airborn carried the 75 mm 'pack' short barreled

6 man teams, one for each tire, one for the carriage, one for the breech and one for the short barrel

source "Time on Target" 17th Airborne book

http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/513/513.html

 

http://users.belgacom.net/artillery/art ... tml#208481

Funny these people also say there was no US 75/76 towed AT gun

other than a "T" test vesion

but, they also said we did not us 'cannister' anti personel in the 57mm

We got some fromt the Brits, along with Sabots

 

These men look like they're 87th Infantry, judging the shoulder patch. Fielded alongside 17th Airborne, relieving the 28th infantry (or rather, the remains of it) while 17th relieved the 101st for service in the Alsace.

 

Three-inch antitank canon used in Vielsalm in late 1944 by the 7th US armoured division

from link

http://users.belgacom.net/artillery/art ... tml#208488

 

picutre loads now