Can you identify the mystery vehicle?

[Andrew H.]

I set up a January 1945 QB - ME, Tiny, Snow, Ardennes, Village. "Mix" type - I'm playing German and choose a Jagdtiger, a Sturmtiger, and a platoon of infantry.  The AI picks its own troops. (As you can see, I'm both a stickler for historical realism and a person who likes a fair fight.)

On about Turn 3, I'm moving my unbuttoned-and-still-virginal JT down a road when a mystery vehicle fires at it from a wooded knoll. First shot penetrates the JT from the front, killing the crew and destroying the JT.  Range was approximately 500 meters.  I never got a shot off or saw what killed it.

Your assignment: what enemy vehicle was it that so easily dispatched my JT?

Additional hint: based on the violence of the hit animation, it didn't look like the round struggled to penetrate the JT. 

[Placebo]

is there a pic or vid to follow?

 

[AttorneyAtWar]

105 Sherman?

M36 Jackson?

MGC 155?

[A Canadian Cat]

My guesses would look just like @Raptorx7's list. But with the M36 at the top of the list.

Do you know the answer and are testing us or are you just as in the dark as us?

[Pak40]

No way a 105 Sherman will penetrate JT, unless maybe through a vision slit. Lower Glacis on the JT is only 100mm and not sloped as much as the upper hull glacis, so it's a definite vulnerable frontal target. 

[snake_eye]

Like IanL, I think that its is most probably a M36 Jackson AP shell. The M36 gun is able to punch a hole in a Pz V (as I found it out in some scenarios) from that distance quite easily and the JT will be no exception.

[Andrew H.]

Raptorx7 found the answer - it was the M12 GMC with the 155 mm gun.  Standard loadout includes 3 *AP* rounds. 

Who knew?

Unfortunately, no video - I really just ran the QB to see the new equipment and watch things blow up. (The way that one does...).  I wasn't expecting any actual opposition, and was surprised to discover that there was something other than a Jackson which can take on JT from the front (and it's kind of iffy with the Jackson). 

[A Canadian Cat]

Cool those things are truly nasty if they get the drop on you.  That hit decal is pretty big right.

[Andrew H.]

Yeah, the hit decal was about the size of the barrel opening on the JT.  And I'm like "What the hell was *that*?"

I really just think it's awesome that the game surprised me like that. 

[user1000]

4 hours ago, Andrew H. said:

I set up a January 1945 QB - ME, Tiny, Snow, Ardennes, Village. "Mix" type - I'm playing German and choose a Jagdtiger, a Sturmtiger, and a platoon of infantry.  The AI picks its own troops. (As you can see, I'm both a stickler for historical realism and a person who likes a fair fight.)

On about Turn 3, I'm moving my unbuttoned-and-still-virginal JT down a road when a mystery vehicle fires at it from a wooded knoll. First shot penetrates the JT from the front, killing the crew and destroying the JT.  Range was approximately 500 meters.  I never got a shot off or saw what killed it.

Your assignment: what enemy vehicle was it that so easily dispatched my JT?

Additional hint: based on the violence of the hit animation, it didn't look like the round struggled to penetrate the JT. 

The jagdtiger would be rare to see in battle. Not really historical realism.

[kensal]

Schwimmer?

[Barkhorn1x]

52 minutes ago, user1000 said:

The jagdtiger would be rare to see in battle. Not really historical realism.

But they were used in battle = Operation Nordwind in Alsace in Jan. '45 a company from a heavy JPz Abteilung equipped w/ JTs was attached to the rebuilt 17th SS PzGr Div. to give it some offensive punch.  Now I doubt you would see the JT and the Sturm Tiger together.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/653rd_Heavy_Panzerj%C3%A4ger_Battalion

[A Canadian Cat]

2 hours ago, Andrew H. said:

I really just think it's awesome that the game surprised me like that. 

For sure.

 

1 hour ago, user1000 said:

The jagdtiger would be rare to see in battle. Not really historical realism.

I cannot speak for @Andrew H. but my thinking was that was self deprecating sarcasm.