Sherman ammo

[Hilts]

I've got a Sherman tank in one of my battles, which has the usual supply of 75mm HE and AP rounds but it also carries 6 rounds of 75mm WP. Anyone know what it is? I do hope it's something good because I'm up against a Mark VI and I'm down to my last Sherman!

[Hilts]

Please don't tell me it stands for White Paint lol

[thejetset]

WP = White phosphorus

Those are smoke rounds.

[Hilts]

WP = White phosphorus

Those are smoke rounds.

Cheers!........White Paint may have been more useful!

[thejetset]

When sitting inside your Sherman and you see a Panther or Tiger with it's front towards you ... at ANY range ... use those WP rounds and fire your smoke mortars and throw that puppy in reverse!!!!

[c3k]

White Phosphorus is nasty, very nasty. It spontaneously combusts in air. So, the WP hits the target, or nearby, and bursts, sending fragments all over. They burn through flesh. Also, the combustion/gaseous expansion of smoke, displaces breathable air. It burns, it chokes, it blinds (okay, "obscures"; no ocular damage, such as mustard gas, etc.). Pretty good stuff.

You can "force" your tank to use it by using the TARGET -> SMOKE command.

[siffo998]

White Phosphorus is nasty, very nasty. It spontaneously combusts in air. So, the WP hits the target, or nearby, and bursts, sending fragments all over. They burn through flesh. Also, the combustion/gaseous expansion of smoke, displaces breathable air. It burns, it chokes, it blinds (okay, "obscures"; no ocular damage, such as mustard gas, etc.). Pretty good stuff.

You can "force" your tank to use it by using the TARGET -> SMOKE command.

heres a interesting quato from st. ameth anderson out of germanys panther tank from jentz:

"Our smoke shell is very good on any target and i have found the germans do not like it. i hit a mark V with AP five times with HE four times, at less than 1000 yards, hitting him in the front and in the turret, and but one round of smoke did the tricj in hitting him under his own gun mount."

[Hilts]

White Phosphorus is nasty, very nasty. It spontaneously combusts in air. So, the WP hits the target, or nearby, and bursts, sending fragments all over. They burn through flesh. Also, the combustion/gaseous expansion of smoke, displaces breathable air. It burns, it chokes, it blinds (okay, "obscures"; no ocular damage, such as mustard gas, etc.). Pretty good stuff.

You can "force" your tank to use it by using the TARGET -> SMOKE command.

Sounds good....... Are you saying then that if used in the vicinity of infantry it is likely to cause casualties?

[Hilts]

heres a interesting quato from st. ameth anderson out of germanys panther tank from jentz:

"Our smoke shell is very good on any target and i have found the germans do not like it. i hit a mark V with AP five times with HE four times, at less than 1000 yards, hitting him in the front and in the turret, and but one round of smoke did the tricj in hitting him under his own gun mount."

Hmmm, I'd like to see him do that in CMBN! From my experience if I open fire on a tank I usually get a shot back within about two seconds, even if I'm hiding in trees.....

[siffo998]

Hmmm, I'd like to see him do that in CMBN! From my experience if I open fire on a tank I usually get a shot back within about two seconds, even if I'm hiding in trees.....

well you do not know anything about the situation inside the german tank. maybe some members of the crew were unconsious or knocked out from the non penetrating hits. or the aiming sight telescopes were broken. or the main gun was broken from one of the hits. or its simply a case of overexaggeration from the US tanker.

[winkelried]

I remember one story, that towards the end of the war a German tank crew abandoned their tank after a white phosphorous hit made the armor crack (due to poor quality) and WP began to drop into the tank.

Maybe you have look at this wikipedia article

[Sublime]

An anecdote was also posted on here recently about how a king tiger was KO'd by a white phosphorus round. It hit the tank, and the engine fans sucked the WP into the tank, making the conditions inside... a little rough. the crew bailed. still, that was hardly common at all.

Still WP is deadly stuff, I was surprised when the first patch lowered it's effectiveness - I'd never really noticed it to be lethal in the game, though it should probably be somewhat - it sticks to everything and burns intensely. If for example, a squad ran through a WP cloud I'd expect casualties and I havent seen this happen in game.

[c3k]

There is one (or two?) well publicized account of a totally out-matched US tank firing WP at a Tiger (?). The Germans, after being hit, and then having their tank fill with choking smoke, evacuated. (They may've thought they were on fire, or it simply was too difficult to breathe.) The cabin fans pull in exterior air, so a hit with WP, or a very, very, near miss would allow the WP smoke to be sucked in.

Anyway, this account apparently spread and it seems that firing WP at enemy "cats" was not a one-off occurance. (I'm reminded of the British tanker being told about the only way to knock out a Panther; aiming and hitting the lower half of the mantlet. "Has anyone ever done it?" "Yes, Jenkins. A few weeks back. He's still rather shaken and hasn't been back up front since." Or something like that.)

Did it happen more than once? Did it even happen that once? Shrug.

Ken

Multiple crossposts with the above. Salut.

[winkelried]

I'd never really noticed it to be lethal in the game, though it should probably be somewhat.

I had one of my first friendly fire events with WP in CMBN (at least I believe): i tried to lay a smoke screen close to some infantry ahead of one of my shermans. I didn't realize the sherman was shooting WP. one shell fell short ...

[A co]

You also have to worry about WP rounds hitting tree branches on the way to the target, and exploding. This cost me a few men in the demo, within about 20 meters of the firing tank.

But WP is great for covering movement, especially with several tanks cooperating, so you can suddenly 'reshape' the LOS environment. Move shoot and reverse while the covering AT assets are blinded. But note wind direction and how long it takes the smoke cloud to fully form.

[Michael Emrys]

Sounds good....... Are you saying then that if used in the vicinity of infantry it is likely to cause casualties?

I don't know about casualties, but it does seem to motivate them to vacate the immediate vicinity.

Michael

[MikeyD]

There's some question whether the numerous smoke round anecdotes are WP or HC (hexaclorithane), which doesn't burn hot. I recall one anecdote of a captured German antitank crewman being carried on a stretcher after being overcome by a smoke attack. His blonde hair had turned bright green from the aluminum chemical smoke. Some smoke munitions in the game are WP, some are HC. HC tends to hug the ground more.

About WP smoke in the game. Walk your men through a WP smoke cloud and watch them go yellow-injured one-by-one.

[akd]

About WP smoke in the game. Walk your men through a WP smoke cloud and watch them go yellow-injured one-by-one.

AFAIK, bursting WP rounds will cause casualties, but the smoke cloud itself will not and is safe to move through.

[Hilts]

I'm intrigued by these WP rounds now. So if I can manage to get a shot off at the Tiger is it worth firing a WP round rather than AP to try and reproduce some of the effects that have been mentioned in this post or will it be a waste of time as these effects will not be represented in the game?

[MikeyD]

The problem with that is the AI will *fight* you on your decision to fire smoke. You're ordering the pixel TC to do something that goes against his nature. He wants to fire AP at that Tiger, maybe the occassional HE too. He does not want to fire smoke. He'll over-ride your targetting order if he has to.