Another River, Another Town, by John Erwin

[rexford]

Just came across the subject book at the library, and wondered if it had been discussed in the past on this site.

The book is written by a U.S. tank gunner with experience in 76mm armed Shermans and the Super-Pershing with added armor and an extra long 90mm gun.

The combat situations discussed by the author present some interesting if unusual sounding events, such as multiple battles with King Tigers (one is penetrated through the belly armor when it climbs over an obstacle), 90mm white phosphorus rounds and quite a few frontal hits that are stopped by the added armor.

What struck me was the number of close to medium range shots that went over or under their targets, even when the range sounded like it would be less than 200 meters.

How did the book stack up against unit histories and combat reports?

[Maj. Battaglia]

I read this book last summer and found it quite interesting. One of the things that struck me was the use of HE against armored targets. On page 31, he talks about following up an AP kill with HE against an armored car. On page 57-58, he uses HE after he runs out of AP and talks about the effects of concussion on the internal components of a tank, and I had to wonder about the degree of accuracy of that. He also uses (p. 61) HE to immobilize a jagdtiger.

One other thing, not related to tank vs. tank engagements, were comments (pp. 32 & 84) about the inability of the commander to easily use the .50 cal AAMG from within the turret of the Sherman, whereas the Pershing apparently fixed the issue.

[Royal_Dragoon_Guard]

That's interesting regarding HE against armoured targets, I remember reading a book about tank battles in the Pacific in which, I believe, USMC Shermans engaged a Japanese tank attack across an airfield (on Palau I think). The Shermans initially fired AP at the little Japanese tanks, only to find their shot went clean through and out the other side without detonating, and being Japanese they just kept on coming, despite being well ventilated! In desperation the USMC tankers (now taking hits themselves), changed to HE and that did the trick, blowing the Type 95's apart. I guess a German armoured car would have similar armour protection to a Japanese tank? Better quality though I guess - but perhaps thinner.

I should think that if you were using HE already, in the open, say on a soft target, and an enemy tank suddenly threatened, if an HE was in the breech, it might be worth firing it off in the hope of at least track damage to the enemy tank, coupled with shock to the crew (presuming a hit), rather than removing that shell to replace it with a solid shot, all of which takes time.

Just trying to imagine a Pershing against a King Tiger in real life - talk about two heavyweights slugging it out!