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Frontal kill on a StuG -- by a Maxim MG!


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No, we won't. It is a secret to force folks to make increasingly odd suppositions and claims of CM obviously being broken.

Heh heh

Actually it is at an angle, the StuG did change it's beating relative to the shooter while targeting enemy troops, but the angle was still to left forward of loader. What is clear from replay is it does appear to be a ricochet into the loaders hatch. There is still some leeway there as replay is not always 100% accurate. However it does appear to be the case that somehow a round or rounds entered the vehicle. My guess is it hit their supply of schnapps rendering the vehicle useless as their private mobile bar.

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Chambered to 7.62, a standard small-arms calibre.

Right you are, Squatdog. Will Wheaton for the win!

Looks like we're both barking up the wrong tree, so to speak, since the side armor doesn't appear to be the issue after all.

Hmmm, a ricochet off the loader's hatch? Did it strike the ammo cache by any chance?

How I love an outlier.

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I don't think it hit the ammo cache, because wouldn't we have seen fire, smoke, or something more catastrophic?

In real life I wonder if a MMG round that did riccochet through the open hatch of a StuG could in any way set off the StuG's MG ammo cache. Seeing those rounds cook off would make the crew bail in a hurry.

In any case it was some heckuva lucky shot. I love the fact that CM doesn't just "roll the dice," so the physics allow for an infinite variety of battlefield phenomena to happen -- entertaining us at our pixeljoes' expense.

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I know what could happen. The bullet could hit some electrical equipment and make a short that disabled the Stug's electrical systems, stopping the engine ect. A dead tank. But anyway the crew should not bail-out because of that...

I have read in some tanker's memoirs about similar strange and rare occurence - mg bullet or a bullet caused an electrical short that disabled whole tank. And it was an was external hit IIRC and it had something to do with an radio antenna. Crew had to wait untill they can get out safely to fix the short and make electric system functioning again. Unfortunately, I can't remember what tank, at what front, in whose momoirs was that... :(

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Amizaur,

Fair engineering point, but I think it doesn't properly account for the squishy side of the equation. How people react under stress. If the StuG or what have you is under fire and suddenly ceases to work, won't restart and such, the crew is not going to stay with the functionally dead AFV but get out, lest the thing is really clobbered while their steed is helpless, taking them with it. Your scenario is technically an M-Kill, meaning the AFV can still fight, which certainly was done, but the utility of a StuG which can't move may not be high, depending on which way it's pointing when hit and what's within the gun's very narrow traverse limits. The difference between steel which keeps out bullets and fragments and flaming steel coffin is measured in seconds in battle, and I would fully expect the crew to get out. Fast. The logic is irrefutable. A static AFV is easier to hit than a moving one and can also more readily be attacked from advantageous angles. AFVs can typically be replaced, but trained, combat experienced crews are another matter altogether. Stay in the vehicle and die, vs get out and probably live. That's the world as seen through the TC's eyes. Might not be the case in the defense, with friendlies nearby, but likely would be the case in the attack.

Regards,

John Kettler

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Stay in the vehicle and die, vs get out and...

...get hosed down by a maxim that obviously has your vehicle already bracketed.

Makes it a harder decision. If there was a rear or bottom hatch, sure. But if bullets can get in the hatch, they can get into anyone getting out of the hatch...

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womble,

Your argument is predicated on the crew's knowing that the shot/s came from a Maxim. On a very noisy battlefield. Yet account after account clearly shows that a tank could be hit repeatedly by nonpenetrating main gun rounds, with the crew none the wiser until after the battle (notices the strike marks and gouges, maybe even partially embedded projectiles) or, in the case of running gear hits and such, until the next time the tank attempted to reposition. That being the case, how's someone supposed to hear one MG burst amid the cacophony? The StuG III abruptly ceases operating outright, and no frantic efforts to bring it back up work. To me, the actions at this point go something like this

TC

Der Panzer ist kaput!" "She's dead, and we can't stick around to find out why. Everybody out! Disconnect your interphones and remove any headsets. Bring your weapons and grenades, boys. There may be Russian infantry about. She can probably be fixed, but that's not our problem. It may be bad out there, but it'll be a lot worse in here if something really hits us!"

Crew

"Jawohl!" Crew acknowledges order and executes the abandon AFV drill as prescribed in the regs.

TC does likewise.

Regards,

John Kettler

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womble,

Your argument is predicated on the crew's knowing that the shot/s came from a Maxim.

At the moment, in the given account, we have Maxim bullets entering the hatch. At the same time as the vehicle being rendered "Destroyed" not "Immobilised". So the crew know they're under fire from an MG, and cannot see any anti-armour threats. In-game they're going to bail, no question, after a few seconds at most. And while its attribution is flaky, there's the comment above about a crew who did stay in their vehicle having had it immobilised under them by a fluke hit, restoring it to service. Perhaps they were stupidly optimistic but to argue that something always happened is vulnerable to being countered by a single exception.

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