The True Story of the Sherman which rammed a King Tiger in Normandy

[John Kettler]

This is a pretty intense story of a truly remarkable incident in the Normandy Campaign or, for that matter, the war. You be the judge. This guy clearly was tight with the leprechauns when it came to luck!

 

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/crazy-irishman-rammed-a-tiger-ii-with-his-sherman-then-went-off-looking-for-a-firefly-to-make-sure-the-tiger-wouldnt-be-going-anywhere.html

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

 

 

[molotov_billy]

30 ton Sherman rams a 70 ton tiger at a possible max offroad speed of 19 mph and the tiger... bails?   At a range of 50 meters, from the rear, the sherman crew decides to load an HE round rather than an AP round?

 

The HE round is "devestating" to the crew inside?  

Edited March 26, 2015 by molotov_billy

[delliejonut]

That all makes sense. The HE explosion coupled with the collision should be enough to shake a real human crew. Hell, if I were in that Tiger, unable to maneuver for some reason and deaf from an explosion, I would bail too. They must have been confused as all get out, and assumed something catastrophic had happened, even though the Tiger was probably still fully functional.

[John Kettler]

molotov_billy,

 

If you look at the photo, it's apparent not just that the King Tiger was rammed by the aforementioned Sherman, but that the actual strike zone was very small, concentrating the entire blow into a a tiny part of the overall side of the King Tiger. I'm not a physicist, but the resultant energy transfer was enormous. Very conservatively, let's say the Sherman wasn't going all that fast, so 12 mph. Weight is 33.4 short tons.  Since KE = 1/2 M x V*2, we wind up with 16.7 tons x 144, all hitting in, I estimate, something of the order of a square foot. Without warning. Nor is the blow something the suspension can do anything about, for this isn't a vertical impulse, but a lateral one. Because the King Tiger is so heavy, it doesn't slide under the impact, which means most of the energy of collision slams into the side of their has very little give steel box. I'll let someone else run the numbers. I have every confidence the impact force will far exceed the recoil force from firing the cannon. Examples of tank ramming. If impacting 88s at Gazala in the Western Desert rang the struck Grants like bells, can you imagine what a strike of the magnitude we're discussing must've been like from the inside? 

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

[c3k]

I think you'd be surprised if you ran the energy numbers comparing the vehicle impact with the muzzle energy. The recoil impulse is attenuated by the buffer, etc. Momentum conservation, M x V, would favor the Tiger II (twice the mass), were it an inelastic collision.

 

I'm sure it rocked their world...unexpectedly. Pretty incredible move by the Sherman crew. 

[John Kettler]

c3k,

 

Many years ago, Richard Simpkin, who wrote a bunch of deep books on armored warfare and related matters, sought to explain the impact force of a 120 mm projectile fired from a  Chieftain. As I recall, he said it was equivalent to the energy a 45 km/h bus hitting something, but with the entire impact zone limited to a cylindrical rod 40 mm across. 

 

That got my attention. If I properly framed the matter we're discussing, how does the ramming attack stack up vs the recoil forces from firing the 88 L/70? Also, if the impact shock wave did couple laterally into the hull, I would not have wanted to be leaning against the port side of the hull when it hit, lest I wind up like the outbound leg of the trajectory shown in the video below.

 

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

Edited March 27, 2015 by John Kettler

[Paulus]

Hi there,

 

I would like to add, in defense of HE vs tank, that armor spalling could happen. Tough not as effective as the HESH round would. Making the inside of a tank a deadly place to be.

 

Regards Paul