waffen Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 Hi There i was watching a video with german tank vets and they said .a single plane had very little chance of hitting a moveing tank that had troops as lookout on it.(with all the allied air power thats why we see many pictures after D day of german tanks with troops on tanks as lookouts and a free ride too )will tanks with troopers that are under threat from air attack help the tank from getting hit .anyone have any thoughts on this subject cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikester Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 I guess I hear and learn something new every day. From reading some first hand accounts by Panzer crews my understanding was the following: 1) Tank was normally unbuttoned (even in battle unless going into close quarters w/ enemy infantry in the area) for good visibility. Tank commanders were always on the lookout for allied fighter bombers, especially after D-day. 2) When they heard aircraft coming if tank could quickly get into cover like forest, etc., they would. 3) Otherwise they basically played dead. Tank stopped. Crew opened all the hatches to make it look like the tank had been abandoned, gunner even depressed the main gun to make it look like it had been hit. Sounds like in many instances this worked. Of course playing dead was only an option if you were not in the heat of battle. I also seem to recall in one case the Panzer crew did this, but then the plane came back around and decided to strafe the tank. Didn't do much to the tank, but several of the bullets came in through the open hatchs and killed or injured two of the crewmen. Mike D aka Mikester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesreidau Posted June 2, 2000 Share Posted June 2, 2000 AHA!! Maybe I don`t lose so many men after all! This explains it..they are just playing dead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts