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What would the chance of this be?


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http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/largepic/0016/161091.JPG

The caption for the photo reads:

"Philippines. 11 November 1944. Sergeant (Sgt) B. Richards of

Coeburn, Virginia, inspects the muzzle of a 75mm gun which had

been struck by a 37mm Japanese shell. The shell actually passed down

the gun barrel slightly wounding one of the crew. Sgt Richards was

the commander of the Sherman tank on which the 75mm gun was

mounted."

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There's a one and a million story that I read somewhere (can't remember where, but it was a reputable source... remember that. No Ambrose fable) a story of either an M5 or an M8 commander in Europe in late 44 riding down the street of an unsecured town doing a little scouting when they cruised into an intersection and saw a cat of some sort (want to say it was a KT, but again, not sure, was one of the big cats, though) coming right at it. So they immediately threw the thing in reverse and slew the turret around for a snap shot (as a reaction... no chance of hruting the behemoth)... wonder of wonder, the 37mm went right down the tube and detonated the loaded shell in the German tank and it brewed right up.

THis is totally unatributed, so take it for what it's worth. Quite a gamey move on the US player, eh?

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Compassion:

wonder of wonder, the 37mm went right down the tube and detonated the loaded shell in the German tank and it brewed right up.

THis is totally unatributed, so take it for what it's worth. Quite a gamey move on the US player, eh?<hr></blockquote>

Of course, if you're the gunner on a tank mounting a 37mm gun and you find yourself facing the front of a KT, what else are you going to find to aim at? ;)

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by L4Pilot:

This discussion reminds me of wondering why the sharpshooter in SPR, if he was such a good shot, didn't do the same thing to the AFV gun that was about to blow him up.

Wouldn't have been as dramatic?<hr></blockquote>

L4Pilot - is the Normandy campaign still on?

;)

Ogadai - You must have missed the discussions of the Finnish army here in the recent past; might I suggest a search?

;);)

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In the Tank Museum at Bovington is a Tiger that was knocked out by a 6pdr in similar circumstances. The Brit was looking right down the barrel of the 88. His round grazed along the bottom of the gun tube, leaving a crease at each step where it increased in diameter, until it hit the swelling right at the mantlet. Then the round deflected down through the hull roof, jammed the turret, and (IIRC) killed the gunner.

If you go to Bovington, you can see this Tiger yourself, with all the scars mentioned above.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by L4Pilot:

This discussion reminds me of wondering why the sharpshooter in SPR, if he was such a good shot, didn't do the same thing to the AFV gun that was about to blow him up.

Wouldn't have been as dramatic?<hr></blockquote>

Ah, he had probably just run out of ammo. Its gotta be all hollywood-perfect.

Like when the belltower .30cal gunner runs out of ammo *right when* the Marder II driver pivots towards him...those gamey Germans and their perfect timing.

Back to the Shiraz.

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In "Death Traps" there is another case of this, though it's rather more catastrophic for the crew. A 76 gunned sherman was brought in for repair with about 6 feet of the barrel blown off. Apparently what happened was the crew had just fired a round and had the breech open when a German 75mm HE round went straight down the barrel and burst 6 feet down the barrel. The nose of the projectile continued down the barrel and ricocheted around the crew compartment and killed 2 of the crew.

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

L4Pilot - is the Normandy campaign still on?

;)

<hr></blockquote>

Nah. redface.gif

Bitin' off more than I could chew plus 3 hospital stays and an extended period of home IV treatment kinda took the wind of my sails re: Normandy Campaign. The maps of the Normandy area that I was waiting for arrived in the middle of one of those enforced stays. I did post a note explaining what happened here a while ago, but it was probably easily overlooked.

I still think the idea of the using the HPS PanzerCampaign series as a campaign game framework is a good one, at least until an "official" solution is available. The availability of "Bulge'44" adds even more possibilities for CMBO. "Kharkov," "Smolensk" and "Tobruk" plus whatever else is in the works offer neat possibilities for CMBB and CM3. At a minimum they are a good resource for OOB and terrain info for their respective battles.

I've thought about trying to revive (Clear!! zzzzappp!!!!!) the Normandy Campaign, perhaps in a more manageable form. But given my uncertain health and business problems associated with the 9/11 attack, I guess I'm not the person to do it. I appreciate the enthusiasm and participation of the people involved.

It sure would be a good way to spend the time waiting for CMBB wouldn't it?

Thanks for asking, Michael.

L4Pilot

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<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Ogadai:

http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/largepic/0016/161091.JPG

The caption for the photo reads:

"Philippines. 11 November 1944. Sergeant (Sgt) B. Richards of

Coeburn, Virginia, inspects the muzzle of a 75mm gun which had

been struck by a 37mm Japanese shell. The shell actually passed down

the gun barrel slightly wounding one of the crew. Sgt Richards was

the commander of the Sherman tank on which the 75mm gun was

mounted."<hr></blockquote>

What I found interesting was that it was a cast hull Sherman. I wasn't aware that many cast hull Shermans had been sent to the Pacific. I'm more used to seeing pictures of welded hull machines in that theatre. Also, did anybody else notice that the hull MG is missing? I suspect its been removed for cleaning.

Even so, apart from those points, hitting the gun tube of a tank isn't quite as rare as many might think. I've seen several pictures over the years from various theatres where a tank has been hit in the gun tube, more often than not though, I admit transversly, rather than longtitudinally.

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