Wittmann Posted January 29, 2001 Share Posted January 29, 2001 I have long been amazed at a full KO'd brewed up sherman, can have a crew bail, with 1 casualty...the tank has a history for not being crew freindly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted January 29, 2001 Share Posted January 29, 2001 I believe the statistic for getting out of a brewed Sherman was that the crew had on average three to five seconds to unass the thing before the secondary explosions started. That would be plenty of time for the commander to pop his hatch and roll out - the driver and co-driver might make it in that time, (bear in mind their hatches were smaller) but the gunner and loader, who had to squeeze out the commander's hatch (in those model Shermans with only one roof hatch) were plain out of luck. In other words, you are absolutely correct that the Sherman was not crew friendly, but I think that the one crewman who survives in your example is probably the commander, who has a big hatch to jump from and a bit of time to do it in. In your experience, are these Shermans buttoned or unbuttoned? An unbuttoned commander is already partially out the hatch to begin with. ------------------ http://wargames.freehosting.net/cmbits.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slapdragon Posted January 29, 2001 Share Posted January 29, 2001 US tanks mostly went into battle buttoned up, while German tanks were never suppose to button up even in the worst fighting. According to Ed Greenwood in a discussion by Avalon Hill in the assignment of crew survival numbers, the Sherman was actually not that much of a death trap since only one person had to share a hatch. Between the bottom hatch many US tanks had, and the individual hatches, plus the fact that the Sherman has 4 compartments to cofferdam an internal blast, only the most catastrophic hit imagined would kill all the crew. According to Dunnigan, who studied casualty rates in WW2, less than 1 tanker was killed / severely injured for each K-Kill inflicted on a US tank (this does not include TD and things like Priests or ACs). Being a tanker in the US army was considerably safer according to Dunnigan than being in the Infantry. (Also interesting: The German method meant that german tankers were better fighters since they were ambushed less often, but that commanders dies so often that many tanks were being commanded by former mechanics or second drivers. US tanks were less effective, but tank commanders lived to get in a new tank. Today, the Isreali army has a policy of exposed tank commanders, the US Army has a policy of tank commander under armor (during fighting that is)). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CavScout Posted January 29, 2001 Share Posted January 29, 2001 Originally posted by Wittmann: I have long been amazed at a full KO'd brewed up sherman, can have a crew bail, with 1 casualty...the tank has a history for not being crew freindly! Anyone have any details on this or is it a "history" more folktale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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