Nifty little interview of a Soviet Sherman tanker

[PLM]

http://www.iremember.ru/tankers/loza/loza1.html

Apparently 2 Thompson SMGs came with a Sherman? And the Soviets liked the cumfy seats.

Also I didnt know Soviet Tankers got paid for kills??? :eek:

[Pzman]

That is an interesting read, thanks for posting the link.

[PLM]

Actually I stole it from another forum

[Guest ExplodingMonkey]

Nice. I like how he points out both the weaknesses and the strengths of the Sherman. Now I want to buy his book.

[SpitfireXI]

It is a great book but very expenisve for such a small book. However it does accompany Beltons book on the Sherman well, as it shows that the Sherman was actually a decent tank with lots of advantages over Russian and German tanks at the time.

[Matthias]

really good read that

[MikeyD]

From the article.

"Did you know that one of the designers of the Sherman was a Russian engineer named Timoshenko? He was some shirt tail relative of Marshal S. K. Timoshenko."

Huh! Never heard that one before! Not a piece of info the Pentagon would want to spread around during the Cold War years, I guess.

[annihilate_this_week]

He has a few books. I currently have "Fighting for the Soviet Motherland" I would recommend it to everyone here. It is a good, easy read.

[Bigduke6]

Point of ethnic nitpicking:

Timoshenko is a classic Ukrainian name. Not Russian at all. Russian names typically end in "in" (as in Buganin, Kalinin and, uh, Lenin); or "ov/ev" (as in Zhukov, Katiukov, Konev etc.)

Ukrainian surnames typically end in "enko" or "ko". Timoshenko is a fine example. Schevchenko (the Ukrainian national poet or football star, take your pick) is another good example.

Peculiarly, the Prime Minister of Ukraine today is a woman by the name of Julia Timoshenko. She says she's a very distant relative of the Marshal.

Anyway, there were a gazillion ethnicities in the old Red Army, and most would get mad if you called them Russians, so probably it's safer just to refer to them as Soviets and be done with it.

Ethnic nitpicking service signing off. MickyD's mods are the best!

[Guest Mike]

The Sherman is usually under-rated.

Everyone remembers that the T34 was a war winner in 1941 (or at least tough!! ) but not that it was a heap of junk by 1944, and had pelenty of shortcomings before then.

The Sherman had a similar career - being very good in 1942, and slowly declining in effectiveness as the enemy got heavier.

The T34/85 is considered adequate for 44/45, but most still consider the 76mm Shermans as being just as bad as the earlier versions, despite it being very comparable to the 34/85 in many respects.

[Stryker]

Originally posted by Bigduke6:

Point of ethnic nitpicking:

Timoshenko is a classic Ukrainian name. Not Russian at all. Russian names typically end in "in" (as in Buganin, Kalinin and, uh, Lenin); or "ov/ev" (as in Zhukov, Katiukov, Konev etc.)

Interesting info. Not nitpicking, especially by people horribly impacted by communism.

[Other Means]

Originally posted by Mike:

The Sherman is usually under-rated.

Everyone remembers that the T34 was a war winner in 1941 (or at least tough!! ) but not that it was a heap of junk by 1944, and had pelenty of shortcomings before then.

The Sherman had a similar career - being very good in 1942, and slowly declining in effectiveness as the enemy got heavier.

The T34/85 is considered adequate for 44/45, but most still consider the 76mm Shermans as being just as bad as the earlier versions, despite it being very comparable to the 34/85 in many respects.

And don't forget the Firefly. Being able to fit it with the 17pdr turned what should have been a completely outclassed tank into something that can kill kitties at all ranges. You can kill a kitty, a kitty can kill you - what does the armour matter then? I'd trade that for extra reliability any day.