Tank Drivers

[Col Deadmarsh]

I'm looking at an IS-2 right now in the game and all I see is the tank commander up top when the tank is unbuttoned. So, where is the driver?

On the KV-8S Flamethrower tank, you can see the driver in front. When you button up the tank, both him and the commander go back inside.

So where are the drivers for the other tanks like the IS-2's? If the tank is unbuttoned, shouldn't they be in view?

[Andrew H.]

The driver sits in the middle of the hull and looks out of the little sight thingy you see on the glacis. He didn't have his own hatch; AFAIK, he entered through the turret. I don't know if he had an emergency escape hatch in the floor; some tanks had these, but I'm not sure about the IS-2.

[Abbott]

Many times Russian tank drivers were intoxicated. Many historical accounts show beyond a doubt while sober enough to drive, many could not work the latching mechanisms on the hatches well enough to drive with their heads exposed. This in turn brought on the invention of periscopes for tank drivers, un heard of before the Eastern Front Vodka debacle.

[Bruno Weiss]

The war was nearly lost due to the lack of a designated driver program.

[Col Deadmarsh]

So Andrew, are you saying that the driver is exposed on some vehicles and not on others, as witnessed by what we see in this game?

If some of them drove by looking through the firing slit, then weren't they considered buttoned up--as they are inside?

[Andrew H.]

Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh:

So Andrew, are you saying that the driver is exposed on some vehicles and not on others, as witnessed by what we see in this game?

If some of them drove by looking through the firing slit, then weren't they considered buttoned up--as they are inside?

Yes, and yes. All drivers had a way of driving buttoned up; they all had dedicated periscopes or a driving slit (not a firing slit) to look through. On some taks, the driver had the capability to drive unbuttoned - he could lift a hatch and either raise his head through it or just look out through it. On other tanks, the driver had a hatch to escape from, but he couldn't really stick his head out of it and drive (any more than you could drive a car by sticking your head out the sunroof - although you can *sort of* do that, actually).

For CM, though, the only thing that matters is whether the commander is unbuttoned, since that means that he can use his binoculars and look in all directions for a tank. Even if a driver has his hatch open (like on a T-34), he can pretty much only see forwards, and he has to spend a lot time looking at the terrain, not looking out for other tanks.

The loader and gunner usually had a hatch, too - AFAIK, they never unbuttoned in battle, but you can see picture of tanks in safe areas driving with the commander, gunner, and loader all with their heads out of their respective hatches. It must have been more pleasant.

[Col Deadmarsh]

Originally posted by Andrew Hedges:

Very educational Andrew. I wonder though about those tanks who have exposed drivers--could it be that they, like commanders, are exposed to rifle fire, mortars, arty, and other such things? Could a tank driver be killed by one of these methods, thus rendering the tank useless, causing abandonment?

[Tero]

Originally posted by Colonel_Deadmarsh:

Could a tank driver be killed by one of these methods, thus rendering the tank useless, causing abandonment?

Alas, mobility kills due to driver getting whacked is not possible because of the musical chairs the game engine performs for the crews. The first one to go is always the TC.