Panther in the media section possible error?

[YankeeDog]

Anything that would ignite a HEAT round prior to hitting the metal armor would have a big effect. Not sure what sandbags would do vs Armor Piercing tho.'

Yes, sandbags stacked on the hull would have an effect against HEAT rounds, though not necessarily a positive one for the tank.

Packed sand won't have much of an effect against an HEAT penetrator in and of itself. It takes something much denser than this to substantially affect the penetrator. But the distance does matter. HEAT penetrators only remain focused for a limited distance, and once they start to lose cohesion, their ability to penetrate armor falls off rapidly.

However, as I recently noted in the other thread regarding side skirts, HEAT warheads were very new and imperfectly understood in WWII. Many HEAT warheads of the period (including the Bazooka rocket, Panzerfaust, and Panzershreck) actually had less than ideal stand-off distance for the penetrator to fully focus before hitting the armor. This is why modern HEAT warheads often have a long probe at the front with the fuse at the end -- to detonate the warhead at ideal distance from the armor plate for maximum penetration.

So a sandbag on the hull of a Sherman might actually increase effective penetration of the hull by a HEAT round, depending on specifics of the warhead, angle of impact, and distance between the warhead at the instant of detonation, and the hull armor plate.

Regards,

YD