One German Tiger versus 50 Soviet T-34

@ FMAlandbrooke

Do you believe the rotating method is better or let the experienced crews keep on fighting until they die is better?

The rotating method can ensure there are a lot more soldiers have decent combat experience.
While the other method can create more super experienced combat experts.

This really remind me of a TV program I watched on History channel about the Korean War. They said that during the early part of the war, the communist side was rotating as many pilots as possible, thus it seems most of their pilots are always newbies. The U.S. side had more experienced pilots and in dog fight the American pilots were always having the upon hand in most cases. Then a year later or so the game changed when suddenly the pilots in Migs were all the experienced vets. The American pilots felt the pressure immediately when fought against those pros.

 

Well I think it is better to rotate experienced pilots through training schools so the they can teach new pilots the latest tactics and give them the benefit of their experience. Also I have read a few accounts of WW Britsh aces and it is clear that they suffered from post-traumatic stress if they stayed in the fighting too long so that reduced their ability to fight.

Oh, I remembered where I found this really interesting article, it is a really good read! The Battle of Kursk - Prochorovka: Myth and Reality http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=271310

 

This particular engagement, where Michael Wittmann's (yes "m a nn") lone Tiger destroyed a column of the British 7th Armoured Division during the battle of Villers-Bocage, is very well documented. British accounts temper the scope of his success, unsurprisingly, but even in their official account the damage wrought was astounding.

Supreme battle field tactician, Wittmann observed the critical geographical advantage he held and locked the column in by first targeting the rearmost and leading vehicles before moving quickly back down the line firing systematically. In approximately 15 mins of chaos 14 tanks, 15 personnel carriers and 2 anti-tank guns were destroyed.

References to Whitmann moving parallel to the column are logical and true. What is not logical is to assume that he waited till abeam of each vehicle before firing, that would be madness. A military column would not ever travel nose to tail for what should be extremely obvious reasons, spacings maintained thus allow each to be targeted at an acute angle not far off of straight ahead (picture a stream of cars coming towards you on the motorway). Whitmann was renowned for his audaciousness, what would be more natural for him than to calmly motor past a few metres distant, front armour toward the next target, his still considerable side and rear armour mocking the smoking wreckage he left in his wake.

Google and Wikipedia carry the major details, the finer points require watching documentaries and the application of some logic, situational awareness and a smattering of psychology.

 

Adolf, however impressed in such a way he presented a Volkswagen, (C class, I am not sure) to the entire Tiger(1325-tower number) crews :
Stelmachel(gunner-gunner), Waltersdorf(radio-gunner), Buchner(driver) and Henke(manager-operation).. 10th June'43.

 

German tanks were not superior to allied tanks, in fact they were often inferior, until the introduction of the Tiger and Panther tanks. The vehicles in the Villiers Bocage incident were travelling in a column because they had no other way to get through the area. The Germans thought the British troops were behaving "as if they had already won the war". The British talk up the Tiger's capabilities to cover up their own ineptitude. In this case there was a gap in the German line and the 7th Armoured division had a real chance to break through and win the war months earlier. Instead, they took a long time to get going and stopped in the town for a brew up. This gave the Germans time to send in the Tiger unit to stop them, but if the British had been more wary or used proper reconnaissance they would not have been caught - if they had pushed hard to get as far as possible as quickly as possible, they also would have been way beyond the hill on which Witmann's tiger sat. Their poor performance could be attributable to their war-weariness - veterans are more cautious, and they had been in the war for four years if they started in 1940. British units also tended to lack initiative and drive, being dependant on their leaders (the Villiers Bocage incident can be attributed to the British commanders to a large extent). It was perhaps unfair to expect them to perform well in the easily defensible terrain of Normandy against much more determined and better equpped foes equipped with effective infantry anti-tank weapons that didn't exist in North Africa. Another way would be to say they didn't perform so well in North Africa, unless the rest of the 8th Army was doing well.

 

Well, I have a good Link, but I think this may be found known to you.
Any way, whenever get time, pls chk it. Thanks ..
http://desertwar.net/franz-staudegger.html

 

A real history From soldier to interpreter, 2nd world war surviver book, Tumay Janos need support to translate ans publish it. "On the dead's jaws".

http://igg.me/at/Tumay-Janos-book/x/4226408​

 

I think you are wrong, the 76.5 could not penitrate the tigers front armor, but on it's ass. And when it came to russia and the battel of kursk, there was a masive amount of targets, see the russians always accepted a huge lose in aemor and men to gain victory, but that battel was realy won by the germans. It being open land and a clear line of fire the tiger and its 88 would stand off and pick at will.