Duel at Dessau

[PershingLover]

Now, this has been covered here before, but I haven't seen a particular point brought up.
There is no record of King Tigers in the area, and no photos of the battle between the Super Pershing and the King Tiger.

However, in his book, John Irving, the gunner of the Super Pershing says that a round from the long 90mm bounced of the glacis plate of the German tank. I can think of no other tank that could bounce a long 90mm.

And really, German record keeping in 1945? How accurate could that be?

[Marco Peter]

Maybe your nickname makes you want it too bad haha!

Any shell can deflect from any armor under the correct angle.

[PershingLover]

True! But it was a straight shot, down a road. No angles at all.

[Ragnar]

Hmmm,sounds like a interesting read,Duel at Dessau , is this the title of a current book?

[43rdRecceReg]

If this is the incident you're referring to, then it was probably because the Super Pershing fired an HE round, instead of the requisite Ap option.
http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/feature ... hing.1.htm
However, as Marco has pointed out, given the right angle, almost any tank can deflect a shell- even a Sherman
There's also some debate as to have effective the m3 90mm gun was. According to this observation, it was more accurate than the British 17-Pounder, but had less penetrating power.

[PershingLover]

The M3 90mm with the T33 shell could penetrate the Panther frontally, which it did.

Anyways, this was not a M3 90mm. It was a T15E, long 90mm, with 13 inches of penetration.

If you could find something stating it was an HE round, I would love to see it.

[RobW]

The link 43RecceReg added says it was HE, what that source is is anybody's guess.

If it was an AP round you're also assuming they actually hit the KT with the first shot, that the propellant was good and it didn't strike an angled section thus further increasing the effective armour thickness. Given the state of German industry it could even have hit an inclusion in the front armour plate.

[General Jumbo01]

Wonder how a IS-2 would have fared? Post war tests showed the 122mm gun was more accurate and had greater armour penetration than the KT 88mm. However, like all WW2 'stories', difficult to verify.

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[PershingLover]

Wonder how a IS-2 would have fared? Post war tests showed the 122mm gun was more accurate and had greater armour penetration than the KT 88mm. However, like all WW2 'stories', difficult to verify.

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The thing with the 122mm, is that the ammunition was 2 pieces, heavy, and the turret was cramped. On a firing range, sure. Combat is a bit more sketchy.


Like I said, the penetration with the US gun was 13 inches at 100 yards. The King Tigers frontal armor was 7 inches. The close combat distance was about 100 yards or less.

[General Jumbo01]

Ah, but if you factor in the real world than you need to make allowances for the US crew and the influence of just two examples being available just a day or two too late. l'm sure that if the war had continued for a few more months the Super P would have built a reputation comparable to the infamous Tiger?