RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

Concrete, or going for the chubby baguette look for the thrust through France?
Mike.

the baguette look!!!!!

I'd wonder if this would actually be worse in the case of a glancing blow on the sloped front armor? IE the sloped armor might promote a ricochet and the concrete might allow the round to get better grip and actually do more damage. H'mmm.

That's exactly what happened!

It helped incoming shells normalise against the armour plate increasing the incoming projectiles effectiveness!
The same applied to sandbags and additional tracks, unless it was actual hardened armour steel like the famous Thunderbolt VII it was just dead weight and increased wear albeit with a morale boost.

The German Army researched the effectiveness of additional armour such as extra track links and discovered that not only was it not effective but in many cases it did more damage than if it had not been installed.

ColemanCollector wrote: ↑Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:11 pm Concrete, or going for the chubby baguette look for the thrust through France?

Bless, it identifies as an M4 Composit
.

MrChef wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 2:49 am
I'd wonder if this would actually be worse in the case of a glancing blow on the sloped front armor? IE the sloped armor might promote a ricochet and the concrete might allow the round to get better grip and actually do more damage. H'mmm.

This is what I'd put my money on, but. . . .
.

STHV wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 5:24 am That's exactly what happened!
albeit with a morale boost.

Exactly, the crew would have had more confidence, causing a little more recklessness than they would have had, whereby making them more effective cannon fodder with slightly more unit cohesion during a push/thrust/charge.

STHV wrote: ↑Sat Mar 16, 2024 5:24 amIt helped incoming shells normalise against the armour plate increasing the incoming projectiles effectiveness!

I would've though so too, but it looks like unreinforced concrete shatters before it can do much of anything at all:





It looks like it just erodes the ballistic cap a little bit, the actual penetrator itself looks to be basically intact. When you've got 7 kilos of steel breaching your armour, it doesn't matter too much if it's travelling at 200 or 300 metres per second; it's going to ruin your day.

I really believe that the concrete on Shermans was an attempt to reduce the effect of the Panzerfaust rather than AP shot from another Tank or Anti-tank gun.
Later in the conflict the Western Allies were as much under threat from hand held A/T weapons employed en mass as formal anti tank platforms either tank mounted or static.
Out of it all, anything a body can do to create any barrier against the enemy, whether psychological or actual , is going to help. In the case of Sherman crews, there was no way of knowing that you got it right until the shot came in..................the rest was up to God.