Questions Thread

[siben]

Where did you hear the tanks theta?

[THeTA0123]

The german engines performed great, and rarely broke down, But you had to keep up with the maintanence. The panther tank did however broke down numorous times on many parts tough. IIRC this panther tank is now in a private collection

Correct me here, but I read it was the gearbox, not the Maybach engine that were the Panther tank's reliability problem.

As for the T34 diesel engine. It was a great engine. Simple yet efficient and reliable
But the sound and smoke it could produce, especially when the engine was cold.

Ah the Sotka engine, famous for helping the Soviet win Berlin and infamous for being used to suffocate concentration camp inmates.

Sorry, i forgot to add that the engine was never the problem. From what i remember, they burned tough 4 transmissions in less then a month with that single panther tank. Another problem was the gaskets and fuel lines wich would often snap off.


@Siben This was in Wallonia many years ago. The pershing tank i heard in that one tank event in flanders, Patton drivers or something.

[th_battleaxe]

How effective could the Surcouf have been, and to a slightly bigger extent, the British M-class submarines?

[THeTA0123]

How effective could the Surcouf have been, and to a slightly bigger extent, the British M-class submarines?

Well Surcouf was unreliable at first, but after the refit, it was much improved. Would it have been effective? surely, as these ships could strike at merchant ships at far longer torpedo ranges and probaly with more accuracy. But a torpedo has much more killing power so..

Altough their are many cases that Uboats used their Deck guns (88 and 105's) to take out merchant ships, as it was far cheaper

[th_battleaxe]

True, and Surcouf needed two sizes of torpedoes, so that would hamper the resupply, and its guns were not very effective, due to the size of the turret they were placed in, and the fact that they couldn't be fired unless the boat was near perfectly straight and level.

Makes me wonder if a fixed traverse gun with a good guidance system would have been better than a gigantic lumbering turret...

[CHRISTIEFRONTDRIVE]

Can you direct fire mortars (in WW2)?

[Korsakov829]

Yes but not recommended.

[siben]

Why did StG 44 Amunition come in boxes of 14? Seems like an odd number.
I can understand the 15 round boxes though but then again, why also 20 round boxes? Why not make em like 1 or 2 boxes per magazine of 30?
The 240 round battle pack make sense though. 8 full magazines. or did only the number of bullets count in the battle packs, and not the individual boxes? Also, why the big variety?

[VonMudra]

Remember, you only loaded 28 rounds to keep from harming the spring.

[siben]

My post was just random thoughts, sorry that it made little sense.
in short: Stg44 amunition comes to my knowledge in 240 round battle packs (8 x magazine of 30 rounds) In those battle packs, depending on who made them, where boxes of 14, 15 or 20 bullets. Sometimes on stripper clips, sometimes not.

now, the question was, why was it done in these weird number (to me)

Remember, you only loaded 28 rounds to keep from harming the spring.

Then you must cary 16 loose rounds in your pocket, well, 36, with 1 magazine in the weapon, 6 in the pouches.
You would assume some thinking went into the chosen quantities for the boxes.

[VonMudra]

First off, you assume the soldiers actually carried only exactly the "regulation" allotment, rather than as much ammo as they could carry, or at little as they actually had access to.

And planning did come in play.  For instance, the 32 round snail mag for the MPi18 was partly because the 9mm ammo for the luger came in packs of 16 rounds (in other words, 2 full Luger mags).  That's where the 32 round max magazine comes from for German submachine guns (though in the straight mags, it was generally only loaded to 30).

[THeTA0123]

i saw this truck today, what is it? (Ulbeek WW2 Allied vehicle convention)

[Musti]

After a bit of searching Iąm prettz sure its a GMC AFKWX-353 2 1/2 ton truck.

[CHRISTIEFRONTDRIVE]

What are some early-war anti-tank weaponry that aren't as well-known as others? Like we all know about sticky bombs, thermos nukes, etc. What are some other anti-tank weapons used early in the war?

[Seth_Soldier]

Are you asking for rifles etc ... or more like an infantery grenade ?

Certainly the "industrialized" molotov cocktails are interresting. Contrary to the frontline molotov, they were more researched.
Soviet had produced self ignited molotov, using a chemical reaction between 2 substances in Ampoules