Picture of the Day

[Torenico]

M13/40s in the Eastern Front?, I don't recall seeing one there at all, hm.


Yamato has always been my favorite ship, it's fantastic.



This picture shows the Yamato under construction. The huge gap is the turret ring that will hold Turret Nr. 2 and it's massive 46cm guns, in front of it, the Turret Nr. 1 without the guns, but you can see the gaps made for them.

[Erwin]

German 88 Gun Crew Takes Chow Break in France, Summer of 1944

[Dukat]

@ Torenico
Might be that it is anywhere else, like Greece.

[Roughbeak]

A Sherman being hit hard in Leipzig 1945.

[Dukat]

StuG III Ausf. G, Italy, 1944.

[Leopardi]

A Sherman being hit hard in Leipzig 1945.

What sherman is that? That's a pretty thick steel plate welded in the front of the turret.

[Sander93]

I've seen it before on some British Shermans, no idea what purpose it serves though. Some armor modification. It only appears on the right side of the turret.

An applique patch to protect the 'thin spot" on the right front of the turret was introduced around Spring, 1943. The left-side photo shows an "applique" plate probably installed at the factory, the right-side photo shows a field modification kit, probably installed in a field repair unit. Tank depots were also mandated to install them on tanks they processed.

Wouldn't know why only some Shermans have it while most do not.

[VonMudra]

The purpose it serves is to make the armour thicker...how is that hard to garner?

[Sander93]

The purpose it serves is to make the armour thicker...how is that hard to garner?

Because those 10 extra milimeters are going to make this Sherman invincible? Also kind of the Germans only to aim at that specific part of the turret. Worked out great for the one in the picture.

So yes since it apparently serves no function other than 'for the fuck of it' it is hard to garner without fully knowing the story behind it (which I didn't at the time I wrote the first sentence).

[VonMudra]

The purpose it serves is to make the armour thicker...how is that hard to garner?

Because those 10 extra milimeters are going to make this Sherman invincible? Also kind of the Germans only to aim at that specific part of the turret. Worked out great for the one in the picture.

So yes since it apparently serves no function other than 'for the fuck of it' it is hard to garner without fully knowing the story behind it (which I didn't at the time I wrote the first sentence).

The point was to add extra armour.  Because adding armour is very heavy and can destroy a chassis through overloading, they added it to areas that protected critical areas of the tank (that part, for instance, guards the crew, and was indeed a weakspot as a part of the mantlet), and left other areas un-uparmoured.  It is no different than any other of the extra armour applied to the sides of the Sherman to protect the ammo storage.  And yes, an extra 10mm can be the difference between life or death for an angled shot, and that looks like it's a great deal more than 10mm- more like 20 or 30mm.  And no, it won't save you if the shot doesn't hit it, but it WILL give you a slightly better chance, as well as a better chance at surviving a shot that does penetrate, since it more likely will be a shot through a less critical area.

[Dukat]

10,5cm leFH18

[Dukat]

A Piat gun of "C" Troop, 1st Airlanding Reconnaissance Squadron, in position behind a tree covering a road near Wolfheze in Holland during Operation 'Market Garden', 18 September 1944.

[THeTA0123]

The purpose it serves is to make the armour thicker...how is that hard to garner?

Because those 10 extra milimeters are going to make this Sherman invincible? Also kind of the Germans only to aim at that specific part of the turret. Worked out great for the one in the picture.

So yes since it apparently serves no function other than 'for the fuck of it' it is hard to garner without fully knowing the story behind it (which I didn't at the time I wrote the first sentence).

Looks like you still have the german superiority feeling sander. 10mm extra can mean 35mm extra protection as mudra added from an angled shot

Also, as war progressed, Sherman tanks armour got thicker wich helped them survive shots from the 7.5cm kwk40 from the PZ IV and STuG 3 at closer ranges.

Also the reason why the STuG was awesome

Maintance friendly

[Leopardi]

German StuH 42 and StuG in Tali, July 1944.

[Flippy Warbear]

Date makes it all a bit of a puzzle to me. I've seen the other pic of the 303 StuH who is driving on the kilpeenjoki road towards Ihantala which dates to either june 30th or very early july and I've always thought the date of this specific picture that Leopardi posted would of been around the same time, but looking through the sa-kuva archive it says it was taken on the 7th of july. What makes it puzzling is the fact that at that point the battles have started to show signs of ceasing, but it doesnt change the fact that Tali has been lost and is under the control of the Red Army. How would these stugs be at Tali in such a late date?

Now, the entire term for Tali is kinda widespread. It usually means the entirity of the surroundings of lake Leitimo, spreading from a small village of Mannikkala all the way to Portinhoikka and Nurmilampi. In smaller scale it can mean the village of Tali itself. Now, it is clear that in this situation the larger term is in question but it still does not clarify anything. Even at the northest tip of the region that you could count into what belongs to Tali is still way off from where these stugs were already positioned at by the time they took the photo.

I'd love to say that they are misusing the term Tali because it seems so plausible that these stugs are either somewhere in Ihantala or the photo was taken earlier than 7th of July, in which case they could be at Nurmilampi area or on the main highway between Ihantala and Portinhoikka. But since I doubt they are either going to the battle or are in the battle, I'd say they are getting situated somewhere north of Ihantala.