Posted on 08/11/2013 1:35:55 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
Thanks.:-)
Get a copy of a book titled “Commanding the Red Army’s Sherman Tanks” by LtCol Dmitriy Loza. His memoirs start just south of Kiev in 1943. Loza commanded a tank unit in the 46th Guards Tank Brigade, 9th Mechanized Guards Corp. His Sherman’s were among the first Soviet tanks into Vienna. Shortly after that, his unit was transferred to Mongolia in preparation for the offensive against the Japanese in Aug 1945. Lot of photos of Red Army tankers and their EmChas.
Not an unusual concept. The GMC 6 cylinder diesel engines used in the M4A2 were truck engines. To get sufficient horse power, two GMC engines were mounted side by side in the engine compartment. It was possible to drive the M4A2 with one engine, but you could not reach much speed that way.
I have read accounts of JS-2s in tank to tank fights with the Germans on the Baltic front in late 44/early 45. The Soviets approved the 122mm gun for the JS-2 because during tests, it punched holes in the front glacis of a Panther at 2000 meters. The Soviets only built 3800 JS-2 from the end of 43 through mid 45.
German Army data on the penetration ranges of the 122 mm A-19 gun against the Panther tank showed it to be much less effective when the Panther stood at a side angle of 30 degrees to the incoming round: the A-19 gun was unable to penetrate the glacis plate of the Panther at any distance, and could only penetrate the bottom front plate of the hull at 100 m.It was the large HE shell the gun fired which was its main asset, proving highly useful and destructive in the anti-personnel role. The size of its gun continued to plague the IS-2, and the two-piece ammunition was difficult to handle and slow to reload (the rate of fire was only about two rounds per minute). Another limitation imposed by the size of its ammunition was the payload: only 28 rounds could be carried inside the tank.
From Wiki.
Thanks.
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