Posted on 01/25/2023 11:58:44 AM PST by MarMema
A German-made tank, which Berlin once dubbed one of the best in the world, has had its shortcomings embarrassingly exposed on the battlefield in Syria.
Photos from the Turkish military operation dubbed 'Euphrates Shield', which began in August 2016, show the charred remains of one of the Leopard 2 tanks which was reportedly blown up with mines.
The images - taken from an ISIS video published in January 2017 - show the tank with its turret completely blown off.
Other pictures from the same conflict show Leopard 2s standing idle in ditches and snow after being severely damaged.
The 1970s-built armoured vehicles have been shown to be vulnerable in combat after being deployed to fight Kurdish soldiers backed by Britain and the US.
While the tank's design dealt capably with conditions during the Cold War against Soviet fighters, the Leopard 2 has proved to be a feeble force in the battle in the Middle East, practically disintegrating under intense fire.
Given that the tanks are widely operated by NATO members - including Canada, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Norway - it is particularly embarrassing to see them so easily destroyed by Syrian terrorists when they are expected to match the Russian Army.
Meanwhile Angela Merkel's government has come under domestic pressure after images showed Turkey deploying its £4million Leopard 2 tanks during the current offensive in northern Syria, codenamed Operation Olive Branch.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
While I liked Donald Southerland's performance, I always felt, even watching it as a teen, that the character was added as a nod to the Vietnam-era anti-war crowd that was so popular at the time (Kelly's Heroes was released in 1970.)
Oddball's mannerisms and dialog didn't seem very "1945" to me, but more 1967 Summer of Love.
The Tiger 2 was built and specified as an antitank gun. It had heavy frontal armor, but is was intended as a defensive weapon, not to be used on attack, and that was generally how it was employed. If did fare poorly when attacking for the reasons you mention. It was also vulnerable from the side. The Germans might have been better served with about eight times as many towed antitank guns. Hitler liked big weapons.
Turkey runs Leopard 1A3s upgraded in 2002 & Leopard 2A4s upgraded in 2021
Some of what is being sent is older stuff, true - but your idea falls apart on the current realities of the supply chain. There is nothing to replace it with in any useful timeframe.
The transmission was weak, particularly. The design had gotten ahead of the metallurgy that was available at the time.
With today’s metallurgy it would have been... better.
So one has heard, anyway.
In other words, two NATO member nations are at war with each other.
Vulnerable from behind like Secretary Pothole Pete.
Any tank can be destroyed, but Turks were completely incompetent in their use. Leopard 2 is an excellent tank.
After the first hit, the Turkish crews, who were supposed to be experienced and well-trained, froze in fear and did nothing to stop the second missile from hitting them. The only thing they did was panic and try to cover away from enemy fire, but they seem to forgot to save their tanks.
In almost all cases, there was no suppressive fire from the other tanks or armored vehicles, and they didn’t even try to remove the Leopard-2A4 tanks or turn on the smoke screens. The Turkish tanks that had not been struck did not return a single shot, as a result of which they were bombarded with anti-tank missiles one after another.
https://geopolitiki.com/battle-of-al-bab-turkish-leopard-2a4-tanks/
You're harshing my mellow...
The Germans had issues with how they refined their metals which made it brittle due to lack of rare earth ingredients as the war drug on , Japanese had even bigger issues with their metals. Also much of their tank production was produced by slave labor so you know how that turned out, much being sabotaged. Another point most of the bridges and overpasses in Europe could not support the Tiger or even less the Tiger 2.. The Germans would have been better off throwing everything in the Panther and Mark 5 and 6’s .
Must have been made by Mercedes... or BMW................
Porche made 10 Tiger 1’s but Henschel made the bulk of them.
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