how many hits a "Tiger" could take - Soviet Forces | Gallery

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#1

how many hits a "Tiger" could take

Tank commander, lieutenant Smelov, has put a "Tiger" out of action. He shows lieutenant Lihniakevich, who's destroyed two German tanks himself in the last battle, a hole from his shell in the "Tiger"'s turret. The shell was an average 76-mm armor-piercer. The "Tiger"'s turret has cracks from several direct hits by Russian shells. (maladetts)

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/soviet-forces/18738/how-many-hits-a-andquottigerandquot-could-take
#2

Yes, it must be exceedingly horrible indeed !! Apart from the armor-piercing round damage that is being pointed to here, the majority of anti-tank rounds were usually HESH (High Explosive Squash Head) rounds. In this type of round, a large quantity of Plastic Explosive is carried in the shell. When it strikes the armour plate, the H.E. filling spreads out on the armour face and is detonated by a base fuse. This system does NOT penetrate the armour plate. Instead it relies on the shock wave from the detonation, which is transmitted to the interior of the tank.
When the the wave reaches the far side, it is reflected, overstressing the metal on the inside of the plate so that a large SCAB, about two thirds of a metre across, is detached. The SCAB whirls around inside of the tank causing horrific casualties and damage. Not a place I’d like to be!!

#3
#4

yeah… i doubt you want to be in the way of one of the ricochets…

#5

Colonel there were virtually no HESH rounds in WWII, most AT shells were a solid shot or a variant of solid shot like HVAP (high velocity armour piercing), APDS (armour piercing discarding sabot), APBC (armour piercing ballistic capped) etc. There were a few weapons that used HEAT (high explosive Anti tank)based rounds, but the vast majority of WWII AT rounds were solid shot. HESH was developed by the British as a bunker buster and found to be highly succesful versus tanks. It was used in the Centurion first I think and only in general use in the late 1940’s.