Quote:
Originally posted by Kai-Petri:
The thing about German tank crews was that they were truly confident about their tank- Tiger and Panther.
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Kai is quite right here. The differences between allied and german tanks has become known in history circles as 'The Tank Gap' While in actual fact there is not mcuh difference in between the main combat tanks,the Sherman, especially the marks used in NW Europe, the Cromwell and the MkIV, the major problems was pscychological. To every allied tank crewman each tank round the corner was a Tiger and that created a real fear in them. They also had the reassurance, confirmed on them by there generals, thats the tanks could be replaced but they could not. This meant that allied crewman were much more ready to abandon a damaged, not destroyed though, tank than the germans, for whom saving a precious tank was important. General Dempsey even went so far as basing Operation Goodwood on the premise of tank replacements were greater than infantry replacements. (D'Este 'Decision in Normandy' (Penguin:2001) p. 355)
It is the similar effect that allied air power had on the Wehrmacht. By 1944 all planes in the sky were considered allied even though they might not be.
[ 13. March 2005, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: Mahross ]