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Василий Фофанов
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29.08.2001 18:09:28
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Рубрики
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WWII; Танки;
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ШИКАРНЫЙ текст: встреча шерманов с пантерами
Цитируется по изданию: Spielberger, Walther J and Feist, Uwe: Panzerkampfwagen V Panther (Feist Publications, Buena Park, California,1968) pages 52,54
А там в свою очередь - из издания "Twenty-Third Lancers", выпущенного частным образом в апреле 1946 года.
"...... 'C' Squadron also conducted a trial shoot of our weapons against
the front of a Panther, with rather depressing results. The open piece
of ground on which we were sitting, contained about eight knocked-out
Panthers, all bearing signs of considerable disorder in their ranks. We
learned later that our friends the Twenty-fourth Lancers had been
responsible both for their disorder and their battered condition. They
had, however, been knocked out from the flank, and we were anxious to
see what effect a Sherman would have on the front of a Panther, should
we find ourselves in the unfortunate position of having to tackle one,
or more, frontally. lt was found that a 75-millimetre gun made no
impression on the front at all, unless it was lucky enough to hit the
turret ring, a very small target indeed. The 17-pounder was more
encouraging (as related earlier we were equipped with one 17-pounder
tank for every three seventy-fives) for it penetrated the front of the
Panther's turret at three hundred yards, though it did not always go
through the sloped front plate of the hull (выделение мое, для фанатов 17-фунтовки типа Tigerclaw: итак, пантера пробивалась 17# в лоб башни только меньше чем с 300 метров, а пробитие ВЛД вообще ни с какой дистанции не гарантировалось! Словом что и разъяснялось какое-то время назад. О полезности для здоровья "светлячка" пытаться сблизиться с пантерой на 300 метров я распространяться не буду). On the whole, we decided
that head-on Panthers should be treated with circumspection. In point of
fact we found ourselves in just that position a few days later, and the
results were just as unhappy as our trial shoot indicated."
* * *
"As the Fifes advanced across this open country, they were subjected to
withering cross fire from hidden German tanks and in their mass
formation they fell easy victims. The lines of Shermans were raked and
shattered by hidden Panthers, and so easy was the mark that, had the
German gunners been able to load their guns quickly enough, barely one
would have escaped. Their C.O.'s tank was knocked out, the
Second-in-Command's had already gone. There was no communication with
Brigade Headquarters, but the Brigadier, realizing that something had
gone badly wrong, ordered us forward to the Fifes' assistance. We
crossed the railway line with no idea of what the true situation was.
'B' Squadron advanced into the centre of the ring of blazing Fife and
Forfar tanks before they saw that there appeared to be almost none left
in action. One of the Fifes' Squadron Leaders ran up to say that, as far
as he knew there were only four tanks left in his regiment. Later this
total was found to be unduly pessimistic, and after stragglers had come
in eighteen were mustered. But that was much later. While he was giving
us this information, the whole of 'B' Squadron's First Troop were hit
and blazing in a matter of seconds. Sergeant Bateman hit a Panther and
was immediately killed by a shell which penetrated his turret. Captain
Blackman also scored a hit, but his tank went up in flames within the
next minute. 'B' Squadron began to reverse to the nearest hedge, firing
back with all they had. The Colonel, down inside his turret in
conversation with the Brigadier on the wireless, received most energetic
attention from a Panther, which was knocked out by the
Second-in-Command's gunner, RSM Wass, who scored a hit on its turret
ring with a brilliant shot. Eventually the remaining tanks of 'B'
Squadron, together with RHQ, got back to the doubtful cover of the
hedge. They were still in view of the Panthers and completely outranged
by their guns. lt was a most helpless and hopeless situation, for nearly
all the 17-pounders had been knocked out, and the seventy fives were
virtually useless under the circumstances. Every five minutes there was
the crack of an armour-piercing shot passing through the air, the
shattering crash as it penetrated a Sherman, the shower of sparks, the
sheet of flame, and then black figures silhouetted against the orange
glow as they jumped to the ground, sometimes pausing to draw a wounded
comrade after them. Then the slow crackling as the tank began to burn,
black smoke pouring from the turret, and later, at intervals, the vivid
crimson flashes and violent rendings as the ammunition blew up. But '8'
Squadron held their ground and fought back, while 'A' Squadron hurried
to come up on their right flank and influence the battle.
'C' Squadron had by this time come up on 'B's left, but were out of
sight over a ridge within three hundred yards of Four. Some enemy tanks
from Cagny were seen at once and engaged successfully by their Second
Troop, who destroyed a Tiger and a Panther. Suddenly, with no warning,
the whole squadron was subjected to a terrible concentration of fire
from Four, virtually at point blank range. With no time for retaliation,
no time to do anything but to take one quick glance at the situation,
almost in one minute, all of the tanks of three troops and of Squadron
Headquarters were hit, blazing and exploding. Everywhere wounded and
burning figures ran or struggled painfully for cover, while a
remorseless rain of armour-piercing shot riddled the already helpless
Shermans. Major Shebbeare's tank was one of the first to be hit. He was
never seen again. Dazed survivors ran to and fro helping the many
wounded, beating out flaming clothing with their hands, until the
intense heat and violent explosions drove them back to the cover of the
railway line. Captain Walter was getting out of his tank when he was
wounded in the hand by an A.P. shot. Despite this, he supervised the
collection of the wounded, took them back and saw that they were looked
after. He then took over a 17-pounder tank, from which he organized the
remnants of the Squadron and personally destroyed a Panther. He refused
to be evacuated for twenty-four hours and was later awarded the D.S.0.
Sergeant Abbott won the M.M. for returning on foot to the scene of the
action an hour later to search for wounded, though the area was enemy
controlled and under fire.
All too clearly we were not going to "break through" today. We had
suffered a very "bloody nose" and it was going to be a matter not of
how much further we should advance to-day but whether we should be able
to hold on to what we had gained. A determined enemy advance just at
that moment would have been very hard to deal with. But all those
Shermans were not blazing in the cornfields for nothing. Many a Panther
blazed there too, and their comrades contented themselves with using
their long-range advantage over us.
'B' and 'C' Squadrons retired behind the railway line, which made a very
good hull-down position, while 'A' Squadron looped west of Grentheville
to take our assailants in the flank. This they did with some success,
though their position was far from comfortable, particularly as the
village itself still contained many active Germans. 'H' Company
therefore advanced and duly cleared it, taking some prisoners and about
ten abandoned Nebelwerfers as they did so.
Now the damaging effects of the minefield were clearly evident, for
those behind were not getting through. The Guards should have been up on
our left by now, but they had been so delayed that they were only just
starting to arrive. Of the Seventh Armoured there was no sign at all.
The whole impetus of this great armoured attack had been lost, its
effect spent, and its spearhead blunted. True, the R.A.F. and artillery
had swung into action and were pounding any enemy tank that showed
itself, but with every hour the Germans recovered from their surprise,
and moved up more troops to plug the gap that had been made. They
retaliated with all the artillery they had, and a steady stream of shell
fire and "moaning minnies" descended amongst our positions. But the
armour-piercing fire from the Panthers grew wilder and more inaccurate,
as the tanks of the First (Adolf Hitler) SS and the Twelfth SS moved
back under our barrage from the ruins of Soliers and Four to the
comparative safety of the woods around Bourgebus.
On our right the Third Tanks had also had very heavy losses. For our
Brigade it had been a sad and damaging day. Out of the great array of
armour that had moved forward to battle that morning one hundred and six
tanks now lay crippled and out of action in the cornfields, while the
survivors had been brought to a standstill behind the railway line . .
."
Мрачненькое такое описание :( И очень живо Т-34 на место шерманов в этой истории подставляются :(
С уважением, Василий Фофанов, http://members.dencity.com/fofanov/Tanks