Была передача по хистори-чаннел на эту же тему..
>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
Ага, в передаче живые американские ветераны про тоже говорили.. Что пока не появился танк першинг(?) они не могли воевать с пантерой.. Один рассказывал что он сменил 5(!) танков Шерманов в боях..
Жругие по 3 не меньше..
Наверно выскакивать из Шермана было легко..
А вот Першинге показали кинохронику как замочили пантеру в лоб и борт.. На улицах кельна.. Прямо возле знаменитого собора.. Прямо танковая дуэль была заснята..
Причем тот кто тогда стрелял тоже ветеран рассказывал по каналу как он энто делал.. Кстати уже пушка этого першинга пробивала Пантеру в борт на вылет.. А от першинга пантерный снаряд отскочил..
