You all read the Op statement that the vet said a RIFLE bullet...right? Not an anti tank round...not even a .50 round...a .30 cal round. Never happen. Another man misremembering a story.
We were escorting some ARVN supply and troop trucks on highway 14 north of Pleiku when we heard the main gun of the lead tank fire. We buttoned up and in couple minutes were told to move out as if someone popped a round off just for grins or at a non existent threat. We found out later that some poor soul had fired a few rounds at the TC's cupola and then ran off through the bush. They pivoted their turret around and sent a canister round after him, with no more resulting hostile fire. I don't know what happened to the shooter as we had neither the time nor the inclination to check, but I suspect that if he wasn't a casualty he likely didn't do anything that silly again. Small arms fire against a tank is just stupid and suicidal and I don't believe any .30 cal. rifle round can defeat a tanks armor no matter where it hits. I joined the local VFW a couple years after I got out and I quit going after a while in part because there was often some yahoo spouting some ridiculous story like the one above. A person can only smile, nod knowingly and feign interest for so long before it becomes too tedious to persist. Best. Tom
If you got lucky and got a rifle round down the main gun's barrel when the breach was open, do you think it would still have enough energy left, after bouncing off the rifling a couple of times, to cause trouble for the occupants?
That would be a one in a zillion chance henryr but has happened not to a tank but a German quad 20mm, Roland Tuck was coming into crash land his spitfire having succumbed to ground fire as he was gliding in fire came from his direct front in his words "I checked my turn and bank saw it was ok and fired." As always his aim was on the money and the crew were decimated literally as he got out his eye I think was closing due to hitting the reflector sight a rifle round went through the fuselage near him so he put up his hands he was going to set the spit on fire to late now. Anyway the Germans grabbed him and dragged him over to the quad 20mm where there were bits and pieces all over the place he expected to be shot as here they were looking at what his fire had done but oblivious to the dead crew the troops were climbing all over it saying "Goot shot Englander". Apparently one of his 20mm rounds had gone straight up one of the barrels of the quad and peeled open it like a banana. Book ~ Fly For Your Life By Larry Forrester
Not to decry the deeds of these very brave men in any way, but when it comes to biographies, you have to take all these anecdotes with a small pinch of salt.
Writers have a natural tendency to, how shall we say "turn up the contrast" on the relayed stories, then the editorial team take a read through and with an eye to sales insist the contrast is turned up even further!
Sadly when a lot of these events are cross checked against the facts...
Last edited by mrclark303; 02-18-2017 at 06:28 AM.
In Korea it was standard NKA and Chinese Infantry tactics to swamp the tanks and it was standard practice for the other tanks to hose them down with MG fire and cannister before they could set pencil charges or thermite into the little gaps and spaces of the locked down tanks. Aerials were the first things to be broken away of course. Initially these weren't up to date Centurions but wartime Comets, Cromwells and Shermans from Hong Kong and Japan. This 'hosing down' tanks with MG fire and fearsome cannister is still practiced today as I tell in 'The Armourers, Gunfitters and the lost Browning' The mere notion that you could jamb up the turret ring or penetrate the main tank with small-arms fire, even zillions of them or cannister shot is the stuff of another planet. Sorry you doubters but I have seen them in action - albeit Centurions
Last edited by Peter Laidler; 02-19-2017 at 07:28 AM.
Ok folks.... realizing that a lot of us (including me) are old fogeys often short on patience, let's continue to try to keep this civil, which so far hasn't been too bad..
Please stay focused on the original premise stated here in the first post, which was around an old vet's claim that a single 30.06 rifle bullet if well placed into the turret ring would stop a German tank, because it was well known at the time?
I lived in vintage tanks during the early 60's for many years. I have been to Bovington several times, spent a lot of time discussing many issues and tank folklore with the staff, crawled through the Tiger and Panzer IV and even conducted an impromptu lecture on life inside a Sherman M4.
The claim is from a valued old vet who loves to tell stories over a beer and the more beer that flows, the better the "I remember when..." stories grow. Just ask me and I'll tell you some old veteran tales to pass on to others that will have your jaws drop.
Now, back to sober reality ... a single 30.06 rifle bullet if well placed into the turret ring would stop a German tank isn't even close to being a reality ...
Nope Jim just went to the next step as I did not want to waste my time explaining why it could not happen I read post one so I knew the form and I am not going to write reams about the plausibility of a 30/06 round hitting a turret bull ring and knocking the tank out I did however explain he may get a shot at the vision blocks. Despite what people think I do read the all posts not just scroll down and put my 2 cents worth in.
All I was quoting was the fact a turret could be jammed by a fluke shot which it was and to tell you the truth if I was facing a Tiger in a Churchill at close range where a persons surviving the encounter are very slim I would be over the moon at that shot and the crew gutlessness........
Or was I supposed to say instead of engaging people with perhaps information they may not have known with as one member may put it ~ Would never happen, stupid notion, next thread!
Originally Posted by CINDERS
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