Do tanks ever actually TOW anything with thier pintles?

[Carves]

[snip]

Tanks don’t generally drag trailers because 1) the trailer doesn’t match the cross country ability of the tank and 2) it makes the tank a better target. A tank is a combat system and the pintle is more for emergency use than routine towing.

No kidding there, check out the Africa Korps tanks, they carried everything on their tanks up to the brim; ammo, fuel, water, cans, food. Makes you wonder, it is a moving supermarket and gas station at the same time.

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Ben

[beav]

I think they tow things…

[Manic_Moran]

On an M1, there are 4 tow hooks (2 on the front, 2 on the back). I’ve pulled out other tanks when they are stuck or throw a track.

The tow cables cross like an X when they are in use. The M1 comes with tow cables on the side of the turret. I’ve never seen an M1 tow anything else though.

An M1 has 5 hooks on the back but the only ones I used were the top 2 circular ones on the side of the exhaust on the back deck. There are 3 other hooks on the lower part of the hull in the back that were mainly used to secure the tank when you load it on a train for transport.

Here’s a good photo of it:

I’m trying to figure out exactly how you do things in your unit.

The two top circular ones are lifting eyes, not tow hooks, though it’s not impossible to use them for towing.

Note that an -88 is using the left rear lifting eye to stabilise the rear of the tank, but the tank in the background is actually pulling with the left rear tow hook. The -88 in the background is hooked to the right front tow hook.

When towing a tank with the two cables in an ‘X’, I can’t see how you can really avoid using both the front corner hooks and the back corner hooks, unless you’re going nose-to-nose. For any long-distance hauling, you’re going to have the lead tank hooked to the towed tank with cables between the lead tank’s two rear hooks and the towed tank’s two nose hooks, and you’ll have the brake tank hooked up with its two nose hooks to the towed tank’s two rear hooks.

The preferred method of towing another tank for a distance is to use a tow-bar, not the cables. That hooks on to the centre pintle of the lead tank, and the two tow-points (Take off the hooks) at the nose of the towed tank. No brake tank is required.

NTM

[alumni72]

Well, I guess the question’s already been answered, but here’s the pic I wanted to submit - found it tonight in the Panzer III in Action book. It’s 2 Panzer IVs trying to pull a Panzer III out of a shell crater:

[T26E4]

I also recall reading in Guy Sajer’s “Soldat Oublie (Forgotten Soldier)” that during a retreat in a muddy situation, a column’s light tanks (maybe Pz II?) kept a line attached to the light trucks and cars behind it so as all could be assisted.

I recall this because one of the tanks was destroyed by a well-hidden mine, killing all its occupants. The cars and trucks attached behind it were abandoned because of the heavy mud too, I believe.

[Franz_Bolo]

Manic Moran, I towed 1 tank out of the mud and that’s what I remember, but that was over 20 years ago when I did it. It wasn’t for a long distance and there were only our tank and the other one.

This was at Ft Knox in Basic training for our 2 week field training. I was the first class to graduate from Ft Knox on the M1 (19K). If I recall correctly, we used the back of our tank against the back of their tank.

Thanks for the pics.

[osher]

The Israelis (can’t remember if 6 Day or Yom Kippur, or both) used tanks to tow other tanks, I think in near combat conditions too. Certainly, in the panic of the Yom Kippur invasion in the Golan, they towed each other.

[Anonymous]

On an M1, there are 4 tow hooks (2 on the front, 2 on the back). I’ve pulled out other tanks when they are stuck or throw a track.

The tow cables cross like an X when they are in use. The M1 comes with tow cables on the side of the turret. I’ve never seen an M1 tow anything else though.

An M1 has 5 hooks on the back but the only ones I used were the top 2 circular ones on the side of the exhaust on the back deck. There are 3 other hooks on the lower part of the hull in the back that were mainly used to secure the tank when you load it on a train for transport.

Here’s a good photo of it:

I’m trying to figure out exactly how you do things in your unit.

The two top circular ones are lifting eyes, not tow hooks, though it’s not impossible to use them for towing.

Note that an -88 is using the left rear lifting eye to stabilise the rear of the tank, but the tank in the background is actually pulling with the left rear tow hook. The -88 in the background is hooked to the right front tow hook.

When towing a tank with the two cables in an ‘X’, I can’t see how you can really avoid using both the front corner hooks and the back corner hooks, unless you’re going nose-to-nose. For any long-distance hauling, you’re going to have the lead tank hooked to the towed tank with cables between the lead tank’s two rear hooks and the towed tank’s two nose hooks, and you’ll have the brake tank hooked up with its two nose hooks to the towed tank’s two rear hooks.

The preferred method of towing another tank for a distance is to use a tow-bar, not the cables. That hooks on to the centre pintle of the lead tank, and the two tow-points (Take off the hooks) at the nose of the towed tank. No brake tank is required.

NTM

I think the back cable is there for just keeping the tank balanced from rollover. The front tank and the 88 are the ones trying to pull the tank out of there.

[Shellback]

I think they tow things…

Maybe all of you already realize this , but here goes …

Actually they are “plowing” a cable underground .In pic #4 that trailer has a “blade” with a “shute” on it to plow a communication(?) cable underground ,The cable came off of the empty reel on the last trailer . In pic #1 they are probably “pre ripping” the soil .