while hunting for reference pics on Panthers for my museum 1/25th Academy kit I came across this photo.You have probably seen it before but in case not here it is…
http://panzersinnormandy.tripod.com
Look for the one where panther took a direct hit from Naval shell in Normandy.WOW.
What happens to a Panther when it argues with the Navy.No contest fellas. It was a lucky shot though.
Let’s see “the Navy” capture and occupy the enemy capital. [:p]
By the way, could you post the url to the actual picture – I played that Milton Bradley game, “find the spectacularly-destroyed Panther,” for a while, then gave up.
Wow…one word for that panzer crew…OWNED!
There’s hardly anything left!
BTW…some panzers had 2 stroke engines? Where was I all these years? Further proof that I know zilch about armor.
Actually, in looking at the wreckage, that appears to be a Panzer IV and not a Panther, although the effect would have been the same when hit with a 6" shell from a cruiser. I noticed the tracks were a bit too narrow for a Panther, and you can make out some of the details of the rear of the vehicle. The road wheels (by the guy’s foot) and the idler wheel on the right side of what’s left of the hull give it away.
This is, of course, assuming we’re looking at the same photo…the one with the British officers looking at the wreckage?
Jeff
yeah the photo above is a Panzer 4 and not a Panther
you can see the back aswell
I don’t see any pictures? Tiger33
Me neither! Although not sure I want to see results anyway!
Glenn
don’t know what happened but I put it up again.should be OK now. I should have read further and seen that he in fact says it is a Panzer IV. DOH.
Dont worry about it
there were Panther that were hit by naval shells, ive read acounts of it in “Panzer battles of the Waffen SS - Will Hoy”
Wow! That’s a headache that even Excedrin couldn’t fix. Thanks for the link, those are some good pictures.
The power of some the ordinance slung about during war is kind of amazing. No matter how protected you think you might be, there is always something that can get through.
Here’s the direct link:
http://panzersinnormandy.tripod.com/panzer29.jpg
(Hope I don’t get arrested for copywrite breach but anyway…)
Cheers,
John
naval shell ? no possible one any tank hit by that shell will suffer interior explosion … ever a small size shell … beachhead to caen is quite far destroyer is fire ramdomly … with great luck to achieve a hit . but still frm sea to land really quite impossible due to the shell loss all thier velocity … that penerated hole suggest a 76 mm gun use by shermans 6 pounder hole is much more smaller due to they r 57mm
man, i can only say two things about that picture…ouch and that had to hurt…bad.
When we did NGFS in VietNam to knock out the VC that had some jarheads pinned down in the middle of the night those marines didnt care about capturing Hanoi that night but they sure called the Navy and our 6 inch guns to rescue them ! We even blasted out an LZ for them in the jungle for the choppers the next day. No tanks around that night.[soapbox]
Naval shells did knock/ wipe out Panzer formatoins in Normandythere was one RN ship that sailed up a ship canal just to get more range
read some books about Normandy and you will see that it did happen
read “Armor Battles of the Waffen SS 1943-45 - Will Fey” for the German account
If it had been a sixteen inch gun, there wouldn’t even be a mist hanging in the air from that panzer. And don’t forget that naval gunfire would be plunging fire and would penetrate the tank’s thin top armor. I think the term “smithereens” comes into play here. A naval five inch gun would roughly compare to a 125mm field howitzer wouldn’t it? Armor piercing shells? Yikes!
If they where parked up I wonder if they heard it coming!!!
Driver to Gunner - “Whats that noise like a locomotive?”
Gunner to Driver- " I don’t Kn…"[:D]
heres an acount from Edward Francis Wightman, who served as a Royal Navy Seaman/Gunner on board HMS Ramillies.
"Sunday, 11 June 1944, morning
No air raids last night or tonight. Just heard over the broadcaster that we have to support the paratroops and 6th Airborne Division. They are on the left or Eastern Flank.
Afternoon: Attacked concentration of 200 enemy tanks with good effects. Shifted target to an important railway bridge in the centre of Caen. Evening. Strafing with ten shells every half hour. Cruisers also lobbing 6" bricks over. The most surprising part of this invasion (from our point of view) is the almost complete lack of retaliation against the naval ships. After the first day we have had no real attempt at engagement by either shore batteries (if any) or aircraft or submarines or E-boats."
Caen was in range, it did happen Leopard, and the hole in the side looks like it was where the suspention was
a link to the site http://db.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A1125000
ouch, the odds of scoring a direct hit are huge.