fun with flamethrowers

Well as I'm sure you can ask the Syrians, Urban environments are death traps for tanks. It's probably because they don't give their tanks the proper support they need. They just send them down the road by themselves and watch them blow up one after the other...

 

True, it all depends on the situation.

Here is another video from Syria... www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_k0Vdqxvvg

Here's a brief description- in the city of Daraya in Syria three tanks are dug in on a road. They use the proper technique for such a situation by have two tanks face forward towards the enemy while the third sits behind cover and watches the rear flank. However the infantry decided to advance without the tanks and left them completely alone and blind.

Thanks to this rebel forces were able to easily sneak through the buildings behind the tanks and their flanks surrounding them. The man who fires the missile at the tank is wielding an RPG-29 "The vampire" (which was presumable stolen from the Syrian army earlier) and is positioned at the direct rear of the two forward facing tanks.

When he fires the missile it impacts the rear of the T-72 just at the top of it's hull. The double shaped charge is enough to punch through the top of the engine and explode at the rear of the turret ring, detonating the ammo. In an amazing stroke of luck the gunner is blown out of the tank through his improperly secured hatch and survives the explosion. However he was still seriously burned by the escaping gases to the point were his trousers are disintegrated, his shoes blown off and skin from head to toe burned black. Its hard to see his ejection due to impact dust and debris but he amazingly stands up and books it to the nearest building, unblinded and well orientated. The two remaining crew are presumed to have died in the initial explosion or in the detonation of the ammunition. They wouldn't have felt the fire as they would be instantly killed from breathing in the intensely heated air.

One thing to note is that the tank fires it's main gun at almost the exact moment of impact likely due to either an accidental firing or malfunctioning circuits during the impact of the missile.

This only goes to show how vulnerable tanks can be when unaccompanied by infantry or other forms of support. More so with the Syrian tanks which aren't equipped with any sort of modern periscopes or added armor. These tanks have been considered obsolete since the 80's...

 

No. Please explain.

 

Plotting to take over the world most likely... :wacko:

 

True dat.

But with Iran in Syria it's not that much of a surprise. They wanna kill America and Israel, so most likely their cult leader (Can't remember his name) is trying to build up alliances and a massive army of monkeys to fight.

My parents are from Iraq (We're Assyrian NOT Syria) and they described the things Iran did during the war with Iraq. Normally two countries go for military and always try to avoid civilian death. Well with Iran they were straight up bombing civilian towns. My parents had to leave because bombs were blowing up a little too close to their home. That's why I hope that when war breaks out that we bomb their civilian areas.

 

Personally I see them like douchebags, then again most countries seem to be.

 

Back to the tanks... Why does everyone seem to love the German Tigers? They were terrible.

 

Because they're the most iconic tank of Nazi Germany and maybe the world. Able to destroy any opposing tank from more than 3km away whilst being all but impenetrable to any other tank of it's day. Plus it's name is easily rememberable and catchy- Tiger

I assume you call them simply terrible tanks because of it's flat armor and general unreliability, but calling them "terrible tanks" is absurd. Ask the Russian tank drivers of ww2 if the Tiger was "terrible", or the British, or the Americans, Canadians and everyone else who was faced by a Tiger. I'm sure terrible would not be the first word to be heard.
I would be very interested in hearing your explanation for such a statement. Hopefully it extends further than "They didn't make 100 of them a day and broke down all the time. There armor was inadequate for battles with rare allied tanks that had a 17 pounder or higher gun within 900 meters".

Sure, they cost a lot of money to produce and were unreliable mechanically. But it takes a lot more than this factors to call it "terrible". So, let's look at the facts...

The tiger was able to travel at a top speed of 24 mph compared to a T-34's 28 mph despite weighing almost twice as much.

A Tiger could knock out a T-34/85 from 3500 meters away while a T-34/85 had to close to at least 2900 meters to penetrate the tigers hull, although Most engagements occurred a lot closer.

A tiger is always supported by medium tanks ie Pziv or Pziii while a T-34 is supported by... More T-34's


Could a T-34 be made in 5 minutes... Maybe. A tiger? Hell no!

Tell a T-34 to go and kill the Tiger tank over the hill. Chances are, he's not coming back. "Well the Russians would simply overwhelm the Tiger with numbers" you might say. Well I say "unlikely". Tiger tanks stay well behind the main fighting line, knocking out tanks as they chose while their armor bounced the shots from tanks much to far away to penetrate. Panzer 4's were the tanks the T-34's would be busy with.

Not to mention the fact that the Tiger was a heavy tank whilst is main opposition consisted of medium tanks or AT guns. Basically the tiger was not out classed until the arrival of the Russian IS tanks... In 1944.


Soooo, that is a short statement on why the Tiger shouldn't be called "A terrible tank"... After all it did have an average Kill/loss ratio of 5.71 to 1.

I could keep going if you like, but would prefer not to. When people call legitimate tanks like the Tiger "Terrible" it makes me twitch...

 

The "Bengal Tiger" (not actually translated to "King tiger") is a different story. I would be a little less disturbed if someone called that tank "terrible"... But still disturbed!

A funny fact about the Tiger B is that when the Schwere Heeres Panzer Abteilung 501 arrived on the eastern front only 8 of their 45 Tiger B's where operational. The Panzer Lehr division received 5 Tiger B's... All of which broke down before they could be used in combat.

Although, there isn't a single report of a Tiger B's frontal hull ever being penetrated. A photo exists of a Tiger B were it's front turret plate has been penetrated. Apparently the only allied gun capable of such a feat was the 17 pounder (most common on the "Firefly") firing special tungsten armor-piercing, super velocity, discarding sabot rounds.

 

pfft. siege tank (BW) > siege tank (sc2) > panzer (2033) > all