Pershing vs Tiger 1945

the uncomfortable fact was the m4 Sherman tank wasn't a match against most late war German tanks his crews rapidly discovered because they advanced across France into Germany the Sherman was a mass-produced medium tank some 48,000 being built between 1942 and 1945 Germans went for quality over quantity producing the fearsome Tiger one and Panther as well as the King Tiger and several other vehicles based on the tiger or Panther chassis to supplement their upgraded and up armed pz.kpfw for tank all these German types and in particular the tigers and Panthers could kill Sherman's with relative ease in response the Americans and the British tried upgrading the Sherman creating the more powerful ez8 and firefly types respectively they could cope better with the big German tanks that their armor was still inadequate the u.s. brass decided upon an entirely new tank the t26 later known as the m26 pershing it weighed 46 tons still smaller than the 57-ton tiger and mounted a 90 millimeter gun there was 100 millimeters of frontal armor though a rather underperforming Ford engine the intention was to equip us tank units with one Pershing to every five Sherman's but design problems in bureaucratic wrangling meant that the t26 program was late to get Persians to the front line it was the end of 1944 before the first forty t26e3 variants were delivered 20 arrived at Antwerp in Belgium in January 1945 the twenty Persians were sent to the u.s. first Army ten each to the 3rd and 9th armored divisions by the 23rd of February 1945 the crews had completed their training near arkin and they were ready to be committed to battle on the 25th of February US Infantry secured a bridgehead on the east bank of the river between yulik and Doolin the 3rd armored spearheaded the attack out of the bridgehead the next day 26th of February the US offensive was designed to clear German forces west of the river and up to the Rhine cologne was to be captured it was to be the Pershing's first time in action German resistance was not expected to be particularly heavy just the remnants of the 9th and 11th Panzer divisions and the 2nd Panzer Grenadier division protected the huge humbug forest which US forces would have to traverse in order to get at Cologne one of the first targets to aim for was an important road junction of the town of Elle's Dorf combat command B of the 3rd Armored Division led the charge the combat command was divided into two task forces with Task Force Wellborn on the left taking Elle's Dorf lieutenant-colonel well borns armor consisted of the 1st battalion 33rd armored regiment Sherman tanks but it had one new Pershing leading the battalion christened fireball the Germans had prepared Elle's door for defense roadblocks covered each of the Western roads with some anti-tank guns it was raining as the 1st 33rd approached the town fire ball rolled up to one of the log barricades at dusk the German infantry never having seen such a tank before fled fireball ground over the barricade some Sherman's following but at the same time three tiger ones of heavy Panzer battalion 301 attached the ninth Panzer Division drove into Elle's door from the east two of them stopped the tiger 2:01 continued west fireball was still maneuvering over the barricade when the Sherman behind was hit bursting into flames that illuminated the Pershing perfectly aboard tiger 2:01 the gun bark 3 x 3 88 millimeter shells slamming into fireball the first was a lucky shot it went through the turret coaxial machinegun aperture the second destroyed the tanks muzzle break at the end of the barrel and the third glanced off the upper right corner of the turret leaving a massive gouge fireballs crew bailed out of the knocked out Pershing but the Tigers victory was short-lived reversing away Tiger 2:01 backed into debris becoming stuck the Germans after many attempts to free the tank abandoned it the Pershing's first fight with the tank it was designed to counter had ended in a draw as for fireball it was later repaired and returned to action by noon on the 27th of February most of L's Dorf was in u.s. hands but that afternoon the Germans launched a counter-attack spearheaded by four tiger ones and two pzkpfw force this force was taken under fire by combat command B's other Task Force Lovelady which had one Pershing out in front sergeant Nick mash lovak was a thousand yards when he opened up while still moving for 90 millimeter Shell's destroyed a tiger he then picked off three more German armored vehicles with a shell each the advance on Cologne would continue but the Germans still had a few surprises left to spring on the us's latest tank 1 Pershing broke down on the 1st of March and was withdrawn while another attached to company a 14th tank battalion 9th armored division was hit by a 150 millimeter German artillery shell southeast of durin the commander of the tank was killed and the tank was disabled on the 6th of March US forces began nosing into the suburbs of Cologne Pershing number two five of Company H 33rd armored regiment 3rd Armored Division was close to the city at Neil when it was ambushed by a German nas horn tank destroyer at 300 yards the German 88 millimeter shell penetrated the turret and set off the ammunition burning out the turret though the crew managed to bail out seconds before it brewed up but this minor victory could not stop the American juggernaut and soon they were heading towards Cologne Cathedral but that's a story for another time I hope you've enjoyed this film if you have please do subscribe and also share many thanks [Music] and

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,093,595

Rating: 4.8736062 out of 5

Keywords: Pershing vs Tiger 1945, Battle of Cologne 1945, Mark Felton Productions, Tiger Tank, M26 Pershing Tank, US 1st Army, Nashorn Tank Destroyer

Id: meduxDj61sQ

Length: 7min 4sec (424 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 21 2018