That would make it fairly common, having happened hundreds of times. When it comes to deflections off the Sheman, I believe they stated it was 5%, which is 1:20. Makes sense, as most German tanks dont sit directly out in the middle of the road, they are hundreds of meters out to the sides waiting in ambush. When it comes to penetrations, dont quote me, but there is an Allied report stating something to the effect that it did not matter if the sherman had thick frontal armor, because it took something like 65-75% of hits in the side. You see a lot of situations where 12 tanks were broken and waiting for parts, one tank runs out of gas, another breaks down while towing it, they have to destroy both, and then are left with a pair of tanks. Otto Carius wrote about a time when they had the astounding number of 8 out of 16 tanks available! This seems logical, as most German tank commanders sate that 75% of tanks were out of commission all the time, and it was unusual to see more than four tanks from a regiment operational at a time. The most reliable facts I have seen indicate only one in six German tanks were killed in combat, while the remainder were from lack of spare parts and fuel. Nobody made a "perfect" tank, the Panther was probably the closest to being one in this time-frame, but it had its flaws as well. The M4 Sherman was the tank beater it was designed to be, against the then more numerous Pz IIIs and early model IVs, and when it was designed the Panzer IV was the best the Nazis were fielding in any significant number, and it was equal to or superior to that tank until the "G" model which came out after the M4 was in the field. And one famous German Panzer commander is recorded post war as saying that (paraphrasing) " we could take five of your Shermans, the problem was you always had number six." The Sherman could disable any tank if it hit the track system, a tank without a track is a pillbox. The American Tank Destroyers however were very effective against the German armor, but they were so "under armored" they had to use the shoot and scoot tactic if they couldn't fire from a concealed position. The later panzers ( Panther and Tigers) were impervious to Sherman low velocity 75 mm rounds if fired at the frontal armor, while Shermans were "holed" with ease from any angle. I have watched the same channel, and I think you have it reversed. The ants eventually devoured the elephants. My feeling is that the German equipment was far superior to anything the allies had in a lot of areas and the reason the Germans suffered so many tank defeats towards the end of the war was the greater number of Shermans. I think some had hi-volecity shells but I am not sure. Even if the Sherman was "useful" the volecity and range of its guns were tepid. I am not even sure whether a Sherman, with a direct hit to the undercarriage of the German tanks, could do any damage. As far as I can see the Sherman was pretty much under-gunned and dangerous to crews. I have read, for example, that it took at least 3 Shermans, attacking from the rear, to disable or damage a Tiger. The narrators state that Shermans were able to disable or destroy Panther tanks with a single shot! In several other cases where the tanks were facing each other it is claimed that German tank shells "bounced off" Shermans. Tank personnel narrate the series but they seem to be coming up with some incredible stories especially about the Sherman tank and the German Panther and Tigers. They appear to be informative and factual but I wonder. Lately, I have had stomach cramps watching the series-"Famous tank battles". I watch the military cable channel a lot. I am a novice but I read a lot of books on WWII.
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