From: Steve Grammont (islander@midmaine.com)
Date: Tue Dec 14 2004 - 10:49:37 PST
>The same could be said for the profusion of track links and other
>materials that increased the number of shot traps on the exterior of
>the armor.
Exactly. However, at various points in time vs. specific weapons these
extra track links did indeed help. The only example that comes right to
mind is defeating ATR (anti-tank rifles) that were borderline capable of
penetrating under normal conditions. It is also possible that the track
links would have helped thinner armor better withstand fragmentation type
hits that were borderline capable of penetrating the base armor.
All sorts of expedients were used to better protect armor from
penetration. Especially Western Allied vehicles which were generally
outclassed by a large portion of German AT capabilities for most of the
war. I've seen examples of concrete, wood beams/planks, logs, and even
mattresses used to offer crews "greater" protection from AT weapons.
Unfortunately, all these did was add weight to the vehicle and increased
its chance of mechanical failure, bogging, or reduced speed.
Even some of the field applied armor fell into this category, simply
because the extra armor did not increase the practical effectiveness
enough to make a difference. If you had, say, 20cm armor and you doubled
it to 40cm you've added a lot of weight to a vehicle that was probably
already underpowered and overloaded to begin with. However,
effectiveness is only 50% greater (physics involved here) which really
only made a net benefit of 10cm, for a total of 30cm. Now if a
particular AT weapon is capable of penetrating 50cm of armor... well, all
the crew has done for itself is increased the chances of being put out of
action through simple use of the vehicle.
This fact was not lost on some senior commanders. At one point Patton
himself sent around orders to stop applying extra armor to Shermans for
the above reasons. But soldiers sometimes do things because it makes
them feel better, regardless of facts, and therefore the extra armor
activity didn't stop as far as we could tell.
Steve
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