“They Don’t Burn Anymore” – German Tank Crews vs the New Wet‑Rack Shermans скачать в хорошем качестве

“They Don’t Burn Anymore” – German Tank Crews vs the New Wet‑Rack Shermans

German gunners were used to a simple formula: hit a Sherman through the side and wait for the fireball. Then, one day, they punched an armor‑piercing round clean through an M4 — and it didn’t blow. For years, U.S. and British crews watched their Shermans go up like Ronson lighters when a German 75 mm or 88 mm round found the hull side. The reason wasn’t just “thin armor.” It was the way the ammunition was stored: dozens of 75 mm rounds stacked in thin‑walled racks along the hull sponsons, right where penetrations and hot fragments would find them. In mid‑war, U.S. Ordnance quietly rewired the Sherman’s insides. They moved the ammo into armored bins on the hull floor and surrounded those bins with water jackets. The result—“wet stowage”—didn’t change the Sherman’s silhouette, armor thickness, or gun power. But it changed the odds for the men inside the tank in a way that shocked German panzer crews used to seeing M4s turn into torches. This video walks you through that change from both sides of the sights. What you’ll see in this episode: Why early‑war and Normandy‑era Shermans had such a terrible reputation for burning when hit How sponson racks worked: 30+ rounds of 75 mm stacked above the tracks, thin metal, and no real barrier to a chain cook‑off A Normandy bocage engagement from inside a Sherman that brews up after a single AP hit — and what that meant for the crew How British nicknames like “Ronson” and “Tommycooker” weren’t just jokes, they were battlefield reality The Ordnance Department’s post‑Africa and Sicily studies: cutting open burned hulls, tracing fragment patterns, and deciding armor alone wasn’t the answer The design and introduction of wet stowage: floor‑mounted ammo bins, armored lids, and water/glycol jackets around the racks Test data from Aberdeen and field reports showing catastrophic ammo fires dropping from 60–80% down into the teens The first time German panzer crews saw Shermans take a side hit, not erupt, and stay in the fight long enough to fire back How wet stowage changed crew behavior, salvage practices, and even German gunners’ assumptions about “one and done” hits What this upgrade did not do — Shermans still died to Panthers, Tigers, and Pak — and why it still mattered massively for crew survival ⏱️ Approximate Timestamps 0:00 – Cold open: Panther shell punches through a Sherman… and it doesn’t explode 2:10 – “Ronson” and “Tommycooker”: why Shermans burned so easily in ’42–’44 6:00 – Inside an early Sherman: sponson racks, ready racks, and a fire waiting to happen 9:30 – Normandy, June ’44: Staff Sergeant Kowalski learns what a hit in the sponson really means 14:00 – Casualty lists and anger: crews and medics living with brewed‑up M4s 17:00 – Ordnance wakes up: cutting open wrecks, tracking fragment paths, looking for answers 20:30 – Aberdeen and the engineers: moving ammo from sponsons to floor, inventing “wet racks” 24:00 – Wet stowage in detail: armored bins, water jackets, new internal layouts 28:00 – The numbers: dry vs wet burn‑rates and crew survival stats 31:00 – Back to the front: first wet‑rack Shermans arrive in Normandy and the West Wall 34:00 – German side: panzer and Pak crews noticing “Shermans aren’t all burning anymore” 38:00 – Tactical and psychological impact: needing extra rounds per kill, fewer fireballs 42:00 – Late‑war battlefields: knocked‑out but intact M4s, more salvage, more crews walking away 46:00 – Postwar analysis, museum cutaways, and what this teaches about design that saves lives If you’re into WWII armor, crew survivability, and what actually made tanks better (beyond bigger guns and thicker plate), this is your rabbit hole. 👍 If this changed how you think about Shermans, hit Like — it tells YouTube there’s an audience for real tank history, not just memes. 🔔 Subscribe for more long‑form WWII micro‑histories: bazookas vs tanks, subs sunk by their own torpedoes, “impossible” air missions, and the engineering fixes that quietly saved thousands of lives. Got any tanker stories in your family — Sherman, Stuart, Churchill, Panther? Drop the unit, vehicle, and any details you have in the comments. That’s the stuff that keeps this history alive. (Replace with your own:) Instagram: @yourhandle X / Twitter: @yourhandle Business / research: youremail@domain.com Hashtags: #WW2History #ShermanTank #WetStowage #TankWarfare #Panzer #ArmorHistory #MilitaryHistory #WarStories