Germans Laughed At Sherman's 75mm Gun — Until 50,000 Rolled Off Assembly Lines In 18 Months скачать в хорошем качестве

Germans Laughed At Sherman's 75mm Gun — Until 50,000 Rolled Off Assembly Lines In 18 Months

October 23rd 1942, Second Battle of El Alamein, Egypt. British tank commander Lieutenant John Holman watched through his periscope as the new American Sherman tank to his right absorbed a direct hit from a German Panzer IV at 800 yards. The shell struck the Sherman's glacis plate and ricocheted harmlessly into the desert sand. The Sherman's turret traversed smoothly on its gyro stabilizer, the 75mm gun barked once, and the Panzer IV erupted in flames. Holman had spent two years fighting in under-gunned Cruiser tanks and mechanically unreliable Matildas. This American machine with its seemingly modest 75mm gun represented something the Germans had not anticipated: industrial democracy applied to armored warfare at a scale that would reshape the entire conflict. The Sherman's 75mm gun M3 appeared unimpressive on paper to Vermacht intelligence analysts examining their first captured examples in Tunisia during early 1943. German tank designers had spent years pursuing incremental improvements in muzzle velocity and penetration values, constantly upgrading their Panzer III and IV designs with longer barrels and more complex ammunition. The American 75mm gun used a relatively short 40 caliber barrel that generated modest velocities compared to German tank guns entering service in 1942 and 1943. German ordnance officers noted these specifications with what appeared to be professional dismissal. The Americans had produced an adequate gun for 1942, perhaps suitable for engaging the Panzer III and early model Panzer IV, but clearly inadequate for the armored battles unfolding on the Eastern Front where German and Soviet designers competed in an escalating race toward heavier armor and more powerful guns. This assessment missed the fundamental reality that would decide the tank war. The Sherman's 75mm gun represented not an attempt at technical supremacy but rather a deliberate choice to optimize industrial production and tactical flexibility. American ordnance designers had created a dual-purpose weapon equally effective against fortifications, infantry positions, and the medium tanks that comprised the vast majority of German armored forces through 1943 and into 1944. The 75mm M3 gun could fire high explosive shells with devastating effect against soft targets while maintaining adequate armor-piercing capability against tanks the Sherman would actually encounter in combat. German tank designers, focused on defeating Soviet heavy armor, had created specialized weapons optimized for specific tactical situations. Americans had created a generalist weapon suitable for the combined arms warfare they intended to wage across multiple theaters against diverse opponents.