Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jimbotosome Again, these are not valid arguments. First of all the Churchill got the living dog crap beat out of it at Dieppe. The Pak38s would have to shoot down or at the its tracks to kill a Churchill but they could not kill a Sherman from the front either. The Sherman was not made of aluminum. But a Pak50 would take out both Shermans and Churchills with ease. Churchills got the crap kicked out of them virtually everywhere they went. They didn’t have a reputation of being a formidable tank in WWII. |
Just an aside as i'm reading a little tale of Churchills first combat use at Dieppe at the mo.
29 Churchills got Ashore,
15 got over the sea wall (debated figure apparently).
They were stopped by Concrete defences laid across the entrances to the town, the German AT gunners took severe casualties as they had enormous difficuilty penetrating the Churchills Rather substantial armour, The Churchill was actually quite a tough prospect for AT rounds, one in Africa took thirty-one 50mm hits and wasn't penetrated, another took four 50mm hits and two 75mm continuing to fight on with 'minor suspension damage' the Dieppe churchills suffered from a bad plan and the tragic failure of the Western assault to neutralise the Hindenberg Battery or the Headlands leaving the main beach a "well prepared killing field" rather than any of their actual design failings (Infantry Tank Concept. Too slow and undergunned..though one that got into town did considerable damage with her 3" Howitzer) The armour and cross country ability of the Churchill was actually very good for the time.