Thursday 23 July 2015

Comparative Testing

"Brief technical report on the development of protection against subcaliber and HEAT shells

1. Resistance of the T-34's hull against HEAT shells
During the course of the war, the German army obtained new types of shells: subcaliber and HEAT. Trials of 75 mm German and 76 mm domestic HEAT shells against a T-34 hull showed the following:

Tank component
At angle
Resistance of component
75 mm German HEAT
76 mm domestic HEAT
Front plates
0
No penetration
No penetration
Lower side
90
Penetration
Penetration
Lower side
60
No penetration
Penetration
Upper side
90
No penetration
Penetration
Rear
180
No penetration
No penetration
Turret
90
No penetration
Penetration

The table shows that domestic HEAT shells have superior penetration compared to German HEAT shells, as those can only penetrate the lower side of the tank, and at angles close to normal. A special feature of these shells is that due to their HE component, they do not lose penetration at a distance, meaning that the T-34 can be penetrated from a significant range. As for the HE effect, it is somewhat greater than the effect of regular HE shells.

When the shell hits the side of the tank near the overtrack hull or the suspension, they are destroyed. If the lower part of the turret is hit, the roof of the hull is dented or destroyed. When the rear is hit, hatches, exhaust pipe shields, bolts are torn off.

The 75 mm German HEAT shell is not effective against the T-34's armour. These shells are only a serious threat to the sides of the tank at any range.

2. Resistance of the T-34's hull against subcaliber shells
Trials of the T-34 hull showed that its various components in various positions relative to the shooter can be penetrated from the following distances:

Tank part Shell caliber Range in meters at the following angle
90 80 70 60 50 40 30
Lower side 50 mm
37 mm
1260
380
1155
360
980
310
775
200
530
10
250
No penetration
No penetration
No penetration
Upper side 50 mm
37 mm
530
15
495
No penetration
420 300 115 No penetration
Turret 50 mm 690 660 565 410 205 No penetration

The table shows that the T-34 is weakly protected from subcaliber shells, as important components can be penetrated from significant distances at relatively sharp angles, which limits the area of maneuver in relation to the enemy. Only the front of the hull is impervious to subcaliber shells and, to a lesser degree, the rear, penetrable at a range of 360 meters.

To compare with regular sharp-tipped German armour piercing shells, the 50 mm shell can penetrate the side from normal at a range of 900-1000 meters, and the 37 mm shell at 150 meters."

9 comments:

  1. Do you happen to know which type of german shell and gun was used?

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    Replies
    1. Short 75 mm gun from the PzIV, long 50 from the PzIII, towed 37 mm "doorknocker".

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    2. The APCR penetration seems to be for the long 50mm gun while the regular AP penetration seems to be the short 50mm, since the short gun has around the same penetration at 1000m as the 37mm gun has at 100m.

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  2. "As for the HE effect, it is somewhat greater than the effect of regular HE shells."
    Is this for tanks, infantry, or both? (Trying to understand why not all HE shells were replaced with HEAT if HEAT had a better HE effect)

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    Replies
    1. HE shells have a far superior fragmentation effect.

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  3. What 75mm HEAT round was used?
    I'm guessing the early type pre-1941 ( old stocks were around for a bit) that penetrated ~45mm of armor Gr. 38 Hl.
    The later types were very effective but lacked accuracy at range I believe this blog even has information supporting that elsewhere. Barbarossa introduced the Gr. 38 Hl/A which had far greater penetration.

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  4. There were three, not one service HEAT round for 75mm in Germany.
    Ech improved upon the other. Without knowing the Ausf., You shouldn´t jump from the observation to conclusions...

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  5. What sort of sub-calibre rounds were used in WWII? My understanding of sub-calibre rounds only goes as far as APFSDS being sub-calibre.

    The more I read about ammunition and armour types, the more I realize how little I know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most commonly, APCR. Several nations developed squeezebore projectiles, if you consider those subcaliber. The British were also exceptional in their use of APDS, but it wasn't fin stabilized so the effective range was limited.

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