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Could tanks fire while moving?

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#3
^ exactly.

They could fire moving at any speed...but would have more chance of hitting the moon than an actual target :D Early gun stabilization in practical combat use wasnt around until the Korean War i believe (dont quote me on that, i dont have my books handy) but even then it was no way comparable to how the modern tank stabilization systems work effectively.
 
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#5
They had made attempts to improve accuracy on the move. The sherman went for the option of having good suspension generally, to keep the tank more stable and reduce the random jolts and bumps that would throw off a shot. The Germans however tried more complex methods like a turret with it's own suspension system to help keep the gun more stable on the move.

As the others have already answered though, these really didn't work that well, and it wasn't until post war really that gyrostabilised tank canons etc. were properly developed and implemented to allow firing on the move.
 
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#8
Russians even had special term "Dorozhka" (small road). Every time gunner wanted to fire from the move, driver was looking for flat surface without any bumps. When he saw one, he said "Dorozhka" to the gunner - means, the gunner can fire.
I've even read interview of russian tanker. He said he hit moving target on the move on his last exam in tanker school. He was in BT-7, iirc. The interview was somewhere at www.iremember.ru

In 1934 Soviet engineer Pavlov had made a gun sights TOP-1 "Orion" with gyroscopic stabilyzing aiming line. In 1936 such sights were set onto 3 BT-7 for testings. During those tests leutenant Pogorelskiy was shooting on the move with AP rounds at the target - it was a 10x10 m shield, which was in 1km from the tank. At speed of 25-30 km/h the possibility of hitting the target was around 25-30%, but with working Orion it has increased up to 53-66%.
 
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#11
The other thing about period footage of land combat is that 95% of it is staged.

I've remember hearing that the Sherman had gun stabilization, but only in 1 axis. And the crew considered it a hazard.
But the information could be wrong / misleading. The Sherman was fitted with a stabilized gun and sight by the time of the Korean War
 
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#12
The Sherman had an early gyro-stabiliser in it before the end of the war. Crews tended to turn them off, as the gun moved unpredicatably as the tank moved and the gunner/loader tended to get a battering from the breech! These things are obviously much better nowadays.

The Russians liked firing on the move - they felt it improved the morale of the crew and was likely to scare the enemy being attacked. In reality, as someone said, the crew were firing randomly and were lucky if they hit the right county. Early attempts at stabilised firing were pretty much useless - but people still tried it :)
 
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#17
Helmi said:
If they were firing HE rounds at infantry, they probably didn't need that extra bit of accuracy you'd want against enemy tanks...

;)
Click to expand...

I was going to say exactly the same. While just supporting infantry (IRL of course) you often just shoot for the sake of shooting because it makes most sane people keep their heads down also against infantry you don't always have to hit exactly at them (as you stated Helmi) since you have some effect of shrapnel too which makes hiting not "to far" off effective.
 
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#18
Fu. Svedberg said:
All tanks can fire while moving.

The question is if they would hit what they wanted to hit if they fired while moving.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure this is correct.
I've read and seen on TV that the German Tiger MK I had to stop in order to fire because the recoil from the 88mm gun was so great it could break the turret ring if the tank wasn't stable.
 
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#19
I'm not sure this is correct.
I've read and seen on TV that the German Tiger MK I had to stop in order to fire because the recoil from the 88mm gun was so great it could break the turret ring if the tank wasn't stable.
Click to expand...

That doesn't mean it was impossible to fire the tank while moving. It was just not recommended :p

Besides, I believe that while moving high speeds and firing, I am quite sure the crew would need to brace themselves, especially if they had large calibre cannon. And as also mentioned, the it was also another thing that while you may fire while moving, does it actually hit anything.

Imagine Grille or Wespe firing it's 150mm\105mm canon while moving :p
 
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