Bouncing shells for Panther kills

[[3.SA]Shchekurov]

I haven't seen these bouncing shots in RO yet. But then, they didn't really happen in reality too. You can safely place this story in the realm of mythology....
I know of these stories, but they are really just legends.

Say what you will, but even if it is physically/kinetically improbable that it would work, the fact of the matter is that some tankers tried to do it.
Maybe it never worked, but the mythology, as you put it, was present on the battlefield and strong enough to make gunners try it.

Facing a Panther head-on, I'd probably also try just about anything, too out of sheer desparation.

And oh, BTW, they also used white-phosphorous shells on heavy German tanks, in the hope that they could ignite the engine fuel.

 

[D.a.L-UnteroffizierG]

plaching a 120mm HE round under the tank should do some work on the PZ4......

 

[Schnurx]

Say what you will, but even if it is physically/kinetically improbable that it would work, the fact of the matter is that some tankers tried to do it.
Maybe it never worked, but the mythology, as you put it, was present on the battlefield and strong enough to make gunners try it.

Facing a Panther head-on, I'd probably also try just about anything, too out of sheer desparation.

And oh, BTW, they also used white-phosphorous shells on heavy German tanks, in the hope that they could ignite the engine fuel.

Yep... and it has the same result in the game as it has in reality: None. It has, as you succinctly put it: It was mythology. Comparable to wearung lucky charms or amulets. Problem is: Where amulets and charms don't hurt, wasting a shot which might be used to get a lucky hit on the optics or the barrel or a viewslit is wasted completely by shooting it into then ground, therefore trading a slim chance of survival against none.
It doesn't really make any sense, other than as a myth, I doubt that it was ever done, even once.

Sure they did, they probably fired everything they had. But they probably fired them at the tank not voluntarily into the air or the ground. There is also a reasonable chance of success with that. Not for desrtuction of the tan, but even if the fuel isn't ignited and the tank isn't disabled at all, a fire (of a reasonable size) will blind the tank by flames and (more effective) with soot.

 

[MAXX]

Once

Once

This inquiry comes from a story told by my WWII-veteran great uncle, who was a tanker:

Years ago he told me that in his undergunned/underarmored Sherman, a common tactic was to 'bounce' his AP shells in front of the oncoming Panther (if you were unlucky enough to be directly in front of them) and thus get a belly shot.
This was especially useful, he said, during the Ardennes Offensive (Bulge) when the ground was frozen enought to allow it.

I've tried in different practice maps to recreate this in RO with lots of AP tank shells (75/76/85/88/122), but no luck so far.

Has anyone ever seen an AP shell in RO do this, that is, 'bounce' and still get a hit/kill? Ar do they just burrow into the ground when they land short?

I've gotten damaged by shots that bounced off other tanks and hit the rear of my tank.

 

[Maksim1984]

I read in a book that American tankers would try to Land an AP shell right on the bottom part of the Panter's gun mantlet. It's gun mantlet is curved, and caused the shell to bouce down right into the tank, killing the driver, bow gunner, and possibly blowing up it's ammo storage.

That was a trick used by the allies and also triggered the Panthers to thicken off the bottom mantlet.

here is a picture of the normal panther. notice the completely curved mantlet.
Mantlet = armor on the front of the turret where the gun comes out.

And here is a destroyed panther of the later variant. Notice the thickedned off bottom to the mantlet. It is curved until the bottom where they fixed it.

 

[Cal S]

I've seen at first hand both modern tanks and anti-tank weaponry bounce their projectiles off the ground, water or tightly packed ice/snow and score a 'kill'. And no doubt gunners back then have tried to do this, with the majority of them failing. But that said there could always of been the chance of the projectile 'clipping' a rock or other object in the ground, adjusting the arc it took and scoring a 'kill'.
Not a very big probability at all but the chance was there to do it i guess.

Granted, the only way it's really possible to do now, is because of the high amount of guidance on a lot of the munitions. A luxury they never had back then.

Just my thoughts on the matter