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WWII Vet Gets Surprise Visit From An 'Old Friend': A Sherman Tank
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:41 am
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:41 am
I thought this was a pretty cool story and a nice way to start the week.
95-Year-Old WWII Veteran Gets Surprise Visit From An 'Old Friend': A Sherman Tank
Clarence Smoyer (top middle, no helmet) sits with fellow tank crew members in Cologne, Germany, in 1945. (Courtesy of the National Archives)
There's more of the story and some cool videos as well in the link.
to Corporal Smoyer and the Greatest Generation.
95-Year-Old WWII Veteran Gets Surprise Visit From An 'Old Friend': A Sherman Tank
quote:
The last time Clarence Smoyer rode in a Sherman tank, he was a 21-year-old corporal in the U.S. Army.
That was in 1945. But in Boston this week, the now-95-year-old Pennsylvania native got a huge surprise: The author of a new book about Smoyer's exploits as a tank gunner in World War II arranged to have a real Sherman tank carry him to a local book signing.
"An old friend," Smoyer said before he climbed onto the tank with the help of a cane. "That tank saved my life. We went through many battles with a tank like that. It saved me."
quote:
During World War II, Smoyer says he sat in a seat inside and kept close watch for targets while another soldier drove. Makos says Smoyer saved the lives of his crew members and those in other tanks because he was such a great shot.
Smoyer had a simple motto: "Shoot fast and shoot straight."
That often made the difference in a tank duel. In two years of fighting, he took out five German tanks — an extraordinary total for one tank gunner.
Clarence Smoyer (top middle, no helmet) sits with fellow tank crew members in Cologne, Germany, in 1945. (Courtesy of the National Archives)
There's more of the story and some cool videos as well in the link.
to Corporal Smoyer and the Greatest Generation.
14
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:42 am to AbitaFan08
Did he get to use the 75 any?
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:43 am to AbitaFan08
Hero
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:49 am to AbitaFan08
quote:
he took out five German tanks
Posted on 2/25/19 at 9:54 am to AbitaFan08
Cologne was a pretty brutal urban tank battle
Posted on 2/25/19 at 10:07 am to AbitaFan08
Real man there
Posted on 2/25/19 at 10:09 am to AbitaFan08
I'm not one of those "today's men are pussies" guys, but just riding in that thing would scare the shite out of some guys. Being in or on it when that cannon fired would reduce them to tears.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 10:13 am to AbitaFan08
Does not look 95.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 10:16 am to jimbeam
quote:
Did he get to use the 75 any?
Wel, being the gunner, yes. He’s the one who aims and fires both the main gun and coax machine gun.
But that particular Sherman he’s sitting on was equipped with a 76mm gun.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 10:17 am to Fewer Kilometers
quote:
I'm not one of those "today's men are pussies" guys, but just riding in that thing would scare the shite out of some guys. Being in or on it when that cannon fired would reduce them to tears.
I don’t know what it was like for tankers in the Sherman during WWII, but I can tell you it was freaking awesome in the M1A1. I’d give anything to go down range just one more time.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 11:13 am to Fewer Kilometers
quote:
I'm not one of those "today's men are pussies" guys,
Today’s men are just as tough just in a different way. The greatest generation fought the axis but millennials fight social injustice and income inequality and the boomer scourge. We will be remembered as a great generation
Posted on 2/25/19 at 11:14 am to el Gaucho
And a swing and a miss
This post was edited on 2/25/19 at 11:15 am
Posted on 2/25/19 at 11:22 am to AbitaFan08
It’s kind of funny. The kid in the picture barely looks like he could hold his own in in fist fight, but he took on Panzers and Tigers and won. That guy has bigger balls than the vast majority of us.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:11 pm to DeafJam73
quote:
That guy has bigger balls than the vast majority of us.
Not sure of the exact stat (Darth could probably weigh in on this.. ) but life expectancy in a Sherman was atrocious... The German tanks generally vastly superior to the Sherman. Don't think think the Sherman crews didn't know this either. And yet they continued to fight...
Big Titanium ones indeed ...
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:26 pm to AbitaFan08
Here’s a really good news cast on him
LINK
LINK
quote:
I'm sorry Katharina. I never forget you," whispered Clarence Smoyer. He never met Katharina Esser. Yet, always feared her death might be his fault.
This post was edited on 2/25/19 at 12:28 pm
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:34 pm to DeafJam73
quote:
but he took on Panzers and Tigers and won. That guy has bigger balls than the vast majority of us.
While it’s true a lot of German Panzers outclassed the Sherman in both armor and main gun armament, especially with the Tiger and King Tiger, the upgunned versions of the Sherman with the high velocity 76mm could more than hold its own against the two most common German armored vehicles they had to face, the Mk. IV amd StuG. And in most cases, the Sherman could use its superior speed and maneuverability to flank the heavier and slower Tigers. However, it’s real most deadly opponent was the Panther. The Panther was superior to the Sherman in every facet except reliability. The Panther had better armor, main gun, and cross-country maneuverability than the Sherman. The Sherman could kill the Panther, but in general it had to flank it and get close to do so. While the Panther could knock out a Sherman at great distance.
But having said all this, one has to understand the armored warfare doctrine the US Army had during WWII. The Sherman was never designed to be a tank killer. It was designed to penetrate enemy defenses and exploit that breakthrough in the enemy rear area. At that time the Army had a separate tank destroyer corps that was tasked in engaging and destroying enemy tanks. The tank destroyers in use during this time ranged from towed anti-tank gums like the M5 3” gun...
To fully tracked tank destroyers like the M10...
M18
And M36
These may look like tanks, but they’re not. They have far less armor and an open top turret. They were essentially ambush weapons systems that were meant to engage the enemy in an ambush then rely on their higher speed to escape them renegage the enemy.
So it’s not really fair to compare the Sherman to its German contemporaries as it was designed for a different purpose. Now it’s true the Germans themselves also mass produced tank destroyers, the StuG outnumbering all other German vechiles produced.
StuG IV
But whereas the Americans produced tank destroyers as part of their overall armored warfare doctrine, the Germans produced them because they could be built faster and with less resources than traditional tanks.
This post was edited on 2/25/19 at 12:37 pm
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:36 pm to AbitaFan08
Only problem is that that's not a Sherman tank in the picture. It's an M26 Pershing which had a 90mm gun. The German tank in the film is a Panther which had a 75mm gun. They both had virtually the same armor.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:38 pm to NavyLSUAlum
quote:
Only problem is that that's not a Sherman tank in the picture. It's an M26 Pershing which had a 90mm gun. The German tank in the film is a Panther which had a 75mm gun. They both had virtually the same armor.
Good catch. I had to go back and look and you’re right. It’s an M26. The giveaway is the front slope between the driver and radio man/bow gunner.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:43 pm to AbitaFan08
Loved when the crew of the Haunted Tank switched from their M3 Stuart and the ghost of Gen. J.E.B. Stuart had to put up with them driving a Sherman.
Posted on 2/25/19 at 12:56 pm to Darth_Vader
Yep, that's what I saw too.
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