Quote:
Originally Posted by chuckfourth
How long would that take to get behind the smoke, 10 seconds maybe 20 how long are the turns 3 minutes or more?
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Forgetting the time needed to spot danger and to react. And, if the tank is moving, to stop it and go to reverse or "dime turn" - try doing that at full speed and you'd throw the track. I suspect first crew reaction would not be dropping smoke but trying to suppress the AT gun or "sprint" to cover. Kinda like that famous Polish "cavalry charge against tanks" - it was not a charge, but a retreat, the Poles knew well that they have to get ASAP into forest and shortest route went through the Panzers. They knew if they tried to turn back (away from the tanks) they'd get slaughtered doing so as they'd have to slow and begin turning in full view of the enemy.
Same applies for tanks, turning on dime is nice but it still shows nicely thin side armour (in fact with later PzIII's the thinnest place).
As for the smoke itself, would be pretty limited and might even be more detrimental to the tank than to the enemy, after all the ATG crew may fire blindly through, if they're quick enough the tank is still somewhere there and the ATG position is fixed, whereas tank crew loses any clue on enemy position the moment it backs into the smoke.
By the way, try not to exaggerate, I have yet to see a tank in SP having to withstand "hundreds" of AT gun rounds. That is if you do not leave Tiger sitting with disabled weapons in front of company of 37mm popguns. If your tanks have to suffer hundreds of rounds fired at them, there is some serious flaw in your setup and no amount of smoke dischargers will mend it
