Smoke candles

[cbo]

Not that it matters, but the smokecandles mounted on the rear of Panzer III and IV and probably others were introduced in August 1938. It was not considered a succes and was dropped again in February 1942.

The turret-mounted dischargers were introduced on the Panzer IV in February 1943 and dropped again in May 1943 because enemy small arms fire penetrated the dischargers, setting off the smoke, blinding the crew in the tank.

The final smokedevice used by the Germans in their tanks was the bomb-launcer in the turret roof, which was introduced in July 1944.

Incidentally, the British had used a similar device - the 2" bombthrower. Exactly when the British introduced this, I'm not sure, but it appears to have been around since late 1941 and certainly in early 1942 and for the rest of the war. It was also adopted in the Sherman in the summer of 1943 and it was the intention to modify existing tanks to carry it, if they were going overseas from the US.

Claus B

PS: The Panzer III could not spin its tracks in opposite directions, as it had a simple clutch-brake steering system just like the Panzer IV and a lot of other tanks of the period. It could block one track and turn over that track like any other clutch-brake steered tank.

[DRG]

Originally Posted by cbo

PS: The Panzer III could not spin its tracks in opposite directions, as it had a simple clutch-brake steering system just like the Panzer IV and a lot of other tanks of the period. It could block one track and turn over that track like any other clutch-brake steered tank.

Only the Panther could execute that trick then.

Don

[cbo]

Originally Posted by DRG

Only the Panther could execute that trick then.

AFAIK, making a turn in place by counterrotating the tracks ("neutral steering") requires two things:

1. A geared steering system of some sort, which allows power to be distributed to both tracks while turning. That rules out clutch-brake systems, as they turn by cutting power to one track to facilitate the turn.

2. A secondary drive from the gearbox to the steering unit to provide power to the tracks when the tank is in neutral.

The Panther had that - and a clutch-brake steering system on top of that for narrow turns. The Tiger did as well (sans the clutch-brake add-on) and so did the variants built on those two platforms. Earlier German tanks were all clutch-brake while the 38t and variants used a geared system without the secondary steering drive.

Most late-war British tanks could neutral steer - Cromwell and variants, Churchill and Comet.

The US tanks stuck with a geared system without steering drive for the duration of the war, IIRC it wasn't until the M26 was rebuilt into the M46 that a US tank got a neutral steer capability.

AFAIK no Soviet tank had a neutral steer capability in WWII, the T34 and KV were clutch-brake affairs while the IS series used a geared system but without the secondary drive and hence had not ability to counterrotate its tracks.

Claus B

[RERomine]

One more thing to consider was even if you could neutral steer the tank, there is the question of whether you should do it.

While not a WWII era tank, we were told NOT to neutral steer our M1 Abrams on anything but hard surfaces, i.e. concrete, paved roads, etc. because it could cause a us to throw a track. This would certainly be a bad thing in battle. As it was, we through enough tracks without throwing in the risk from neutral steering.