Triple Triad forum dupes - please ignore

I was in the middle of writing a Hatch article about the M4(76) procurement program, when a notification came up over my Facebook feed about the death of an individual named William Max Hughes in Indiana . Formerly Sergeant Hughes of the 784th Tank Battalion.

I never met him, nor even heard of him before. He probably wasn’t anyone particularly special except to his friends and family, another of the many millions of men who put on a US Army uniform to go fight in WWII, one of the many hundreds of thousands who fought on the front lines, one of tens of thousands of M4 tankers, and one of those lucky enough to come out of it relatively unscathed.

So why was this one veteran so noteworthy as to have the news of his passing find his way across the InterWebs to land on my desk? Sgt Hughes, WWII armor crewman, was black.



The story of the segregated US military is reasonably well known, and if you’re the sort of person who reads the Hatch, you probably are already well familiar with it so I won’t go into the details. Probably the biggest reason that the public masses are aware of the strides made by African-American personnel into breaking through the discrimination of the 1940s is the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Everyone has heard of them. They are in the news, there are multiple movies… of varying quality.


If I were to go out on the streets, and ask a random passer-by what was unusual about the Tuskegee Airmen, I’d give fairly good odds that I’d get the right answer. If I were to go out on the streets and ask a random passer-by what was unusual about the Buffalo Soldiers in the Indian Wars, I’ll give even odds. But if I were to go out on the streets and ask passers by ‘who were Patton’s Black Panthers?’, I’ll put no money at all on a correct answer. Honestly, I doubt I’d get many correct answers amongst World of Tanks players. Why?

Maybe it’s just that pilots are beneficiaries of good PR. Pilots are ‘cool.’ But I can’t help but think that the members of other branches are getting a little short shrift. They would have had greater visual impact to begin with: Allied pilots would just see fighters with bright red tails, but allied infantry would be easily see the faces of the tankers supporting them in the line of battle as they stick their heads out the turrets.


So, I’m going to redress a little of the publicity with this article. Not to ignore the sailors on USS Mason, the Montford Point Marines, or the infantrymen in the 92nd ID, but this is World of Tanks, so we’ll look at the tanks and TDs. The push for combat units of black soldiers in the Army came from General McNair.

The tank battalions were nominally all part of the 5th Tank Group, headquartered in Camp Claiborne, LA, but in actuality it never fought as a unit, the battalions being distributed across Europe. It consisted of one light tank battalion, the 758th, and two medium, 761st and 784th. The 758th came first, authorized as the 78th Tank Battalion in January 1941, and formed in March, being re-designated later that year as the 758th.

The unit was attached to the aforementioned 92nd ID, equipped with M5 Lights, and saw service in the Italian campaign as part of 5th Army, which also contained the Nisei unit of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. The unit’s entire combat record was in Italy from late 1944 until the war’s end.



The second unit was the 761st, the Black Panthers. Also initially raised as a light tank battalion in Camp Claiborne, they converted to M4 mediums in Camp Hood before, after two years of training, being sent to Europe via the UK and then Normandy in October 1944, thus claiming to be the first African-American tank unit in combat.

Attached to the 26th Infantry under Patton’s Third Army, they are proud of the fact that they were in continuous combat for 183 days, whereas most tank units generally were pulled from the line for a while after only two or three weeks. Patton himself wasn’t really expecting much from the unit, generally holding privately the official and dominant Army view of the effectiveness of black soldiers, but he did understand the value of a unit which had been training for as long as they had, the efficiency reports that they received, and was willing enough to give them a chance that he specifically requested them. In his typical Pattonesque style, he said:

“Men, you're the first Negro tankers to ever fight in the American Army. I would never have asked for you if you weren't good. I have nothing but the best in my Army. I don't care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons of bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and is expecting great things from you. Most of all your race is looking forward to your success. Don't let them down and damn you, don't let me down.â€


Seeing service across France, the Battle of the Bulge and taking the town of Tillet, and through Germany, they finished up the war in Austria, linking up with the Red Army at the Steyr river, ending up with about a 50% overall casualty rate and a Presidential Unit Citation, the latter being awarded in 1978. The monument to the 761st stands in Fort Hood.

The third of the three battalions, also equipped nominally with M4 Mediums, was the 784th, though it in practice was one of the composite battalions with a company of light tanks.



This unit was one of the later arrivals to the fight, landing in Europe the last week of 1944. And attached to the 104th Infantry Division. They fought along the Roer river for about a month after they caught up to the front lines, transferring then to the 35th ID where they saw out the rest of the war.

The other part of the relevant force were the Tank Destroyer units. 614th TD Battalion was raised in mid 1942 in Camp Carson, Colorado. Starting out with M3 guns, the unit, eventually known as “The Gamecocksâ€, was one of the numerous victims of the Tank Destroyer branch equipping for the last fight, and traded in their self-propelled mounts for towed 3†guns, with which they saw service through the rest of the war.



They crossed the Atlantic aboard SS Esperance Bay, the same troopship which carried the Black Panthers, and landed in Normandy in October 1944. They were assigned for their first combat action to General Patton for his assault on the Siegfried Line with the 95th Infantry Division. I’m not Patton’s number 1 fan, but one has to give him some credit for being willing to give the lads a shot. After a very short time, they were re-attached to the 3rd Cavalry Group, a relatively unusual concept of assigning a towed TD unit to a mobile group such as a cavalry unit. December saw them attached again to another unit, this time to General Patch’s 7th Army, and 104th Infantry Division.

The Gamecocks’ time with 7th Army was varied due to the unit being parceled out in company and platoon sized elements, much more so that I have space to go into here, but they partook in the Nordwind defence, and finished their war in Bavaria. For actions at Climbach, a French town by the German border, C co, 614th TDB members were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, the only African-American ground unit to receive such an award during the war.

Not all African-American units served with the same levels of distinction, however. The 827th Tank Destroyer Battalion is a counterpoint.

Also raised in 1942, this time in Camp Forrest, TN. Also starting off in M3s, they stayed self-propelled long enough to be given some M10s before succumbing to the same switch of SP to Towed that beset the 614th in mid 1943. Significant discipline and training problems saw the unit missing its initial ship date to the Pacific Theatre (failing five successive battalion tests), before they finally started to sort themselves out enough to be sent to Europe, landing in the South of France in December 1944 and being assigned to 12th Armored Division in 7th Army’s sector. They never did complete their indirect fire training, and actively avoided any assignment which would require such skills.



Their combat efficiency varied from ‘creditable’ to ‘poor’, despite being partially re-equipped with M18s, and their discipline was problematic. In the end, 12th AD kicked the unit out of its command with the consent of General Patch, and the battalion was assigned to security duties in the rear, where it caused so much trouble that Sixth Army Group basically disbanded the unit and converted the personnel to service support roles. The unit officially remained on the rolls due to the political liabilities inherent in disbanding one of the few coloured combat units, but as tank destroyers, they were finished.

The 827th was not the only African-American TD unit to be disbanded for performance issues, (of the seven raised, I can off-hand only find combat records for these two) but the black troopers of 2nd Cavalry Division saw their unit disbanded due to reasons out of their control. Frankly, the US Army felt they erred by creating the 2nd Cavalry, and they were already slated for conversion to support roles or to be used as replacement troops for other units by the time they shipped out to Northern France.

Anyway, the bottom line is if you didn’t know it, they were out there. In less glamourous roles, but arguably ones requiring at least as much courage and skill as those of the pilots everybody knows about. If you’re a student and have to do a project on black history month, I suggest that instead of doing what everyone else does and writing about the Tuskegee Airmen, go pick up one of the many books or watch a proper documentary on the ground troops, like this one.


The Chieftain's Hatch: Nothing But the Best | The Chieftain's Hatch | World of Tanks

 

Tankers!

NVIDIA has announced tournament programming for their GeForce World of Tanks $100K Open, along with the associated International Pro Regional Finals, will be live this week on Twitch and The World of Tanks Official YouTube channel. The GeForce International Pro Division shoutcasts will allow fans and players alike to keep tabs on all the tournament matches and results via livestreams and video-on-demand as the pros battle for their share of the $100K prize pool.

As an added bonus, gamers have a chance to win in-game Gold courtesy of the official tournament sponsors EVGA and Razer simply by being on alert for GeForce Scavenger hunt clues which will be scattered throughout the shoutcasts. World of Tanks players can enter their scavenger hunt answers and also enjoy fun and educational blogs with the shoutcasters at https://esports.geforce.com/.

Twitch streams for North and South America are Sundays at 6PM PDT starting on July 28; Russia is Thursdays at 18:00 CET; Europe is also Thursdays at 21:00 CEST both starting August 1. Matches from China and South East Asia regions will be announced separately. Video will be uploaded to YouTube shortly after the Twitch Live Premiers.


GeForce World of Tanks $100K Open | eSports | World of Tanks

 

761ST Trailer - YouTube

 

For me they are very much better then US turretless TD's. They have most accurate guns and good fire speed. But yu will do like you want to.

 

This is anime so everything can happened

 

But this two are also great:



Mission: Fear Me!

If you manage to deal at least 3,000 points of damage and destroy at least 3 enemy vehicles in a single random battle, you will automatically be rewarded with double the amount of experience you won for this epic battle.




Mission: Experience Earner

If you manage to earn at least 50,000 experience points in a single day, you will automatically be rewarded with one day of Premium account. Please note: the bonus experience granted for premium accounts and the first victory of the day will count towards the total. However, other bonuses (including that awarded for completing ‘Fear Me!’) will not.

 

T71 is move moveable, have faster reload and avarage dmg per min is much bigger then 13 90.

 

Yeah. Same stuff every time.

 

I have Wolverine too, and i will go for hellcat and branch with turret for sure. Germans are good, but when they detrack you you are dead meat and i dont like that idea.

 

Light Tank Regiment to the Guns!

from OVERLORD'S BLOG

In 1939 there was a clash of armoured forces bigger than any seen in the previous 20 years. However this wasn't the invasion of Poland, in September. But another almost forgotten war in July. The numbers now look insignificant and are overshadowed by the Second World War that happened just two months later. But today I'll be having a look at one action of that war.

From May until August 1939 The soviet union and the Japanese forces were engaged in a war. It was over the exact line of the border, between their two vassal states of Mongolia and Manchuria. The Japanese referred to it by the name of a nearby village of Nomonhan, the Soviets named it after the River, Khalkhin Gol.




The Soviets built up massive numbers of tanks, men and artillery and ended the war crushing the Japanese forces. However at the start of the conflict the Japanese forces were doing all the attacking, and came close to winning.
As this war was their first against a modern well equipped opponent the Japanese learnt allot of lessons they later employed. To the end of gaining experience they deployed a force of around 80 tanks to the front in two tank regiments.
Colonel Tamada's 4th Tank regiment was one of those deployed. The vast majority of the regiment was made up by Type 95 Ha-Go light tanks, although the 4th Company had 8 Type 89 Yi-Go Medium tanks.




The Japanese forces at Nomonhan were plagued by problems. Some of which were self inflicted. Commander's world view and wishful thinking, lack of intelligence, poor communications and utterly inadequate logistics all helped to defeat the Japanese forces.
These issues were demonstrated in the run up to the 4th Tank regiments first action. Logistics were so bad the tanks almost ran out of fuel, and it wasn't until more was airlifted to them that they could continue advancing. When preparing their plan of attack the commanders of the two tank regiments were shown a map, which had only rough enemy positions on it as the map was at least three days old. Equally they were assured that the Soviets were preparing to withdraw by the local infantry commander.
It should be noted that almost every order the Japanese commanders issued mentioned that the Soviets were preparing or in the process of withdrawing, when this never was the case.
The plan called for both tank regiments to advance abreast of each other to seize an elevation with some infantry supporting them. Things went badly almost immediately, Soviet artillery began to hammer the 3rd tank regiment, stripping their infantry support and knocking some Japanese tanks out. Despite this they made some small gains then retired from the battlefield.

The 4th Regiment had different luck. While navigating an area of rolling sand dunes the 4th regiment became disoriented. This was down to several factors, including maps being too small, no land marks to use as references and compasses being distorted by the tanks armour plate. The 4th Regiment tried to stick to the low ground to avoid being exposed the enemy fire. This meant they moved South East instead of directly East, and missed the objective they were heading for.

As the tanks advanced they used their machine guns to hose down any bush that might occupy an Anti-tank gun, then began to engage enemy armorued cars at long range. As dusk fell the Soviets knew some Japanese forces were in that area and began to shell them with 122mm howitzers. Ten guns fired over 100 shells, for no effect. The had Japanese pulled back into some dead ground, but kept shifting their positions to avoid the bombardment. One Japanese tanker tells of how a shell landed just behind his tank showering him with dirt. So he ordered his tank to move, as it did so another shell landed exactly where he had been parked.




As night fell Col Tamada reviewed his position. He knew were the enemy artillery was located, simply from the direction the shells were coming from, that was all the information on the enemy he had.
The training manuals clearly stated that tanks should only operate at night with infantry support, and even then no more than a platoon at a time. Equally his regiment had never undergone any night training of any sort.
On the other hand his regiment hadn't taken any casualties nor had it inflicted any serious damage. Knowing how risky it was he ordered an unsupported night attack against a dug in and prepared enemy position.

With his medium tanks in the lead, followed by his Command group. Col Tamada had a company of Type 95 Ha-Go's on each flank and one bringing up the rear as a reserve. He kept the unit close together, to make command and control easier using hand signals. This was in part due to Soviet radio transmissions being so powerful they cut across the frequencies the Japanese used rendering their radios useless. One officer, to amuse himself Started yelling in Japanese at any Soviet that appeared on his Radio. To ease identification Col Tamada ordered every tank to fly a large Japanese flag from their radio antenna.
Col Tamada also ordered the enemy to be destroyed by any means the individual tank commanders thought necessary or could come up with, even to go as far as suggesting the tanks headlight be used to blind the enemy!

At 2300 the Japanese launched their charge for the guns. The first picket line of infantry was reached. As the tanks rampaged through the lines some tank commanders stood in their hatch shooting at Soviet soldiers with their pistols.

At about midnight a massive thunderstorm broke. With rapid lightning strikes, which all missed the tanks, although one Tank commander says they hit something near by his tank. The strobe of lightning illuminated the Soviet positions, and the roar of thunder covered the noise the tanks made as they approached the enemy main line.
Although the thunder and lightning helped the Japanese, the torrential rain that poured down was so overwhelming tank commanders found it impossible to see or breathe. Many donned their gas masks as protection.
Under the cover of the storm the headlong rush of the Japanese tankers hit the dug in Soviets. One tank was knocked out by Soviet fire, however by that point the Japanese were under the artilleries minimum gun depression. Trench lines were over run and caused to collapse. Any gun or artillery piece that was found was deliberately pushed over by the tanks, then crushed. While the gunners poured fire into any ammunition stocks they could see. Many of those ammo piles detonated adding to the confusion.




By 0200 three batteries of Soviet artillery had been utterly wiped out and the Japanese thrust had ripped a kilometer through the Soviet position. Finding themselves in a lull the 4th Regiment regrouped. Knowing that the enemy would be retaliating soon, and that dawn was less than two hours away Col Tamada ordered his tanks to withdraw back to their own lines. They managed that without any enemy contact.

Taking stock after the battle they found that they had lost a single Type 95 Ha-Go and one soldier killed. Nine men had also been wounded, from a total of 44 tanks and 315 men. The Soviets had come off far worse, losing twelve 122mm artillery pieces, ten armoured cars, two BT tanks, seven towed anti-tank guns, two companies of infantry, five medium mortars and twenty trucks.

 

According to this poll its going to be close...

 

My American Armour
by:Coen C
My American Armour - YouTube
All of the US armour that I've built so far.

I think this is very interesting stuff and I want you to see this.

 

world of tanks strikes back

 

1425+

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Welcome sir!

 

Yeah, and Matilda is not exactly supposed to be as fast as PzIII too xD

 

We're talking about the best scouts here so it doesn't matter that much that t71 can do more damage per minute, especially since it's unlikely it's actually going to be able to shoot all of its shells in that 1 minute before being blown to hell xD and on 1 clip, 13 90 can still do much more damage. But that doesn't matter so much, the agility does matter, and at acceleration and top speed, both of them are identical, though t71 beats it at traverse speed. However, t71 is much larger, meaning its camo is much weaker and it presents a much bigger target as well, with even weaker armor than 13 90 and extremely vulnerable engine and tracks. So as far I see it, 13 90 is still the superior scout, do correct me if I'm wrong

 

repair kit, repair skill, gun traverses more than 1 degree on each side...
In order to drive a turretless TD, you need to master the art of keeping your enemy in front of you, and guess what, if you don't master that, you're going to have problems in turreted vehicles too

 

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