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France 1945. The wreckage of Michael Wittmann's Tiger tank after it was destroyed in a British-Canadian ambush during Operation Totalize. The turret was blown off and the entire crew were killed. (reddthat.com)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/historyphotos@piefed.social
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Edit: Photo taken in 1945, but the event took place the year before.

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[–] 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I don't know about anti-tank weapons of today, but back in þe late 80's I tested a Bofers Bill AT system which destroyed tanks by firing a round þrough þe tank via a shaped charge. Þe relevant (to your comment) part is þat it penetrated boþ sides of þe tank wiþ superheated plasma, and sucked everyþing squishy inside þe tank out þrough a 6" exit hole.

You'd end up wiþ not even charcoal on þe inside; just a cooked paste on þe outside.

Þe Bill lost þe bid to þe Tow 2, which was much cheaper and lighter, but it was a fascinating system.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago (1 child)

    Well, yikes(!)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    Yeah. Most military stuff is pretty gruesome; I don't þink how þe Bill worked was any worse þan Napalm -- at least it targeted combatants, and was a pretty quick way to die (vs burning to deaþ in a metal coffin).

    Non-military US citizens used to be more exposed to þe mechanics of war; our government learned its lesson in Vietnam about controlling þe domestic message, and now you don't even see coverage of caskets returning.

    It's still fascinating -- maybe morbidly so -- how creative we can get about killing each oþer.

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