英國謝爾曼螢火蟲坦克【Sherman Firefly】，搭載17磅反坦克炮，成為虎式豹式殺手|第二次世界大戰|豹式坦克|諾曼底登陸

On August 8 1944 near Caen France Allied and German tanks met One of the Tiger tanks number 007 was destroyed It was later revealed that this was the tank of Michael Wittmann a top German tank commander during this battle Wittmann and his entire crew were killed Although people knew that Wietmann had died what had killed him remained a mystery and for decades the greatest possibility was considered to be Wittmann was ambushed by a British Firefly tank The UK is the birthplace of the tank During World War I The battlefield was filled with intersecting barbed wire and trenches The British and German forces faced each other along the Somme Both sides held their positions firmly neither managing to break through the other's lines Suddenly a loud rumbling sound came from the British position and a group of iron monsters charged out The stalemate of trench warfare was thus broken By the time of the Second World War The British tank warfare system found itself at a disadvantage Let's first look at the combat philosophy When many still believed Tanks were only used to support infantry operations but the Germans proposed a new combat method with tanks as the main force and only other military branches that supported the tanks It has the same speed and off-road capability as a tank Only when the tank can fully exert its power Within a combined arms unit the tank should play a leading role Other branches of the military act according to the needs of the tank Therefore do not place tanks inside infantry barracks Instead establish armored divisions that include all branches so that tanks can perform more effectively The development approach of tanks - During World War I Britain introduced the Mark I tank which weighed 28 tons By the time of World War II in order to reduce military expenses The British began developing lightweight tanks such as the Carden Loyd light tank which weighed only 1.5 tons The advantages were obvious: light weight and low cost The drawbacks were also obvious which was weak firepower and thin armor At that time Britain had other types of tanks According to battlefield use they were divided into two categories: either thick-skinned Slow-moving infantry tanks or fast ones that can drift and well-protected cruiser tanks this situation continued until the appearance of the Cromwell tank However when the Cromwell tank made its debut it had to face the German Tiger and Panther tanks which could be said to have been designed to suppress it In contrast Germany in March 1935 After abolishing the Treaty of Versailles the German military became very ambitious and was no longer satisfied with the still-developing Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks the Tiger tank's engine It is already on the way of development Whether in combat doctrine or in tank development and manufacturing Britain has already fallen behind its rival Germany But Britain is still the empire that never sleeps In 1942 Britain learned from various sources that Germany had begun developing a new type of tank but did not take it seriously That winter the Soviet intelligence departme Intelligence regarding the German development of heavy tanks was continuously sent to British intelligence agencies but still failed to gain sufficient attention from the British military in 1943 in Tunisia British forces first engaged the German Tiger I heavy tank in February 1943 in a major frontal clash with the 501st Heavy Tank Battalion Although the two armored battles resulted in British victories they still exposed the weakness of British and Western Allied tank artillery being unable to confront German tanks head-on Later the British conducted artillery firing experiments on captured Tiger tanks and it turned out only the Army's 17-pounder anti -tank gun could penetrate the Tiger's armor But this 17-pounder anti-tank gun was not mounted on a tank in order to prepare for the second front in Europe to counter German heavy tanks It is an unavoidable challenge The British Army decided to accelerate the development of the 17-pounder gun into a vehicle In fact even as early as September 1939 after the outbreak of World War II when German tanks swept through the chaos the British realized that their 2-pound anti -tank gun was inadequate It was already outdated The 0.9 kg shell Was difficult to penetrate the main tanks of various countries at that time Under this pressure The British began developing A new generation of 6-pound anti-tank gun But the foresighted British people themselves know that in future high-intensity warfare tank armor protection capabilities will experience rapid development therefore It became necessary to develop a more powerful next-generation anti-tank gun By November 1940 the development of the next- generation anti-tank gun was put on the agenda This is the 17-pound anti-tank gun by early 1942 the British Army further realized the need to produce tanks equipped with more powerful 17-pounder guns The vehicle platform initially selected for the projec However the Cromwell's hull could not accommodate a large turret for the 17- pounder gun after the hull was reinforced and the fighting compartment was widened Extensive modification work was carried out The Challenger tank was once produced Although the Challenger tank was rushed into production and the prototype had not yet fully passed final testing but due to the lack of alternatives There is no alternative product The UK Ministry of Defence still ordered 200 bicycles and equipped the troops Given until spring 1943 The development of the Challenger tank is still ongoing so it cannot be put into production on time The British Royal Tank Regiment decided to independently develop a tank equipped with a 17-pounder gun Prototype research was conducted in the factory belonging to the Royal Tank Regiment of Larrva examining the various possibilities of tanks equipped by the Allies In mid-1943 it was concluded that the 75mm gun turret of the American M4 Sherman tank could be upgraded to a 17-pounder anti-tank gun The method of refitting is actually very simple - rotating the 17-pound anti-tank gun's locking mechanism 90 degrees and mounting it on a slightly modified 75-millimeter gun carriage At the same time in order to accommodate the large rear section of the 17-pounder gun and to expand the interior combat space the vehicle' s radio communication system will be installed Move to the armor box welded to the rear of the turret This armor box also serves as a balance weight for the long-barreled heavy gun's hull The upgrade of the 17-pounder gun carrier was successfully completed after passing the comprehensive testing evaluation by the UK Ministry of Defence and the vehicle is now based in Leeds England The Royal Artillery Factory in Baganbaw began production of the first order of 2100 vehicles in November 1943 Although it is an undeniable fact that many British weapons were outdated for the demands of the war as a former great empire the British seemed to have a hard time letting go of their pride and a lot of American-supplied equipment was still used They all need to have separate names For the never-setting empire in the West Xia to save some face they installed a large-caliber cannon on the Hillman tank It gave it the ability to counter tanks This is the Firefly tank Why was it named Firefly Because the larva of the firefly lives in water Oyster meat and small fish and shrimp The native British are more aggressive Other insects in the diet And very greedy The British believe The 17-pounder's tremendous destructive power is as strong as the British field gun Therefore the 17-pounder- equipped M4 tank is called the "Firefly " The firefly tank weighs 34.8 tons The crew consists of four people It is equipped with a 76.2 mm tank gun The maximum rate of fire is 10 rounds per minute The machine gun is a coaxial M1919A4 Browning machine gun Equipped with a 425-horsepower Chrysler A57 engine the maximum highway speed is 38 kilometers per hour Off-road speed is 17 kilometers per hour In 1944 the new 76-millimeter Tungsten Armor-Piercing shell produced in Britain when equipped on the Churchill tank It has a penetrating power of 1000 meters reaching an impressive 195 millimeters The Firefly is a U S -made Sherman A tank equipped with a British 17-pounder gun is a genuine Anglo-American hybrid featuring the advantages of the Sherman tank 's high reliability and strong versatility It is easy to maintain it is more maneuverable than a single unit plus it has an excellent 17-pounder tank gun with armor-piercing capabilities which greatly enhances its performance on the battlefield The most famous achievement of the StuG III was during the ambush at Sainte-Mère-Église on August 8 1944 British forces used a firefly tank to destroy a German tank ace According to British war reports in this battle the CCP destroyed four Tiger tanks but this achievement has been questioned with some saying that Wettmann died in an air raid It was not a British flail tank that destroyed the Wettmann At that time the Allies had three units that all claimed to have killed the Wettmann Therefore the authenticity of this battle is questionable But regardless the performance of the Firefly tank in combat against German tanks was quite good There are cases where fireflies destroyed the Tiger King tank Mid-August 1944 The Royal Engineers in the Borme area The 4th and 7th Armored Squadrons Encountered a Tiger I tank from the German 101st Armored Battalion Both sides engaged in a fierce battle Eventually the British with the support of several tanks The StuG III tank destroyed the Tiger I tank at a distance of one kilometer According to the records the combat results of the two tank companies that day seemed to be only the destruction of this Tiger I tank The British side did not disclose their own tank losses which could seem like an attempt to hide the truth but through these two battlefields the British Firefly tanks It could indeed pose a deadly threat to the German heavy armor Unlike the Germans who concentrated their Tigers and Panthers the British preferred to use the Firefly and Sherman Or a combined company of Coveney would be used as a tank platoon even when assigned directly to the regimental headquarters the Firefly's formation would not exceed a platoon that is four tanks In the D-Day invasion Field Marshal Rommel deployed nine of the ten armored divisions he had at his disposal Launched a frontal attack on the British bridgehead positions These armored divisions were the most elite tank units of the German Wehrmacht Yet even with these well-trained The war-torn armored division was still unable to drive the British forces into the sea In the later stages of the battle Rommel changed his tactics The ambush tactic of hiding large-scale tanks and assault guns The reason for changing the tactics is being exposed on a battlefield with good visibility German tanks were not destroyed by the 17-caliber gun of the Firefly This was also a measure that the German forces had to take after receiving the battle reports Of course once the Vickers tank appeared on the battlefield it immediately became the top priority target for the German forces The British also took timely protective measures when the armored forces launched an attack leading with Sherman and Cromwell tanks equipped with 75-millimeter guns Infantry following the armored half-tracked vehicle launched an attack This tactic was very effective When encountering a heavily armored target that a 75mm gun could not handle Although the number of firefly tanks only accounted for a small part of the total Allied tank equipment It achieved the destruction of many German heavy tanks at a lower cost Therefore the British generally did not deploy the Firefly tanks directly in later operations The Churchill tank would only be deployed on the battlefield when Sherman tanks and infantry encountered German tanks they could not handle This way the fireflies which make up a small proportion can avoid unnecessary losses As a weapon forced into existence The firefly was a highly trusted asset for the British armored forces and is certainly considered a successful weapon depending on the source and production time The total production of the Vickers Valentine tank during World War II was approximately 2 346 units This number could not compare to that of other tank models It achieved the destruction of many German heavy tanks at a lower cost The Firefly can be considered an upgrade of the Sherman tank It broke the myth that the US Army's Sherman tanks feared the Tiger tanks on the battlefield and once boosted the morale of the Allied armored forces At least the Allies finally had a force on the Western Front that could match the Tiger and Panther tanks This gave the Allies a great sense of relief At the very least the Allies no longer had to turn and run when they saw a Tiger This concludes this episode This is Schmidt See you next 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