Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
Looks internal, imagine a frozen soup can bursting.
The explosion (if there was one) does appear to have been absorbed by the bottom/hull of the tank, with the drive sprocket wheel and some bogies bent outward. Very little evidence of scorching or burning on the outside.
Edit: Found a caption for the photo.
I should have noticed the direct vision ports.
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Poking around the web, I found this -
".Photograph. 'MM-5-44-5562'; 'Sig. C. [Corps] telephoto-radioed 5-26-44- Italy! Member of American combat engineers passes a knocked out [M4 Sherman] tank as Allied forces advanced south from Borgo Sabotino, Italy.' The head of a British soldier can be seen as he peeks out from the tank on the extreme left. Borgo Sabotino, Italy. 26 May 1944
Source - https://www.ww2online.org/image/us-soldier-looks-damaged-tank-borgo-sabotino-italy-26-may-1944
Other uses of the same images posted here universally say it was a mine.
Brookwood
".Photograph. 'MM-5-44-5562'; 'Sig. C. [Corps] telephoto-radioed 5-26-44- Italy! Member of American combat engineers passes a knocked out [M4 Sherman] tank as Allied forces advanced south from Borgo Sabotino, Italy.' The head of a British soldier can be seen as he peeks out from the tank on the extreme left. Borgo Sabotino, Italy. 26 May 1944
Source - https://www.ww2online.org/image/us-soldier-looks-damaged-tank-borgo-sabotino-italy-26-may-1944
Other uses of the same images posted here universally say it was a mine.
Brookwood
"Devastated by a demolition charge to prevent capture" would definitely explain the kind of damage on that tank.
I think the maintenance and repair boys would just strip anything out of it that still useful and scrap the rest of it.
I think the maintenance and repair boys would just strip anything out of it that still useful and scrap the rest of it.
Cottage Hill Bill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Pensacola, FL USA
Normally the recovery units would reclaim a damaged tank and either repair or strip usable parts, but only after the front had moved on past the area. Anzio wasn't especially suited to recovery and several of the failed attacks left tanks where they could have been recovered by the Germans.
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
hauled back to a BLP (back loading point) and stripped of useful parts
The opposition would put a demolition charge in a KO'd tank to prevent it's recovery and repair. This was a big feature in mobile operations in N. Africa.
My uncle was a tank fitter from Normandy thru to the end in Europe and was involved in recovery and rebuild in Corps level facilities. It often involved cannibalizing several non-runner/KO tanks to put one back in service. Fire would destroy the integrity of the armor on top of whatever other damage from exploding ammo loads making the hulk non-repairable. He was frequently involved in recovering human remains from KO tanks which was disturbing to say the least. The interior would be cleaned with soap and bleach and repainted white, but often the odor would linger.
My uncle was a tank fitter from Normandy thru to the end in Europe and was involved in recovery and rebuild in Corps level facilities. It often involved cannibalizing several non-runner/KO tanks to put one back in service. Fire would destroy the integrity of the armor on top of whatever other damage from exploding ammo loads making the hulk non-repairable. He was frequently involved in recovering human remains from KO tanks which was disturbing to say the least. The interior would be cleaned with soap and bleach and repainted white, but often the odor would linger.
Following the Falaise Gap battle, aircrew reported the smell of death at 1500' feet as they flew support missions. I've read that it is a smell you never forget ....
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
I have been to the KGB museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. You saw it briefly if you watched HBO's Chernobyl. It's in the basement of this building.
It's a fvcking horrible place emotionally. There's an awful lot of human suffering in the walls, and brothers, you feel it. Every time I meet someone who pipes off about the glories of Communism, I invite them to go spend a few hours in a place like that and tell me how such things were necessary for the Greater Good.
At the end of the longest hallway there's a room where they've stored the remains of people exhumed from a mass grave the Soviets used post-reoccupation in 1944/45. Boxes and boxes of bones, clothing, buttons, hair - all of it awaiting some kind of positive identification. The smell comes to you halfway down that hallway and intensifies as you approach the end. There are trophy pictures taken by the Soviets of people with freshly-holed skulls and destroyed faces. This was something they celebrated, another victory in the war against counter-revolutionary thought.
That's plenty horrible. But that smell. Jesus, that smell. It sets a bony fingertip dead on the middle of something very deep in the human animal and applies an even, steady pressure. It's a smell that elicits a number of very primal responses. It made me angry, frightened, and disgusted. I wanted to run, and I wanted to run now. And I wanted to run to wherever the person responsible was and beat them to death with my hands.
Now, imagine being Purple's uncle and having to climb into a burned out tank to retrieve what remained of someone. Imagine doing that day after day. Imagine immersing yourself in That Smell for weeks at a time, handling what was people.
My God, the things we ask people to do during wartime.
It's a fvcking horrible place emotionally. There's an awful lot of human suffering in the walls, and brothers, you feel it. Every time I meet someone who pipes off about the glories of Communism, I invite them to go spend a few hours in a place like that and tell me how such things were necessary for the Greater Good.
At the end of the longest hallway there's a room where they've stored the remains of people exhumed from a mass grave the Soviets used post-reoccupation in 1944/45. Boxes and boxes of bones, clothing, buttons, hair - all of it awaiting some kind of positive identification. The smell comes to you halfway down that hallway and intensifies as you approach the end. There are trophy pictures taken by the Soviets of people with freshly-holed skulls and destroyed faces. This was something they celebrated, another victory in the war against counter-revolutionary thought.
That's plenty horrible. But that smell. Jesus, that smell. It sets a bony fingertip dead on the middle of something very deep in the human animal and applies an even, steady pressure. It's a smell that elicits a number of very primal responses. It made me angry, frightened, and disgusted. I wanted to run, and I wanted to run now. And I wanted to run to wherever the person responsible was and beat them to death with my hands.
Now, imagine being Purple's uncle and having to climb into a burned out tank to retrieve what remained of someone. Imagine doing that day after day. Imagine immersing yourself in That Smell for weeks at a time, handling what was people.
My God, the things we ask people to do during wartime.
I was in the Sinai Desert shortly after one of the Egyptian - Israeli wars. Along with shot up convoys of vehicles and artillery there were tanks around. I looked in several that had taken an AP round. Inside was destroyed but exterior looked fine except for a three inch hole. No one crawled out of those tanks.
- Location
- land of f-cktards
Mthat good friend wasnt named scotty was he ?
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
To lighten the mood:
Floating technicals. It looks like back in the 1970's. These guns are still popular overseas. The US Forestry Svc. was using them until a few catrastrophic barrel failures. Not sure if they are still being produced under licence somwhere. They were widely built and used overseas.
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fingers284
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Alberta Cowboy Ranges
If that's a conventional tank track frame where would you coil up the extra 10 ft or so track length that is obvious in both photos.
To lighten the mood:
Floating technicals. It looks like back in the 1970's. These guns are still popular overseas. The US Forestry Svc. was using them until a few catrastrophic barrel failures. Not sure if they are still being produced under licence somwhere. They were widely built and used overseas.
ΛΣ (Greek Coast Guard) cuz Turks covet the islands and Greeks try desperately to keep em out
Battleship HMS Dreadnought from 1906 is fairly well known.Not known is a nuclear sub HMS Dreadnought (S101) launched in 1960 that served with Royal Navy till 1980.
There is a new class of subs being built in UK-they are collectively called Dreadnought-class submarines.Concept picture since I haven't found a real thing.
There is a new class of subs being built in UK-they are collectively called Dreadnought-class submarines.Concept picture since I haven't found a real thing.
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
For a while I shot with an elderly gentleman (in every sense of the word gentle too) in Manitoba. He retired as a commissioned from the ranks Chief Warrant Officer. We spoke many times about the service. He'd been in RCEME in Normandy as an NCO. One thing he always refused to let his men do, was to go into the wrecked tanks. Sixty years later he said the sight of boot soles burnt to the pedals stayed with him. But, he was careful enough to think that the men probably died quickly, and despite the sources, other tanks needed those salvaged parts more. I miss George's company sometimes.
