They Said You Need 5 Shermans To Stop 1 Tiger - The Records Say Otherwise

Описание: The myth that it took five Sherman tanks to destroy one German Tiger has been repeated for decades in documentaries, films, and books. But where did this claim actually come from? Military historians have searched official United States Army documents, training manuals, and operational studies from World War Two and found no evidence supporting this ratio. In this documentary, we examine the real combat records from the Battle of Arracourt in September 1944, where American tankers from the 4th Armored Division faced German Panther and Panzer tanks in one of the largest tank battles on the Western Front. We explore the origins of the myth, the role of Belton Cooper's memoir Death Traps, and how the 2014 film Fury reinforced misconceptions about American armor. Using data from the Operations Research Office study of over 12,000 Allied tank casualties, we reveal what actually destroyed Allied tanks in combat. Discover the truth about Sherman reliability, the Westinghouse gun stabilizer, wet stowage ammunition storage, and why German commanders estimated that up to 70 percent of their tank losses came from mechanical failures rather than enemy fire. This is the story the archives tell about the tank that won the war.

Academic and Military Research Studies

Survey of Allied Tank Casualties in World War II, Technical Memorandum ORO-T-117, Operations Research Office, Johns Hopkins University, March 1951
https://tankdestroyer.net/things/arti...

The Lorraine Campaign: An Overview, September-December 1944, Dr. Christopher Gabel, Combat Studies Institute, US Army Command and General Staff College
https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Porta...

Historian Interviews and Presentations

Interview with Steven Zaloga, Tank and AFV News, January 2015
https://tankandafvnews.com/2015/01/27...

Nicholas Moran on Myths of American Armor, Tank and AFV News, June 2015
https://tankandafvnews.com/2015/06/06...

Battle of Arracourt Primary Sources

The Successful Defense of 37th Tank Battalion at Arracourt, Armor Magazine, US Army
https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/eA...

Tank Technical Data and Myth Analysis

The Sherman Ronson Myth, Tank Historia
https://tankhistoria.com/wwii/sherman...

Lights First Every Time? Tank and AFV News, April 2015
https://tankandafvnews.com/2015/04/28...

The Sherman Tank Site, Myths and Facts
https://www.theshermantank.com/sherma...

Individual Tank Commander Records

Lafayette G. Pool, Texas State Historical Association
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/e...

Lafayette G. Pool, 3rd Armored Division Association
https://www.3ad.org/wwii.cfm?subpage=...

Cobra King Verification

Cobra King, First Tank into Bastogne, We Are The Mighty
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty...

Vilseck Tank Confirmed as Cobra King, Stars and Stripes
https://www.stripes.com/news/vilseck-...

Battle Analyses

Battle of Arracourt: Patton's Third Army vs Manteuffel's Panzers, Warfare History Network
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art...

Armored in Lorraine: Battle of Arracourt, Warfare History Network
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art...

Books Referenced

Armored Thunderbolt: The US Army Sherman in World War II by Steven Zaloga, Stackpole Books, 2008

Lorraine 1944: Patton vs Manteuffel by Steven Zaloga, Osprey Publishing, 2000

Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II by Belton Cooper, Presidio Press, 1998