Quote:
Originally Posted by firearms2k
I believe there were only 4 crew members in a Hetzer.
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Youre right, only 4 seems like even though when extremly rare that even I can make mistakes
*just joking
Quote:
Originally Posted by Korsakov829
Military vehicles are all cramped, I don't know of a single comfortable tank.
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Depends. Yes when it comes to space they are all small. But in general you could do something to make it more letz say "comfortable" for the crew. So the Russian tank crews which had the luck to use a Sherman send there trough the lend and lease contract have been in general very happy with it. That a Sherman was no Tiger or Panther goes without saying but when just comparing it to the T34 (both versions the 76mm and 85mm) the Sherman was very comfortable, adjustable leaderseats, commanders cupola (that came very late in the T34) and also binocular sights for the driver even! And with later versions amunition in a wet storage to prevent explosion which was never present in the T34. The T34 had a nasty habit of exploding in a huge fireball once it was hit or burning very much to the fatality of the crews which bailed out of the vehicle and had to stay next to it cause of enemy fire. As Russian tanker you really have not been on the best side of things with a T34 or many other tanks that had a pretty crude design. Excelent war machines no doubt easy to use and maintain, but you really had to deal with a lot. In general for example the vehicle was extremly loud, almost twice as much like a Panzer IV which means that you can hear the T34 a lot earlier then the T34 the Panzer IV (or other vehicles) and shooting past 600meters with the T34 76 was hopeless. One of the reasons for the loud sound have been the tracks and their design. As said all very crude processed.
And the same can be said about comparing the Panther and Hetzer for example which offered you at least more space then a Hetzer which was for it self a average tank hunter but it still had a lot of disadvantages. You could always compare the Hetzer to the Jagdpanther or Jagdpanzer IV for example which offered not just more protection but also been overly better designed vehicles which is just natural as their base have been the Panther and Panzer IV while for the Hetzer it was the Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) which was for its time around 1939-41 a quite usefull vehicle but around 44 when the Jagdpanzer 38(t) saw use completely outdated and outclassed even as light vehicle. The design of the Jagdpanzer 38(t) was a good use of the existing resources as changing the whole production to a new vehicle would have cost many time but for 44 the Hetzer was probably to late ~ such a vehicle would have proved to be very usefull in the time between 41 and 43.