Excerpt from The Furious Vehicles - Tank Battle Film "Fury" review
Original author Dou Chao
The U.S. tanks featured in the film are all medium tanks in the M4 Sherman series, but they are varied. As we all know, there are many models of the M4 "Sherman" medium tank, and there are more than 50 kinds of officially announced improved models and variants alone. The m4 tank in this film can also be called a "hodgepodge", covering almost the main models of the m4 series used by the US military in World War II. Judging from the footage in the film, there are both M4a1 tanks with early integral cast bodies, as well as M4a2 and M4a3 tanks with welded bodies. What is more confusing is that the various models of M4 tanks in the US army are equipped with different main guns.
In general, the difference in the use of artillery often becomes one of the main criteria for distinguishing different types of tanks. For example, the US M1 "Abrams" main battle tank uses a 105 mm rifled gun, while its improved M1A1 main battle tank uses a 120 mm smoothbore gun. The German Leopard 1 main battle tank also used a 105 mm rifled gun, while the Leopard 2 main battle tank was replaced with a 120 mm smoothbore gun. That is to say, after the tank is equipped with the main gun, it will generally be given a new model, at least a new improved model. The U.S. M4 tank is a special case, and its M4A1, M4A2 and M4A3 tanks are equipped with main guns of different calibers. The above three models of M4 tanks are equipped with both the 40-caliber M3 75 mm gun and the 52-caliber M1 76.2 mm gun. According to British statistics, two-thirds of the early 8,400 M4 and 9,700 M4a1 tanks were armed with 75 mm guns, while the remaining third were armed with 76.2 mm guns. Of the 11,500 M4a3 tanks produced, 5,000 were armed with 75 mm guns, 3,500 were armed with 76.2 mm guns, and the remainder were armed with 105 mm M4 howitzers. The M1 76.2 mm gun also had different variants, such as the M1A1, M1A2 and M1A1c, some with muzzle brakes and some without. This situation makes it very difficult to identify the different models of M4 tanks. Specific to the M4 tanks that appear in Rage, the Collier group's seat was a M4a3 tank equipped with a 76.2 mm gun with a muzzle brake, while the other tanks in the same platoon had both m4a1s (even if they were M4a1s, the turrets were different, and what turrets were loaded at that time) also had M4a2s. The main guns of the latter two were the 76.2 mm long-body tube gun and the 75 mm short-body tube gun. In wartime situations, the US military did have the case of equipping a unit with different types of M4 tanks, but it is unlikely that a tank platoon will be equipped with 3 types of tanks with different gun calibers. Judging from the content of the film, Collier's tank platoon is only his tank, which should be combined with the same company, or at least the same battalion tank platoon. Unless it is an extreme situation, it will cause mutual ignorance and cause great inconvenience to the coordinated action in the course of the battle. Judging from the fact that the personnel of the other groups of vehicles in the film know Collier, it is more likely that two tank platoons of the same company will be combined. Having so many models of tanks in a tank company would be a disaster for logistical supply. In this way, the occurrence of such a situation in the film should be the reason why the same type of tank props are difficult to put together!
Judging from the statement that the Us tanks mentioned in the film are far weaker than the German tanks, it seems that the US tanks are only weaker than the German tanks in terms of armor protection, and in fact, the firepower of the US tanks is much worse than the German tanks. Whether it is a 40-caliber 75 mm gun or a 52-caliber 76.2 mm gun, its armor-piercing ability is relatively weak. The M4 tank was equipped with a 40×diameter M3 75 mm gun capable of penetrating 60 mm/30 degrees of steel at a distance of 914 m using an early M72 armor-piercing projectile. However, in the face of the main German tank, the 80 mm frontal armor of the Iv tank H, it could only be effectively penetrated at 100 meters, and the M4 had already entered the effective attack range of the German Iv H tank. After 1944, the M4 tank was heavily reloaded with M61 hat-piercing shells. This armor-piercing bullet improved its ability to deal with inclined armor and surface-hardened armor, and the armor-piercing ability reached 500 meters to penetrate 94 mm/30 degree steel plates, which was much better than the m72 armor-piercing bullet, and could destroy the main force of the German tank unit at a distance of 500 meters, the Panzer IV H tank. Its firepower is not much different from the No. 4 H-type, but it is still powerless against the thicker armored and more powerful Tiger and Leopard tanks. After the M4 tank was equipped with the M1 type 52-caliber 76.2 mm gun, it could effectively deal with the Panzer IV tank and the No. 3 assault gun at a conventional combat distance, and it was still insufficient in the face of the "Leopard" and "Tiger" tanks. This type of gun could not penetrate the armor of the Leopard G tank at a large inclination head, whether it used the M62 cap-piercing shell or the M93 high-speed armor-piercing shell, but the M93 high-speed armor-piercing shell could penetrate the 110 mm gun shield of the Leopard G tank at a distance of more than 1,000 yards (914 meters), while the m62 hat-piercing shell needed to be forced to within 200 yards (182 meters). Many American veterans recalled that their tanks fired at German tanks at distances ranging from hundreds to tens of meters, and they could clearly see the shells fired bouncing off the German tank armor and flying hundreds of meters into the air. It is said that the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, Eisenhower, was furious when he learned that the 76.2 mm gun of the M4 tank was still unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the German Leopard and Tiger tanks: "Why is our 76 gun still not used?" I always thought it was our secret weapon, the Ordnance Commission told me that this gun could kill all the German tanks, why was I always the last person to know the bad news? "In this case, the US tanks are in a very inferior position in terms of firepower, and must be compensated by certain tactical means, otherwise they can only be in a passive situation. This is also one of the important reasons for the heavy losses of the US tank unit that year. It should be said that the grasp of this detail in the film "Fury" is still in place.
There is a detail in "Fury" that when US tanks carry infantry in combat, they often leave an infantryman on the turret to control the M2 large-caliber machine gun on the roof of the vehicle. This is also related to the armament characteristics of the M4 tank. Tanks in the East usually mounted anti-aircraft machine guns on top of turrets, but this was not the case for the Americans. The machine guns mounted on top of the turret, even if they are large-caliber machine guns, are mainly aimed at flat firing. Of course, this is also closely related to the fact that the US military usually holds absolute air supremacy. Specific to the M4 tank, the roof is equipped with one M1919A4 machine gun and one M2 machine gun, and one side-by-side machine gun and one heading machine gun (this machine gun needs to be operated by the co-pilot and mechanic). Among them, the m2 machine gun due to its large size, its installation position is relatively backward, you need to stand behind the turret to be able to operate, unlike the m1919a4 on the captain's hatch, open the hatch to lean out and operate. The M4 tank has 5 crew members, all of whom cannot operate the M2 machine gun behind the turret (of course, it is also possible to draw one person hard, but it will reduce the combat efficiency of the vehicle group). It is for this reason that when there is an infantry with the vehicle to cooperate with the operation, the US tank soldier will find an infantryman to stand behind the turret to operate the M2 machine gun. This does not affect the crew and provides more intense fire than parallel machine guns and heading machine guns. After rescuing the infantry platoon that had been suppressed by the Germans, it was the infantry operating the M2 machine guns who used tracer bullets to guide the tank guns to destroy the German anti-tank guns in the woods.
What is particularly valuable in terms of props is that the German "Tiger" tank that appears in this film is a genuine "Tiger" type from the characteristics of the action part, rather than a fake "Tiger" modified from the chassis of other tanks. This is more enjoyable than the "Tiger" type in films such as "Saving Private Ryan" with a shell of the T-34 tank chassis, which is more enjoyable. In addition, when the Germans used the "Iron Fist" bazooka to penetrate the Collier's car in the night battle, the metal jet generated by the rocket penetrated the turret armor and then pierced Grady's body, causing Grady to die on the spot. This detail is also rarely seen in other films.
The tactical representation of both sides in the film
If the details of the weapons and equipment in "Fury" are quite good, then the tactical performance of the American and German troops in this film is much worse.
As the highlight of the film, the 3 m4 tanks versus the German "Tiger" tank is very eye-catching. Unfortunately, if you analyze this plot from a military point of view, you can only use the term "out of tune" to describe it. Not to mention that the US military marched in a mutually obstructive column formation, even in a series of dispositions after the surprise attack, the US military also made a big mistake. When the U.S. military discovered that it was necessary to destroy the Tiger tank that was blocking the way, they chose to quickly rush forward to fight with the Tiger tank in close combat. There's nothing wrong with that in itself. At that time, the Soviet T-34 tank and the German "Tiger" tank battle usually used this "close hand-to-hand combat" method to win more. But the problem was that certain tactical means were needed to reduce the losses suffered by the German Tiger tanks as they approached. On the one hand, it requires rapid maneuvering of its own tanks to reduce the accuracy of Tiger shooting. On the other hand, and more importantly, it is necessary to encircle the two wings of the Tiger tank in a wide frontal, large-spaced formation. This approach was not limited to attacking the Tiger tank's weak flank rear armor around its flanks, but also to reduce the Tiger tank's ability to deal with multiple targets in a short period of time.
The turret of the Tiger tank is hydraulically driven, usually with a hydraulic drive to turn the turret to the approximate position, followed by a precise aiming position manually by the gun commander. The minimum time for the turret to rotate once is 60 seconds, and if the hydraulic drive system fails, the gunner and the commander rotate the turret manually, requiring 720 and 595 turns of the handle to complete. The gunner and the commander operate at the same time, which doubles the speed of turret rotation. That is to say, the rotation speed of the Turret of the Tiger tank is very slow, which means that the time interval between it and the multi-target in a wide range is relatively long. The motor-driven turret of the M4 tank takes only 15 seconds to rotate, which is only a quarter of that of the Tiger tank. Taking advantage of this feature, if the M4 or T-34 tank uses a large-spaced formation of high-speed impact, then the Tiger tank needs to take much longer than the previous two to turn the turret and fire at the next target after firing at one of the targets. This greatly increases the odds of an M4 or T-34 tank successfully approaching a Tiger tank. In the film, the 3 American tanks led by Collier are charged at the Tiger tanks in a dense horizontal formation almost next to each other, and this small interval allows the German tanks to turn the muzzle to shoot the next target in a short time after hitting a target. It was not until an American tank was destroyed that Collier ordered the remaining 2 tanks to divers to the left and right flanks of the Tiger tank. Although the Tiger destroyed another American tank, Collier's car had rushed very close, and after successfully resisting the attack of the German 2 shells, it entered the rear of the Tiger tank, and then destroyed it with 2 shells. If the U.S. army had used a large interval horizontal line to detour to the two wings of the Tiger tank at the beginning, it is likely that the Germans could only destroy one of the American tanks, at least to prolong the Reaction Time of the German Army, and Collier's car could rush to the side of the Tiger tank without 2 shells.
When Collier's tanks fought against the attack of the German infantry battalion at the crossroads, their tactical performance could be described as bizarre. Originally, the M4 tank's greatest advantage over its presence in front of the German army was its artillery long-range attack capability and armor protection ability (the original maneuverability advantage had been lost due to the track being blown up). The Germans were only a battalion of light infantry, not even decent artillery and mortars, and the only anti-tank weapon, the Iron Fist bazooka, could only function at very close range. In this case, if the US military wants to strike more effectively against the German army, it must give full play to the advantages of its long-range attack capability, rather than fighting close combat with the German army. Instead of taking advantage of this advantage, Collier and others disguised their tanks as destroyed tanks and let the Germans enter the vicinity of the tanks before firing. If it weren't for the "brain-dead" Germans in person, they wouldn't have been able to support them for 15 minutes (at that time, the Germans, who had bypassed the tanks, only needed to open the hatches in the film that were never locked inside to throw a grenade, or put an explosive package on the car and end it). At that time, Collier and others should have used the artillery of the vehicle to bombard the Germans marching along the road when they had just entered the field of vision, and at the same time strengthened it with machine gun fire. In this way, the Germans could be forced to stop advancing at a long distance and stop it for a period of time. In fact, in the case of the film, it is impossible to stop a wide frontal attack of an infantry battalion by relying on a tank without mobility alone, and the advantage of long-range shooting is only a little longer resistance. As for the later battle scenes, it can be described as a purely entertaining gunfight film, and from a military point of view, there is no place worth mentioning at all.