I came across this photo of a captured king tiger and thought some captured axis equipment could spice up the U.S.'s arsenal. I'm not sure how common it was for the U.S. to use captured equipment but I think it would be a fun addition on a map or two.
YEAH!! It's great idea!!!Tigers in US army ..hehe:beer: take it;)
US troops in general did not use captured combat vehicles because US troops had a tendancy to shoot any enemy vehicle they saw. I have seen pics of captured Kubels but the US system insured that there usually no shortage of vehicles.
At the end of the day the Combat Commands would "circle the wagons" , set up a repair area, start recovering vehicles, repair what vehicles they could and make a list of how many vehicles were needed to bring the unit back up to strength. In Belton Coopers book I keep mentioning his job was to determine if a knocked out Sherman was repairable or junk, even if it was junk it was often recovered and stripped of any usable parts.
A combat loss report would be made and Cooper and his driver would drive at night in a jeep sometimes as much as 70 miles back through unsecured lines back to rear HQ and ddeliever the reports. The requested vehicles would be pulled and crews chosen and at first light Cooper and his driver would lead the coloum of vehicles back to where the Combat Command was since often they were the only ones who knew where it was at.
So US losses were usually replaced within 24-36 hours. Two Combat Commands were engaged and one was reserve. If one got beat up and understrength then the reserve moved up while the battered one was brought back up to strength.
I cant say 100% but I think the Soviets operated a similar procedure but instead of combat commands they used independant tank brigades that would fight hard for 2-3 days then be rotated off the line for refit and repairs and rest, and by then be rotated back to the front.
yuiopI came across this photo of a captured king tiger and thought some captured axis equipment could spice up the U.S.'s arsenal.
Not every vehicle that had been captured intact was pressed into service. In most cases they were just examined.
Besides, a Tiger is not a Sherman, so the transition period would have been much longer as it is in FH. :D
crap i typed up a long ass reply but it got lost..
I believe just the germans made heavy use of captured equipment, they could afford to because together with the captured land they had captured spare parts and ammo. Even tank factories where they build tanks like the panzer38t? (correct me if im wrong)
even a T34-factory....
The Germans used almost anything they captured. Planes they used for recon or training and recognition, they used there B17's to drop spies of and double agents, they liked them allot. They used a captured P47 to fly over the UK for recon until there parts ran out.
They would capture Russian tanks and use them on the field because they liked them despite there quality was varying.
Most stuff captured by the allies in the MTO and ETO was shipped back to the UK or the states for evaluation or even testing in the field like the first Tigers taken were used for target practice. Germans retreating would destroy there equipment rather than let the allies get there hands on it. Lots of German tanks were simply to messed up to move them because of rockets fired by Typhoons after D-day.
'Cuckoo', an early Panther G was captured by 4th Battalion, the Coldstream Guards, Guards Armoured Brigade, during the fighting around Overloon (the Netherlands), during Sept./Oct. 1944, it was discovered in a large barn, amazingly in perfect working order, after being abandoned by Panzer Abteilung 2 of Panzer Brigade 107. 'Cuckoo' was used by the Coldstream Guards until it's fuel pump broke down during Operation Veritable (feb. 1945), due to the lack of a replacement pump it was abandoned east of Kleve.
http://www.twenot.nl/cuckoo.htm
Im more interested in the very heavily armored Churchill's with the tracks hung on the turret face and hull front as additional armor.
I wonder how allied tankers felt when they saw a King tiger or panther drive besides them, a tank maybe twice their size and the gun being..huge. I'd be pretty damn scared :p