Tuesday, March 5, 2013

[WoT] Digging Through Archives: Ferdi's Performance

It's been quite a while since I posted a Digging Through Archives thing. Making up for it.

Taken from communication between Heinz Guderian, General of Arnoured troops, and Adolf Hitler dated 1943 (excerpts):

After 2000km of traveled distance the condition of Ferdinand tanks in such that 4 vehicles ignited spontaneously while marching and became completely worthless.

Repairs are extremely hard and continuous for both unit (Heavy Anti-tank Regiment 656) and army group and can't be performed at this time.

The success Ferdinand tanks have had so far, e.g. 8 Ferdinand tanks destroyed 54 enemy tanks on November 25, indicates that the unit should be brought for reinforcement to ensure its full fighting efficiency.



Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence, fund 500, inventory 12462, case N93, page 115

Actually not bad performance of debut batch of Ferdi's, especially taken into account overloaded chassis.

15 comments:

  1. Ferdinand/Elephant efficiency was much better than Tigers'/Kingtigers'. E.g.: their kill/loss ratio was higher than the mentioned heavy tanks's.

    Ferdis was used together with such medium tanks like PzIII. And never alone. PzIII-s defended them against enemy infantry and destroyed fortifications with their short barrel 75mm. Meanwhile Ferdis destroyed harder targets. Sometimes from 2500 meter away. :)

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  2. I have heared, that if you are not taking breakdowns into account, the ferdinand&elefant tanks have had the best Kill/death ratio of all tanks of WW2.

    Btw, has there ever been a Ferdi killed by AT guns frontally?


    Also worth mentioning is the super-early "Hybrid-like" Engine of that tank..
    Pro side of this engine was the same torque and power while driving forward and backward, combined with the positive abilities of the E-engine (torque and acceleration-wise) it was truly a innovation for early-40s.

    However it hasnt had the time of proper engineering, it just got rushed to the frontline.. Kursk called, Ferdi responded.

    Thats what also caused troubles at the early Pantherengineering: 60-80% (depending on the source) of the Panthertanks which got provided for kursk, broke down before entering combat.

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    1. I don't know about killed, but the Tank Overhaul show restored one that had been rendered useless with frontal shots. If I remember correctly, one hit between the glacis and the front drivewheel, hitting the sprocket and disabling it, so the crew abandoned.

      You can see the video here (where they discover the damage): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pzw-8dt-Jf0#t=246s

      And here where they fix it: http://youtu.be/WKxquvOW8kU

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    2. i was aware of that vid, but id totally say that doesnt count as "disabled frontally", it was a soley trackshot.

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    3. Yes, the SU-152 and IS tank could deal with a Ferdinand frontally. Take a look at this article, it even has pictures.

      http://tankarchives.blogspot.ca/2013/03/suisu-152-vs-german-big-cats.html

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    4. That was not "solely a track shot", the brake drum and sprocket housing were so badly damaged that the restoration team had to take to it with angle grinders and cutting torches just to get the sprocket to fit back in after removal.

      That Elefant would not be going anywhere after that hit. It was frontally disabled, and since the Germans could not recover it, the disabling hit was permanent.

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  3. Hey Overlord somebody's found a what they believe is a bug with side skirts:

    http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/216549-the-centurions-side-skirts/page__p__4168769#entry4168769

    Could you give someone at WG a poke to check it out please.

    The Brit heavies are bad enough without their armour directing shells into the tank :(

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    1. on a slightly related note, i noticed whilst trying out the Ensk bug on the 8.4 test that the collision box on the side of the front track of the Tortoise extends way beyond where the front track stops.

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    2. Darkmancer,

      no bugs with British skirts.

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  4. Very interesting.

    Weak engine and bad placement of engine compartment (which made servicing it very difficult in the field) were the only major drawbacks of the vehicle. Aside from that it performed extremely well in destroying tanks.

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  5. Let me guess....Ferdi nerf inbound? :)

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    Replies
    1. Dont have to justify it like that.

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    2. I would trather see a nerf to all tank with blueprint and noncombat guns - Ferdi with only 8,8, same with Konig Tiger, M46/47, Panther, IS3, IS4, ISU etc. With that power race on T8-T10 you really spoiled reallife tanks :(

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    3. If everything works out as intended, there will be similar opportunity :)

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    4. @Overlord

      Historical battles? Well its only thing that keeps me in game cause I lost hope that someone can manage this game properly (tanks in trees, balance, technical data, subtiers, maps) So please don't screw this up.

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