[Juha]

Tony
with PzGr 43 Pak 43 /Flak 41 could penetrate 193mm at 30deg from 1000m, ammo was scare, but partly because normal Pzgr was almost always enough, if the need had arose, germans could have made more Pzgr 43s even by scrapping smaller calibre APCR rounds.

Now one could probably see easier an A/T gun in woods/forests from ground level than from air. So artillery FOO should have been able to handle an AT gun that had revealed itself by opening fire, or at least by using smoke shells to blind it.

Have you calculated how would the 600 hp Meteor have fit inside the engine compartment? Now extra frontal armour might have made Churchill noseheavy and awkward to drive, heavier engine might have helped but would it have fit.

Quote:” The result was that the Anglo-Canadian Army took 30 days to travel 30 miles from Kranenburg to Wesel.”

So the battle of Reichswald, I doubt that heavier Churchill would have helped much, even lighter Churchills had big difficulties in all that mud, IIRC one disappeared totally according to one Churchill unit history. In forest fighting heavier frontal armour would not have been an answer, at least not the whole answer, I can say that because I was trained to fight against armour heavy mechanical forces in forest areas. Panzerscreks and Panzerfausts would still have been effective against sides as well as 75mm and heavier A/T guns from flanking fire positions, saying nothing on StuGs. And all that rain and clouds would have grounded your Vengeances. War wasn’t/isn’t easy and usually there are no simple and easy ways to fought through heavily forested muddy areas defended by well motivated defenders. In fact lot of artillery or bombs is one of the best ways, of course problem is how to protect own troops from that firepower, for artillery high elevation would minimize risks of shells bursting in trees over own troops.

And Churchill Crocodiles were very effective, spared much Commonwealth blood during attacks against heavily fortified German positions.

It was Army’s decision to built all those cruiser tanks and they worked well after each breakthroughs in 44-45, if the Army would have wanted only to make breakthroughs after breakthroughs without any exploitation phases between, they could have built many more Churchills. Or at least more those add-on armour sets for all those older Churchills. BTW do you know how many older Churchills had those add-on armour sets in NWEurope? I have tried to find out that without much success. And the poor A/T power of that 75mm L/40 was really a big problem, look for ex the histories of 6th Guards Tank Brigade and that of 9 RTR. Even 6pdr APDS rounds seemed to have been disappointing to Churchill crews.

Juha