Placing the Bell P39 Aircobra.

[tcolvin]

Originally Posted by Juha

Hello
"My 'hidden agenda' is truth."
Is this a joke?
Very difficult to believe your statement when one thinks the number of false claims there have been in your messages.
And why still complains like this "Montgomery allowed Hobart, his brother-in-law, to take the Churchill VIIs for conversion to Crocodiles" because if you had studied Reichswald battle you should know that Crocodiles were used there to help infantry and it was probably more effective infantry support vehicle than standard Churchill Mk VII. And this is only one of a number of odd claims you have made even in your last few messages.

Juha

You believe whatever turns your crank. It's a free country.

The Crocodiles were not used in the set pieces I know about. They lost pressure after half an hour IIRC and had to retire, and the couplers suffered breakages. But more seriously they provoked an extreme reaction. Whenever they were used everything was focused on destroying them.
One Crocodile was used in Kervenheim after the main resistance was broken, but it only got 100 yards before a Panzerfaust blew the head off the tank commander whose blood-gushing body fell down into the turret. The driver, unsurprisingly, withdrew backwards - not an easy feat with a trailer. The crew were then placed on a charge for motoring out of battle.
Crocodiles were used best on their own terms for mopping up resistance away from the main battle line.
Support from 79 Armoured Division was a bit like that from 2TAF; it was negotiated the previous night and not routinely available. Crocodiles were not a battle-winning weapon, but useful in certain circumstances.
Now a Churchill immune to the 88-mm would have been a battle-winner. And the Churchill VII came close to being one.