Shields on Panzer Tanks

[CBR]

What is the "depth" of an offensive really supposed to mean in any case? I've heard the term being tossed around, but I have no clue what it means.

Well one wants to go deep as one want to capture real estate and surround enemy units. But the ability to go deep is a question of having a proper supply system so the lead units wont run out of gas and be vulnerable to counter attacks. Command and control is another thing as an attacker might simply make a mistake in going too deep only to have his front units getting cut off.

The Russians became better at going deep as the war progressed, as they became more experienced and got relatively stronger than the German army.


CBR

[Watchman]

Roughly, punching a hole in a suitable point of the enemy front and driving through it with mobile mechanized forces that then spread out to cause general chaos and confusion in the enemy's rear areas (and hopefully capture strategically important point while they are at it). Less mobile forces follow through the gap to consolidate and if possible roll up the enemy lines from the flanks.

The Soviets were big on using raw weight of artillery fire to create the initial opening, I understand.

It was not really a matter of luxuries.

Given that early to the war the main Soviet concern was to throw about everything short of the kitchen sink at the Germans to stop or at least stall them, I'd say some rather odd things would have ranked as "luxuries" they didn't bother with. Soviet armour suffered from poorly and hastily trained crews (as well as in many cases severely overworked tank commanders due to the common two-man turret arrangements) and, I suspect, tended to have rather low life expectancy even in good tanks like the T-34. Wasting too many radios on what were essentially expendable stopgap forces, or the time required to teach the crews to operate the devices for that matter, was quite likely not a very high priority - ergo only commanders' tanks could be counted on to have the devices.

They were leaving fuel gauges out of aircraft too at the time after all...

It was of course different after the worst crisis was over and the Soviets had some breathing space, and could take a shot at being skilled and sophisticated instead of just desperate.

Incidentally, I've seen some photos of T-34s and other Soviet tanks with wire-mesh side panels rather resembling the German Schürtzen. Given the prevalence of shaped-charge antitank weaponry among late-war German infantry it would certainly seem sensible for them to copy the idea (especially as they had way better industrial capacity for manufacturing thethings en masse than the Germans if it came down to that), but does anyone know anything specific about this ?

[Kraxis]

Are you sure they are not captured tanks? The Germans made plenty use of captured Russians tanks of quality.

If they indeed were Russian, then it seems to me that they copied the Germans thinking it would help against HEAT warheads. However, it seems rather odd that they would not test it out themselves.
Another possibility would be that the Germans tended to use the 105mm artillery gun as a tankbuster when in desperate situations. And while not a great weapon as such, a hit of that size should disorientate the crew a good deal, if not cause outright injuries. But as the Germans proved, the shields were good at protecting from HE as well, so it could be that aspect the Russians considered.

[Mount Suribachi]

Is this the T-34 you guys are on about?

[Kraxis]

Ahh... That is quite different from the German skirts.

Are we certain the mesh is of metal? If not then there is indeed a good possible solution.
Look at where the mesh is placed, on the flat surfaces, the most likely targets of the German magnetic mines. So if the mesh is not from metal the tank would be well protected from them.

[Mount Suribachi]

I dunno, magnetic mines are pretty heavy, I doubt they would be able to stick to a metal mesh. Anything other than metal for the mesh would also be too easy to rip thus allowing easy placement of mine...

[Kraxis]

On the other hand the magnets on the mines were pretty strong.

But one could also consider the fact that the magnetic mine was a sort of perfected HEAT warhead. Meaning it had the best standoff distance built into it already. So perhaps even ifthe mesh was metal and teh mine could stick it wouldn't penetrate because the disntance would be too great.