In addition. lucky hits on the lower half of the original gun mantlet sometimes deflected downward, occasionally defeat-ing the 16 mm deck piąte over the driver and radio operator. The data shows that, in a frontal attack, even the upgunned American Sherman with a 76 mm M1 gun and the Russian T34/85 only stood a chance of penetrating the frontal armor by hitting the very smali target presented by the turret front of the Panther. However. not a single Sherman that landed on the beaches at Normandy had a 76 mm gun On 6 Septem-ber 1944, only 250 out of 1913 Shermans with the 12th Army

Group had 76 mm guns. Based on penetration ranges, with-out consideration of numerous other factors, the Panther outclassed all common opponents’ tanks and was only matched by the Russian heavy Josef Stalin with the 122 mm gun.

The original report did not show the effectiveness of Brit-ish tank guns against the Panther. The data presented in Penetration Rangę Table 9.3.4 was found in a D.T.D. docu-ment dated 24 May 1944:

mm M3guns.

_CHARTER 8: OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC8_

Penetration Rangę Tabie 9.3.4: 6 Pounder and 17 Pounder ve. Panther

fi PnunHor

6 Pounder APCBC 2725 fps

penetrates Panther up to

17 Pounder APCBC 2900tps penetrates Panther up to

1600 yds 2500 yds + 0 yds 400 yds 2500 yds ♦ 2500 yds ♦ 2500 yds + 2500 yds ♦ 2500 yds +