I’ve not (yet) read much on Shermans used during the Normandy invasion. Sounds like an interesting segment of history. What you described (trapped in mazes of hedgerows) sounds like an ideal place for infantry to hunt tanks.

I’m not sure whether or not decent statistics on the Russian army were available – not that I think old Adolf would have paid much attention to them, mind you. In the book I’m reading currently, A Short History of World War 2, it’s been remarked on that Soviet Russia was a giant question mark, in many regards. No one really knew which side she’d go to if she entered the war; furthermore, no one really knew just how many men Russia could field. Apparently, a whole hell of a lot of them.

That reminds me of something that was said in the same book: “The Japanese were, like many before them, killing themselves killing the Chinese.”

As far as the tanks themselves are concerned, I can’t add much more. I suppose I too used to have these WWI misconceptions at one point. After reading, like you, my conceptions changed but didn’t always become more clear-cut.

One of the things that always strikes me is how the early Shermans used in the Normandy landings turned out to be quite useless. If they made it to the shore at all, they soon got lost in the confusing hedge country. Apparently, military intelligence had only seen those hedges from aerial photography. They thought these would be like English hedges: low and fragile. Normandy hedges are two meters high and consist of thick heavy branches. The tanks were literally stuck in a maze! Troops welded pipes to the front and used them as very expensive dozers.

And finally, there is the question of numbers. How many men, how many tanks are you able to put forward. That’s a strategy that did survive from WWI I think and greatly influenced the war. Had Hitler taken one look at his stats (quite simply: less Germans than Russians), he might have reconsidered.

Then again, he probably wouldn’t have.

That’s a good point about being accustomed to such sights. I guess if you’d seen your friends die in combat day in and day out, seeing a big metal vehicle with a gun couldn’t be much worse.

And yeah, one has to definitely be thankful for those who fought against the Axis forces. It’s rather quite scary, when one starts digging into the history: not only did Hitler have plans of conquering all of Europe, Russian included, he came pretty close to being successful!

@Joshua: Good point, I’d forgotten about those things. At long range (with infantry support, heh!), those things were devastating. Like you said, though – get in close and they’re junk.

That brings back memories of me struggling forever to crack your Terran defenses, you dirty Turtle, you.

Also, be careful not to underestimate the fatalist philosophies and gallows humour that developed. From the reasearch that I’ve done on the topic I understand that most of the men involved went in one way (like you and I) and, if they came out at all, it was with severe psychological damage.

My guess is a sight like that tank stops affecting people rather quickly after they’ve witnessed some of the other horrors of war (which they did in that war as soon as they got there).

Thank God they did what they did. Else I probably wouldn’t be around, I was born in Poland .