Serial numbers intelligence

[Fred Cisin]

On Mon, 1 Feb 2021, Tomasz Rola via cctalk wrote:
> Nice article, but certain paragraph made me uneasy:
>
>  "By 1941-42, the allies knew that US and even British tanks had been
>  technically superior to German Panzer tanks in combat, but they were
>  worried about the capabilities of the new marks IV and V. "
>
> Oh really. I remember that US combat manual (or whatever they were
> called) from the era recommended a Tiger should be engaged by at least
> four Shermans. Assuming Tiger was waiting for them coming by the road,
> the first one was to be destroyed by the first shot, then the next one
> or two while they were getting closer to German tank, and finally the
> fourth had a chance to outmanouver the Tiger (they really sucked in
> dancing, from what I have read) and pack it a shot in the back from
> close distance.
>
> Sorry for nitpicking. Perhaps my memory comes from alternative
> reality, but it rhymes with data claiming that number of M4 Shermans
> produced during 1942-1945 period was almost 50000.
>
> As of the problem itself, here are some links. It is called "German
> tanks problem".
>
> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20318184
>
> https://www.eadan.net/blog/german-tank-problem/
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_tank_problem

Thank you for the references.


I know nothing of any actual details about tanks.
But, "Oddball" (Donald Sutherland) in "Kelly's Heroes" said that the only 
way that they could take on a Tiger, 
"Yeah. Look, a Tiger has only one weak point. That's its ass. You got to 
hit it point blank and you've got to hit it from behind."