This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
In today's Times comes an interesting article, prompted by the announcement that the Army will retain its wartime post of Scientific Advisor in the peace, on the quantitative problems of the recent conflict:
From the Ardennes fighting some astonishing figures were discovered about the results of the duel between the tank and the gun. Where towed anti-tank guns, unsupported by infantry, were engaged, one tank was destroyed to three guns lost; but where the guns were self-propelled two tanks were accounted for for each gun put out of action. Where the anti-tank artillery was supported by infantry the ratio was one and a half to one for towed guns, but with self-propelled guns six tanks were knocked out for each gun. Another subject investigated [by the Scientific Branch] was what loss in tanks the Germans would accept before breaking off an attack. It was found to be about 50 per cent. That is a high figure, but the Fifth and Sixth SS Panzer Armies were exceptionally good troops ...
Battle claims are often somewhat loose. In Normandy, there was an exceptional opportunity to examine them. It has generally been believed that the Mortain counter-offensive was stopped by rocket-carrying aircraft, but this version has been shown to do less than justice to the American soldier with his anti-tank gun and bazooka. Seventy-eight German tanks were found on the ground, against 252 claimed as put out of action. Of these 21 had been destroyed from the air (by rocket 15, by cannon four, by bomb two); 29 had been destroyed by ground weapons; nine had been abandoned intact; four had been blown up by the crews; and the 'cause of death' of the remaining 15 could not be determined. These figures should not, however, obscure the great moral effect of the Typhoons, which had the double effect of shaking the enemy and encouraging British and American troops ...
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