Tank Warfare

The American Road to Victory series is airing this Saturday on WETA HD, starting at 1:30 with The Americans on D-Day,  followed by The Americans on Hell's Highway, and finally, The Americans in the Bulge. We contacted American Legion DC Post #1 and asked if we could feature a local veteran that fought in one of these campaigns on a blog post. They put us in touch with veteran Demetri "Dee" Paris, a tank platoon leader, who recently stepped down as president of Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge association.


For brave actions during the Battle of the Bulge, Paris' unit were awarded two presidential citations, linked to in this article from the Battle of the Bulge Memories site. He describes his experiences in the Bulge in an excellent interview on the It Took a War site. You can also watch an interview with Dee Paris on the BBC news page.

Demetri "Dee" Paris

Like many young men at the time, Paris wanted to enlist immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor. But, his boss did not want him to go, and got a deferment to keep him Stateside. Paris, desperate to join the fight, spent months working his way around the deferment, and finally was allowed to join up.


He wanted to work with heavy armor - tanks - a cutting edge form of new warfare at the time. A place in the Cavalry meant scoring well on tests, school and training at  Ft. Riley. Paris excelled, and his dream to fight came true as he headed to England in October of 1944. He jumped into action during the Battle of the Bulge.


We often hear about the bitter cold in the Ardennes campain, and tanks were no exception. Imagine sitting in a metal ice box day after day. Paris had to watch his men closely for frozen feet and frostbite. To help fight off the cold, tank crews heated up their rations on their exhaust pipes.

We asked Paris to describe communications in an Allied tank,

"We had excellent communication, intercom to talk to my crew and radio to speak with the  other tanks I commanded. I could even communicate with headquarters if the need arose." 

Panzer commander uniform used in filming

Paris wore a plastic helmet with built in head phones and microphone under his tanker's helmet, enabling him to hear over the deafening noise of the tank and artillery and command the 24 men in his charge. His German counterpart would have worn a throat mic and large head phones (see photo to left).

Five men worked in a Sherman tank, the driver, assistant driver, gunner, loader, and the commander. The commander stood up in the turret, his head sticking up out of the tank, so he could direct, because visibility within the tank was minimal. Directions were given to the driver using clock references, "Enemy tanker, 2 'oclock!"

The commander also called for the type of ammo to be fired. Types varied, depending on the objective. Paris explained that high explosives were used against small buildings and infantry, smoke for camoflauge and steel balls in canisters against ground troops. Amour peircing, or AP rounds, were utilized against other tanks and vehicles. Unfortunately, Allied AP rounds could not actually pierce much of the armor on the German Tiger tank because, unlike the German 88mm gun, the velocity at which the rounds left the smaller Allied guns was not fast enough, and the rounds were at least 12mm smaller than their German counterparts. It can be safely said that most German tanks were superior to Allied tanks.

"The Germans had better tanks, better guns, better ammunition and even better hand arms. Whenever we could, we took German weapons and ammunition for ourselves. I carried a German P38 pistol and German binoculars" - Dee Paris

Many soldiers bemoaned their weapons. But, others don't entirely agree with Dee, citing the M1 Garand rifle, described by George Patton as a "War Winner" because it could loose a whole clip while Fritz was still working his bolt action Mauser after each shot. We've also heard claims that the Colt 45 was a better weapon because it's heavier round had real stopping power, whereas the lighter P 38 rounds high velocity meant they could pass right through someone with minor injury.

In the video below, Ellwood Von Seibold discusses deficiencies of Allied Sherman tank.

German's thirsty heavy armour needed constant refueling. Allied tanks held an advantage when it came to their higher mileage engines created by Ford and Cadilac. And, what they lacked in armour and fire power, they made up for in numerical superiority and reliability. Thousands upon thousands of Sherman tanks were made and shipped to European battlefields.

So, what do you think? Did the Germans out arm the Allies? What weapons gave Allies an edge? Would you rather carry a Colt 45, or a German, Walther P 38 pistol?