??? The Panther ain’t blind at all, German Cupolas are the best
nope they aren’t. even Italy had projects of moving ports in cupola while soviets and americans added periscopes. deutches had just closed all viewing ports in armor, leaving no periscopes in return so gunner was completely blind when trying to find target at sides and commander’s cupola had dead zones at sides which gave chances to ambush cats easily. read about KT’s debut on eastern front when it got raped by Oskin’s T-34 and you’ll understand. war is not tank duel in corridors, it’s quite more complicated
Firstly I think you need to do a bit more research on the ergonomics of these tanks. German vehicles are renowned for having better visibility than their counterparts.
Furthermore if you had done some research you’d also know that historically pretty much all nations TCs excluding the Russians fought in a open protected position unless under heavy enemy fire.
If you’d read memoirs or first hand information from well known tankers of WW2 I.E Otto Carius’ “Tigers in the Mud” you would already know this.
Also trying to compare rotating periscopes to Cupolas is a ridiculous notion. For starters because not all German tanks are the same and you just mashed them into 1 category. As German tanks progressed they constantly utilized a variety of vision slits, periscopes and cupolas. More importantly Cupolas exist because rotating periscopes are inferior, you have a singular narrow field of view compared to a wider 360 degree field of field. Why do think American shermans did away with a single periscope for the TC and replaced it with a Cupola on later variants like the M4A3E8 and the M4A3E2. There is a reason that tanks today still use a cupola concept and not a single rotating periscope.
Finally to touch the the Oskin’s encounter with the first King Tigers in Poland 1944. You cannot seriously consider the outcome a single encounter to prove the legitimacy of the point you made. Once again if you had done some research you would know that in that encounter Oskin’s T34-85 was very well camouflaged and laid in wait for the German vehicles to expose their weak side armor. After destroying the first the second 2 vehicles could not find their target due to the flaming smoke and once again Oskin’s tank was well CAMOUFLAGED.
It’s just like you said armored warfare is complicated however unlike what you claimed it often times is a sort of “duel” tanks who get the first shot off usually live to tell the tale.
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they were known for it till 43. even Wittman often needed to watch from opened cupola cuz his visors didn’t give him good 360 view.
they removed visors and slits
of course because their ergonomic became not that good, like with panther which didn’t even have place for ready rack or jagdtiger which didn’t give commander opportunity to use some of periscopes. still 360 view is way better than few narrow windows allowing you to watch sides partially, you can’t ignore it. as for researches, i believe to historians more than myself who isn’t allowed to dig into archives, especially abroad, so i listened to some of them. still don’t change my mind as spartan complection of visors wasn’t better than at least few additional slits or 2 periscopes which were used by most countries producing tanks a lot.
How is this relevant in anyway? We’re discussing the ergonomics of crew visibility, the Commander’s specifically not ammunition storage or ready rack locations
What??? Mate I don’t think you even realize what a cupola is. How can you argue that a single rotating periscope is better than a cupola? What do think goes into cupolas… multiple periscopes or direct vision blocks.
Let’s look at the M4 Sherman as an example
Above is the M4A1 Sherman tank. The first models of the iconic American medium did not have a cupola but rather a split 2 piece hatch with a single rotating periscope (I circled the position where it would be located in the hatch, and you can see the slot for it) This layout means that while buttoned down the commander only has 1 single narrow field of view which offers no visibility to his sides or rear without sacrificing his view to his front by rotating his scope. Keep in mind aswell that inside that tank when he rotates that periscope he needs to try and turn his body with it to keep his eyes inline with the vision piece. Needless to say this is no effective or convenient.
Now let’s have a look at a late model Sherman
Above is the M4A3E8. One of the various changes compared to it’s predecessor is that the commander has a cupola around him with multiple vision blocks surrounding his 360 degree field of view. Rather than having to rotate an entire periscope to see his sides all the commander has to do is turn his head to the side. There is a very good reason that cupolas were adopted over single piece periscopes.
Just for the kick in the teeth lets have a look at the original tank in question the Panther
Above is a early model the Panther D while it still features a cupola it’s different from the later models because this version features vision slits. It still offers the commander a wider range of view around him but the downside of the vision slits is the commander physically sits higher in the turret and can be decapitated if AT crews target his tower.
This is a later model of Panther A the commanders cupola was changed on this vehicle to now his cupola has periscopes that surround him in 360 degrees.
Even modern main battle tanks utilize cupolas for example the leopard 2 and M1 abrams
