US Tank Destroyers at the Bulge

I don't follow Allied armor much, but the M-18 Hellcat was there also.

The destroyers present in the Battle of the Bulge are the M-18, M-36 and a few M-10's.

Here are some references and pics.

http://www.academy.co.kr/en2/pla/pla_detail.html?id=353&p_mode=1

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/8757/amtankdes.html

http://users.swing.be/tanks.tanks/complet/507.html

http://www.100thww2.org/support/776combat.html

Strictly speaking this wasn't a tank destroyer, but in Death Traps, Belton Cooper mentioned a Priest (I think) that knocked out a Tiger II with shot where the 105mm shell skipped off the lower part of the mantlet and through the deck! Fortunately, it must have been the early Porsche turretted version.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ABARNE Strictly speaking this wasn't a tank destroyer, but in Death Traps, Belton Cooper mentioned a Priest (I think) that knocked out a Tiger II with shot where the 105mm shell skipped off the lower part of the mantlet and through the deck! Fortunately, it must have been the early Porsche turretted version.

I don't think I would want to try that more than once.

That guy should be a pro pool shark with banking skills like that...a lucky shot indeed!

Just think if the poor guy missed!

Either one would work just fine, but if I were you I would go with the M-10. The M-36 started coming into service by the end of 44, so most likely there would be more M-10's. Another thing, you may want to get the M-10 Duckbill kit, that was the later model of the M-10, but both models would be fine.
As for references, two great books are available from squadron(www.squadron.com):
"Walk Around - US Tank Destroyers" and "US Tank Destroyers in Action", both published by Squadron/Signal Books of USA.
Hope this helps and good luck with your model!

Oh yeah,

Thanks for the help! I will take a look at all of those references too.

There is a Battle of the Bulge group build starting up right now in case you are interested.

QUOTE: Originally posted by ddayomaha There is a Battle of the Bulge group build starting up right now in case you are interested.

Boy, talk about good timing. Group Builds are very fun and informative. At times they are good motivators.

QUOTE: Originally posted by wbill76 That guy should be a pro pool shark with banking skills like that...a lucky shot indeed!

I just re-read Belton's account of the action, I was mistaken about it being a Priest. It was actually an M-12 with a 155, although a 155 howitzer's shell probably would have exploded as harmlessly on the Tiger's glacis as a 105. There certainly wasn't any aiming involved. They rounded a corner on a road and lo and behold there was a Tiger II. Since the gun was already pointed at the Tiger, I guess the American figured what the heck, and took took the shot.

I do wonder how often things like that did happen. There were certainly good reasons aside from the mantlet shot trap to favor the Henschel turret over the Porsche turret. On the other hand, they did modify the Pather's mantlet in the late G variety to eliminate the same sort of a trap, so presumably that kind of a shot must have happened more than once.

Abarne,

Your post really caught my attention as some weeks back I posted a question that goes like" Can a Priest Kill a King Tiger?". This was brought about by an unexpected turn of events in the Combat Mission game I was playing where a Priest was able to defeat an incoming King Tiger to my surprise. I received a lot of good responses on that thread mostly saying that it was just a game and it is impossible. Glad to hear that you found some proof that such a thing could happen.