Gammon Bomb

Discussions on the vehicles used by the Axis forces. Hosted by Christian Ankerstjerne
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Brady
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Gammon Bomb

#1

Post by Brady » 19 Jun 2018, 18:35

Hi-

It is often noted that the Gammon bomb, and just Blocks of TNT were used as Anti Tank weapons, its been my long time understanding that these devices were not at all effective on the whole, but I don't have any solid numbers to actually confirm this, the lack of such references in my many books suggests that they were so ineffective as not be "counted" but I thought I would ask if anyone had something more concreate at their disposal and if they could share it hear.

TY

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Brady
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#2

Post by Brady » 25 Aug 2019, 16:54

Punt


bam
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#3

Post by bam » 27 Aug 2019, 01:56

Aside from just trying to disable tanks by using HE to wreck their tracks, wheels, optics etc... If you look up "squash head" rounds, you can find out more about the idea of defeating armor not by penetration, rather by using an external explosion in contact with the outer armor to blow off a large, supersonic 'scab' from the inside of the armor plate. I think it's something to do with the shock wave causing the inner edge of the armor to detach. The scab then kills the crew like a fragmentation bomb. But there's no hole.
If you've ever seen the old 70s executive desktop toy, where 5 silver balls are suspended on threads, and if you let the lefthand ball strike the 4 hanging ones, then only the right hand ball is moved. It's that principle in action, I was told.

Brady
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#4

Post by Brady » 09 Sep 2019, 16:53

I came across this:

But its hardly definitive:

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And this, but again, its hard to really determine the specific effect:

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Presumably placement was key, or a key component, but the need to throw the device(s) onto the target, would make that a bit of a crap shoot, and give that most of the energy from these devices is going away from the armor... There not HESH after all

Again, I am looking for a specific reference for the penetrative powers if there is any, and if posable direct irrefutable evidence of there efficacy as an AT weapon.

Thanks, Brady

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Mobius
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#5

Post by Mobius » 09 Sep 2019, 17:28

I probably posted this under a different topic but it is of anti-tank grenades.
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Brady
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#6

Post by Brady » 09 Sep 2019, 17:33

Mobius wrote:
09 Sep 2019, 17:28
I probably posted this under a different topic but it is of anti-tank grenades.
That's actually interesting, for the HEAT AT grenades, and something else I was looking at, but What I am asking about is not a HEAT device, just HE

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Contender
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#7

Post by Contender » 29 Sep 2019, 19:39

The soviet RPG-40 which is just a fat grenade & not a hollow charge penetrates ~25mm (probably much less in practice) of armor according to the manual if that helps. The RPG-40 was considered ineffective against everything except German light tanks.

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jpz4
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#8

Post by jpz4 » 29 Sep 2019, 21:49

Brady, you might want to look into the use of Gammon grenades by the 82nd AB against German armor in Normandy.

Brady
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#9

Post by Brady » 29 Sep 2019, 22:44

jpz4 wrote:
29 Sep 2019, 21:49
Brady, you might want to look into the use of Gammon grenades by the 82nd AB against German armor in Normandy.
Apart from this rather vague reference to the destruction of an armored truck:

Capt. Arthur M. Stefanich and Lt. Gerald N. Johnson, C/505, who both were combat veterans of Sicily and Italy, along with 70 men who had dropped some distance northeast of the 505 DZ, picked up their parabundles by 0930 hours, and made a forced march directly for La Fiere bridge, their assigned D-Day mission. They spread out, and on the way got in a quick lick against the enemy that morning by destroying a German armored truck with a gammon grenade. They also took two prisoners along the way. - Robert Murphy's book "No Better Place to Die".

I have nothing on Normandy, or have yet to find anything

You see the odd reference to them being in conjunction with other devices, Like Bazooka's, but nothing that really speaks to there efficacy
as an AT weapon

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jpz4
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#10

Post by jpz4 » 29 Sep 2019, 23:03

try books.google.com and search with 'gammon' and any of the following terms '504th', '505th', '507th', 508th. Should bring up quite a few mentions. You can also do a regular search which should bring up at least some personal accounts.

Brady
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Re: Gammon Bomb

#11

Post by Brady » 30 Sep 2019, 00:33

jpz4 wrote:
29 Sep 2019, 23:03
try books.google.com and search with 'gammon' and any of the following terms '504th', '505th', '507th', 508th. Should bring up quite a few mentions. You can also do a regular search which should bring up at least some personal accounts.
I will try the google books approach, the normal approach had several accounts but non that were really useful, all were rather vague as I noted above

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