TUNISIA
GERMAN ANTITANK GUNS. These guns, effective against Allied armor, fired armor-piercing shells loaded with high-explosive fillers designed to burst inside the armor and to set the tank on fire. Antitank gun (top) could penetrate the armor of any Allied tank, front, side, or rear. Both U. S. and British armor-piercing shells were solid and did not fire the tanks; thus the Germans were able to salvage damaged armored equipment to a greater extent than were the Allies. It was not until well into the Italian campaign that armor-piercing shells equipped with fuzes and high-explosive fillers became available to Allied forces. (Top: German antitank gun, 7.5-cm. Pak. 40; bottom: German antitank gun, 5-cm. Pak. 38.)
TUNISIA
GERMAN SIX-BARRELED ROCKET LAUNCHER. This weapon fired high-explosive, incendiary or smoke rockets and was light enough to be moved with ease. The screaming sound of the rockets had an adverse psychological effect on troops at the receiving end and the rockets were nicknamed “screaming meemies.” Artillery sound-ranging equipment could not locate the rocket launchers because firing did not cause a report. The enemy used this type of weapon until the end of the war. (15-cm. Nebelwerfer, 41.)
TUNISIA
SHERMAN TANK WITH “SCORPION” ATTACHMENT, detonating mines during a test. The Scorpion was a revolving drum with chains attached (insert); when in motion it acted as a flail and could clear a path through a mine field for infantry and other tanks to follow. It was developed by the British and used extensively by them in desert warfare.