How much impact would 30 m1a1 Abrams tank have if sent back in time?

Question

to world war 2

Answer 1

I love this type question, makes one think.

30 A-1's at, say, Red Beach ...ok; they move forward with heavy infantry support, . I think 25 would make it off the beach; the Germans had heavy guns capable of knocking them out, so, lets say five did not get off the beach;

With 25 in the Hedgrows my guess is that an 88MM German tank round would do damage, but might Not knock one out in one hit; Might...

This would be a game of hid-seek in the hedgerows, as we see a tank we kill it; maybe we might loose another five in the hedgrows due to Close use of the Panzerfuast or direct 88 hits close in would probably kill an A-1 or damage it pretty good. Heavy anti Tank mines could also kill and A-1, so maybe we loose a few more;

If we got into open ground, good roads and infantry support with air support those left, maybe 21-22 would run through the South of France as quick as the infantry could go; no infantry, no tanks, Rule #1.

An A-1 could knock out any armor the Germans had and very fast; the German infantry, absent Armor, would crumble fast and the war could be over by December 44.

Just a guess...

Answer 2

Only localized success. The King Tigers and Panthers could out gun anything thrown at them but it was a case of too little too late. The m1a1 Abrams would be a case of too little.

If they had tank back-up (from the Tommie-Cookers), fuel back up, supply back-up, and air support, all of which is probable, the Abrams would've made a powerful spear point for any attack.

The heat seeking rounds, infra-red targeting, shooting on the run, deadlier calibre, all make for an invincible force on a WWII battlefield.

Answer 3

Assuming perfect conditions (such as 100% lethal hits for every round fired) each M1A1 would destroy about 40 enemy vehicles. At this point the tank would be out of ammunition and become a huge self-propelled paperweight.

PS - the M1A1 was designed to run on diesel fuel - so there would not have been a problem refueling it.

Answer 4

Not very much of an effect. The people would not understand how the electronics worked and as such be unable to repair them, and they might not even have the right kind of fuel for it. And besides, it's just one tank. They already had lots of tanks during World War II and it would only take one or two artillery shots in the right place to blow the thing up.

Answer 5

In WWII appearance of 30 Abrams would have pretty low impact.

They would run out of ammunition, fuel and spare parts. And in WWII major sides in conflict had thousands of tanks on the front and equipment to destroy even an Abrams by divebombing with 250-500 Kg bomb. Abrams is heavily armoured but not that much on the top. matter to be worse, as soon as enemy realizes you have a superweapon, that would be priority target for enemy airforce. Yes Abrams is impervious to any antitank weapon of that time (88 or 128mm german PaK, 90mm Pershing gun, Russian 122mm IS-2 gun, British 17-pounder on Firefly and 75mm on Cromwell), but they would be destroyed by enemy airforce.

I will add comment on answers below - point is whether they would make a difference and that doesn't mean what would happen if Allies had them in 1944. but what would happen if losing side had them.
And please, 88mm German PaK was not the best antitank weapon of WWII, Russian SU-100 100mm gun and Pershing 90mm gun and British 17-pounder on Firefly were equal or better than German 88mm PaK when it comes to armour penetration. German had larger 128mm PaK as well and used it on Jagdtigers, but very small number of Jagdtigers with 128mm PaK were produced during the entire war, less than hundred. And don't even think even the best tank of WWII could fight with any modern MBT on equal terms.

Answer 6

Massive. I was an M1A1 crew member.
Depends on how far back in time. Will run out of fuel in a day or two (depending on how long there running)
They can shot on the move, so as long as they were moving, it would be harder to hit.

Answer 7

I think the impact could be great. the abrams computer system allows it to hit targets miles and miles away.it literally could sit and pick off enemy tanks from an accurate range that the older tanks may or may not be able even reach,and even if they could shoot that far,it would be like shooting a rifle in the general direction of someone a mile away and hoping it hits them.

Answer 8

Probably very little. First one could blow off the treds, two the upkeep of a the tank would be too much and three, the major fighting was massive and so the tanks could still be overran. A small force then would be 100,000 men.

Answer 9

couldn't have made that much of an impact. they're great tanks, but ww2 was huge, 30 of anything wouldn't have made much of a difference at all.

Answer 10

It would provide a massive impact until one was captured intact. Then everyone else would copy it.