Captured equipment trials.

by Dontshootmepeas

Anyone have a source for trials conducted on captured equipment during World War 2. CIA.gov has the t34 trials as public information but nothing else that I can find. Really curious to read about what all sides thought of the enemies equipment.

The_Chieftain_WG

Oddly, there is no simple source for this. There will be occasional references in books, one-liners and the like, but no 'one-stop-shop' for details, you will have to hunt for separate locations.

Also, I've found it very difficult to find simple overview documents. I have seen, for example, a document of a metallurgical analysis of the Panther's armor, down to what percentage of what elements are used in the alloy. I've seen an assessment of the T-80 tank down to what frequency on the color spectrum the tail lights are. And I've found practical tests like "What happens if we shoot our guns at their tanks?" For example, vulnerability reports of Panzer III, IV and VI. http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p4013coll8/id/4556 . Or the British re;leased a "motion study", which is really ergonomics, on a number of captured vehicles. https://archive.org/details/WO2911003MotionStudiesOfGermanTanks

The Germans presumably have their own trials results, speaking with the Panzermuseum director, the opinion of the German engineers of Sherman was "Hmm. It's got good points and bad points, just like ours". However, I don't read German so have not attempted to acquire the test reports.

It seems to be a lot easier to find reports of how allied countries viewed each others' tanks. I've found a fair bit in the US National Archives on British and Soviet, you can read Soviet reports on the Tankarchives website, and the British tend to be here and there online or in Kew.