Tallies!

This is coolbert:

Those impressive tallies of Soviet armor destroyed on the Eastern Front by German tanks and assault artillery [SP guns] during the Second World War [WW2] indeed so "startling" and remarkable the figures to an extent hardly believable.

From James Lucas "WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT"

As always I recommend this book highly, without qualification or reservation!

Claims of SP gun crews thought to be suspect but on the contrary when scrutinized by the higher command echelons:

"The startling number of kills claimed by SP crews [and Tiger tank crews for that matter] were met with skepticism until certain senior officers carried out personal inspections of battlefields and were convinced that the tallies had indeed been accurate."

"That SP guns [alone not counting Tiger tank tallies] were successful cannot be doubted and their achievement in the German service can be assessed in the number of kills which were claimed. By the end of May 1944, more than 20,000 'kills' had been logged and this figure rose to 30,000 by the end of the war."

"during a fifteen month period [one SP gun brigade] in Russia destroyed more than 1,000 Soviet machines. When it is considered that the average daily strength of the brigade was twenty 'runners' [active and fighting SP guns]  . . . the full measure of the fighting ability of the gun crews can be gauged."

At least from May 1944 onward the Soviet had assembled those massive tank divisions, tank armies and groups of tank armies. Lots and lots and lots of targets for the German tank and SP gun crews to shoot at !!

coolbert.