Obsessive_Compulsive, on 15 September 2020 - 05:41 AM, said:
I think they carried a fairly well balanced load of HE and AP rounds. Leaning towards a larger number of AP. The targets were buildings, bridges,tanks, artillery, carriers of both troops and mounted weapons and of course buildings and any other hard cover. Given Tigers were usually deployed against superior numbers I think the ammo count speaks for itself. I have no idea on the kill per shot ratio of a tiger tank but I do know that at 1000-1500 m a tiger tank tended to hit what it aimed at.
Fair point on the HE rounds. People tend to forget that the vast majority of WW2 tank activity was shooting HE at infantry units.
In good conditions, e.g. static, hill position, clear weather, pre-ranged-in, absence of enemy distractions like artillery barrages or smoke, you are right, a Tiger would probably hit at long range, and there are plenty of examples of T-34 tank rushes being obliterated. However, most actions were a lot messier than that.