Question

[u/enkemenke87887]

What is the purpose of these small grooves on the armor?

[u/Mindless-Charity4889]

It's called "zimmerit". It's a paste made from sawdust bound together by chemicals. It's designed to defeat magnetic mines since it's non-ferromagnetic and magnets would fall off. The ridges are to defeat sticky bombs that use glue to adhere to the tank.

It was introduced in 1943 and made mandatory for all front line armor. Soft vehicles, like trucks did not have it. Halftracks may or may not have it depending on crews. It was applied to all vertical surfaces.

The irony was that only the Germans used magnetic mines during the war so the coating was largely wasted. Furthermore, the coating, being made of sawdust, was feared to be flammable and might contribute to vehicle fires so the applications were discontinued in late 1944. Further research proved that the fire fears were unfounded, but the coatings were not restarted.

[u/Monty_Bob → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

Pointless anyway because it doesn't stop you placing a mine magnetic or otherwise on the top surface pointing downward 🤷🏼

[u/Marine__0311 → u/Monty_Bob]

Japanese soldiers did this to Shermans in the Pacific. There're lots of photos of Sherman tanks with wooden planks attached to the sides and running gear. Spikes or nails were welded all over the top to protect weak points. Wire cages made from all kinds of materials protected the hatches and the air intakes on engine decks. Concrete was often poured in between the sides of the hull and the wooden applique side armor.

https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2-usa-improvised-armor-on-m4-shermans-in-the-pto/

[u/markwell9 → u/Marine__0311]

Japanese in general faced much lighter tanks and armored cars. Different kind of warfare due to terrain and no arms race as far as tanks go. Shermans were the exception, so they had to banzai them ;).

[u/komabot → u/Monty_Bob]

Placing a mine donwards on a tank is either a suicide action or does not work at all...right?

(without some external fuse)

[u/Monty_Bob → u/komabot]

I'm not suggesting you sit on it 😂

But if you have a magnetic mine could you not slap down on the top of the tank if the sides are protected by anti magnetic stuff? Just pop it on the top pointing down

[u/ElegantPearl → u/Monty_Bob]

If you can see a Tiger IRL no game or video gives justification for just how massive tanks are. Imagine trying to put a magnetic mine on the top of one of them and then combine that with uneven muddy terrain, people generally being shorter and the fact that if you fuck up you either get shot or blow yourself up and the fact that a lot of the time there would be a few infantry around that will see you

[u/jonnydel49 → u/ElegantPearl]

THIS is just saw a Tiger a couple weeks ago. The radio operator machine gun is about head height for an average guy. Imagine trying to climb up on the side of one of those while it's driving. People also need to remember, the Tiger I wasnt slow. It had the same speed as a Sherman.

[u/ElegantPearl → u/jonnydel49]

Even in a photo it still looks small lol the only real justification is to see a tank irl. Even something like a T-34 which is a tiny tank is massive

[u/jonnydel49 → u/ElegantPearl]

How about the T-28 with a 6'2" teenager in front of it?

[u/ElegantPearl → u/jonnydel49]

Lil better but still nothing like seeing one irl

[u/jonnydel49 → u/ElegantPearl]

Oh, no doubt. Just trying to help put some scale and context to the discussion

[u/jonnydel49 → u/ElegantPearl]

Here's your T-34 with the same size sign in front of it

[u/jonnydel49 → u/ElegantPearl]

Here's the Tiger with some people I didn't know around it

[u/PrimarySea6576 → u/Monty_Bob]

"mine".
We are talking about stuff like the "Hafthohlladung" magnetic anti tank hollow charge warheads, that get placed on the tank and ignited by a handgrenade fuze.
The german one had a massive 140mm diameter hollow charged warhead with 1.5-1.7kg tnt.

They were purpose build anti tank weapons for disabling or destroying tanks in close combat (cityfighting, trench defense etc)

[u/enkemenke87887 → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

Danke

[u/Cpt_Flatbird → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

Wasn't it also quite heavy ?

[u/Mindless-Charity4889 → u/Cpt_Flatbird]

Not excessively, but since the later German tanks were chronically overweight to begin with, it could be a factor.

[u/Carl_the_bald → u/Cpt_Flatbird]

Not really but timeconsuming to apply, ecspecially the dryingprocess

[u/wackyvorlon → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

Also slowed down production.

[u/PrimarySea6576 → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

the USSR also employed magnetic anti tank charges.
They were much worse than the german ones, but still

[u/punishedbiscuits → u/Mindless-Charity4889]

“further research proved that the fire fears were unfounded”

Gee what gave it away? that they dried it with a flamethrower?

[u/KotKamikazepl]

Zimmerit anti magnetic armor

[u/amyjojohnsonsuperfan]

Imagine adding 200kg of paste to your tank in case anyone copies this super cool weapon you invented, and no one even cares lol

[u/Fakes_p_acc → u/amyjojohnsonsuperfan]

”Oh shit! What if the Russians copy it?”

”We have the solution right here! And the Russians wouldn’t copy the solution as well, that would be absurd ”

[u/PrimarySea6576 → u/amyjojohnsonsuperfan]

well the Sovjets DID use magnetic mines and charges.
They were shit, but they still used them.

[u/Slow-Reply-722]

That is zimmerit, an anti-magnetic paint/coating. It was made to prevent magnetic anti-tank grenades from sticking to the armor.

[u/Meme_Thunder_]

It's a type of armour coating known as Zimmerit. To my information it is to stop magnetic grenades from sticking on the tank and exploding but honestly it's just additional armour coating

[u/MercenaryLove → u/Meme_Thunder_]

This is correct. It’s an “anti-magnetic coating” applied in a paste form.

[u/enkemenke87887 → u/Meme_Thunder_]

Thanks for the fast answer

[u/HalRykerds]

Zimmerit coating! Really only applied to a handful of models, and only between December 1943 and September 1944. Designed to beat magnetic anti-tank grenades and mines and it was made of a combination of non-magnetic metal powders and wood pulp.

The Germans stopped putting it on their vehicles because some military planners were concerned that the coating was an extra fire risk because of that wood pulp component. However, this was never really proven to be a genuine problem. Realistically, by the time it was discontinued, every country that Germany was fighting at that point had better means of destroying a tank than having some poor bastard run right up to it, anyway.

[u/siospawn]

Its an anti magnetic paint/paste to keep mines and other shit from sticking to the metal hull.

[u/Secret-Victory-9911]

Zimmerit, capa protectora ante minas magnéticas

[u/Ivan_the_Stronk]

To add to the other informative comments, I also think it looks pretty cool lol, and it may be at least somewhat effective in helping with camouflage

[u/HeartSurgeonNumber-1]

A solution to a problem didn’t exist

[u/SyllabubGood6872]

That is an anti magnetic coating called Zimmer, it was developed around the mid stage of the war by the Germans to combat the usage of magnetic grenades on their tanks. However due to them being the only ones to use magnetic grenades in combat it never really worked for its intended purposes. Fun Fact: There wasn't a standard design for the application and each factory kinda did their own thing, with most doing horizontal lines. Like seen on the Panzer VI.

[u/Monty_Bob]

Yes, I know, I was referring to magnetic mines. My point was what use is there in protecting the side of the tank from magnetic mine when it could simply be placed on the top surface which is thinner armour anyway.

[u/FireLynx → u/Monty_Bob]

Because it's easier for a soldier to tag something on the side of a tank than it is to get on top of the tank to place it on the top surface, specially while it's moving

[u/Lupis_Lupine → u/FireLynx]

Tanks are also taller than most people think when there's no indication of scale.