but I get the idea of what the producers were trying to convey; the Germans had an advantage with their "new" tiger tanks.
In close-quarters fighting such as that depicted in the film, a 76mm Sherman could hole a King Tiger easier than a King Tiger could hole a Sherman. And contrary to pop history, the Sherman wasn't the most heavily gunned U.S.> armored fighting vehicle in December 1944: that distinction belonged to the M36 Jackson tank destroyer, which was armed with the M3 90mm gun. (In January, new ammunition became available for the M3 gun that would defeat all plates of the King Tiger, albeit the front glacis only at the dangerously close range of 100 yards).
Shaw's character was based on the exploits of swashbuckling Waffen-SS commander Joachim Peiper. In contrast to his film depiction, Peiper was displeased with the King Tigers he was assigned, and kept them at the back of his column (which consisted of a mix of Panthers, Pzkw IVs, and King Tigers). Ultimately, his kampfgruppe's advance was stopped on a narrow road by a pieced-together unit of Shermans backed up by an M36: in the ambush, one Sherman knocked out two of the lead Panthers before its gun jammed, and the M36, armed with the new 90mm M3 gun, knocked out a third. With three machines disabled (at least one of which was in flames), the kampfgruppe retreated, for good.
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