Sloped armor: A simple feature that saved many lives

Sloped armor - an armor technique of inclining the armor plates in order to achieve superior strength and protection. Massively utilized in WWII, this technique would prove life saving in numerous occasions, giving the Soviet tank forces a fighting edge over the German counterparts. But it did come with some limitations and problems. How does it work, what are the good and bad things concerning the sloped armor, when was this technique used and when did that usage end? How did simple physics help deflect and outdate huge number of anti-tank weapons and what was the end game for it?

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Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Episode by Aleksandar Djokic
Script: Natasha Martell
Narrator:

Chris Kane

[DarknetDude]

Some people spend their entire lives pursuing romance instead of pursuing the one thing that really matters. Sloped tank armor.

[ry]

We can all agree that first sloped armor is great for tanks IF they have high quality steel and if they have a powerful gun. Second Simple History's animations are getting better and better

[juanzulu]

Actually, the advantages of slopes were already known in the high middle ages as we see in armour and castle tower designs.

[Shinzon]

I wouldn't necessarily call this a simple idea, because even though it seems simple in Concept, in order to do it requires a *lot* of design work, as you are needing to make compromises to get the slope to be at a useful angle, which massively cuts down on the interior volume and thus limits what you can have internally.

The whole 'sloped Armour is better' thing is actually been known for a long time, at least since the dreadnought battleship era if not even before, but the problem is no one could figure out a way to justify the expenses that sloped armour puts on the interior volume of whatever you are designing, so it wasn't used in many applications until the interwar era designs and the pressure cooker that was WWII

[julesbenedictcatalan]

The animation is getting better and better every new video comes out

[mandarin]

Fun fact: due to several factors, the protection of sloped armor increases sharply at around 55°.

[eaststarling]

There is a thing called a shell trap on some tanks, where the shell can ricochet off an armor plate, and go straight into a flat or weaker area of armor, which the shell can penetrate, which can result in the death of the tank.

[D_U_N_E]

Reminder:
Sloping tank armour removed interior space.
The thickness accounts for both the roof/front. While flat armour can have very thin roofs with much thicker fronts.

It's better, but not to the degree people think.

[captain_commenter]

“When I’m doubt, turn it a few degrees to the side”

-Sloped Armor engineer, probably

[viceralman]

The T-34 is an excellent example of the advantages and disadvantages, been the disadvantages an extremely cramped interior with few internal storage, also how blind a tank has to be shot at 27 times, also the 37mm was able to eliminate T-34 they destroyed about 2.000 at the beginning of Barbarossa, this due to the extreme tempering of soviet steel which cause spalling in the interior without penetration ending the crew inside.

[jorgepconcordia]

7:20 the first tank to use sloped armor on all sides was the FCM 36, before the T 34.
its sloped armor covered even the suspension

[MastersPipe]

If life has taught me something, enemy attacks will always penetrate and mine will always fail.

[headwaves]

I’m seriously impressed with how much smoother and detailed your animations have become. This must have taken a lot of effort…thank you for doing it!

[shaider]

I think some warship armor, as discussed by Drachinifiel, is also sloped.

[qaterdargon]

The fact that a T-34 let itself get hit 23 times by a getman anti tank gun speaks volumes to how blind T-34s made there crews

[armouredarchives]

Tbh I was dreading this, as YouTube is often a BS minefield, but this is a pretty good job, 10/10 visually! I like the fact you point out the internal volume aspect, a very big part as volume, weight, dimensions are far more important than the armour mobility firepower trope. And the fact there is no weight saving was nicely covered. The two areas overlooked are that sloped armour is easier to overmatch (the rounds calibre is greater than armours thickness) this still effects the vehicle with sloping, becoming less effective if the rounds calibre overmatches the vertical equivalence of the plate and the larger the round the less effective the sloping is comparatively.

The other issue is that sloped plate is considerably less effective on any slope, that is if the vehicle is going down an incline the armours effective thickness is decreased by the same angle and battlefields are not always flat, while vertical armour can only gain loss thickness in the same scenario. Finally, there is edging effect – any opening in a sloped plate, be it a bow MG or in T-34’s case the drivers hatch, has a larger area by default, this increase the amount of area that can be stuck to one side where the metal is weaker.

Overall though a very good video, kudos

[SpaceMonkeyBoi]

Warthunder: **you get knocked out when the enemy shoots your radio antenna**

[soggywafl]

The technical explanations in this video are making this one of my favorites by Simple History!

[arthurneddysmith]

I thought this video was going to be a very simple one, extolling the capacity of sloped armour to deflect shells and increase relative armour depth. I was happily surprised. Well done.

[chaoslink]

As a logical next step, it'd be interesting to see a video discussing the evolution of tank ammunition types, starting with the basic High Explosive and Armor Piercing shots and moving into HEAT, various ballistic capped shells and eventually modern shells like APFSDS.