Trench Armor

[The Dark]

As part of The Vespers War, I've been digging into oddities other than armored vehicles. One of these is trench armor. There's not a huge amount of information out there, but I found enough to at least bounce ideas off the group. German sentry armor is said to have weighed 11 kilograms, and to have been able to resist a pistol shot at essentially any range and a rifle shot from long range. To me, that sounds like AV 1. Any other opinions?

[dragoon500ly]

Both sides also used plates with firing slits for middlemen and machinegunners, there are also several sketches/photos of armor shields that could be pushed forward during assaults. AV1 or 2 sounds about right.

[Silent Hunter UK]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Both sides also used plates with firing slits for middlemen and machinegunners, there are also several sketches/photos of armor shields that could be pushed forward during assaults. AV1 or 2 sounds about right.

I would be interested to see if there is any video proof of their effectiveness.

[unkated]

Sounds like AV1 (most pistol have damage value 1 or less).

Have you worked on rules for artillery affects on troops in trenches?

Uncle Ted

[dragoon500ly]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

I would be interested to see if there is any video proof of their effectiveness.

Only online source I could ever find is forgotten weapons.com, who did tests on the German version, this was proof against rifle fire at up to 4-500 yards.

The British rifle shields have no online testing that I am aware of, period documentation stated it was proof against rifle fire to 400 yards. It was also noted that the shields bogged down in rough, muddy terrain and their use was discontinued in 1915.

If you can find any other sources I would love to see them!

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by Silent Hunter UK

I would be interested to see if there is any video proof of their effectiveness.

I'm not aware of any. Pretty much the only documentation I've found is Bashford Dean's Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare (1920). For shields, it was found that .30-06 AP was resisted by .30 inches of good steel at 50 yards (approximately 1 pound per 12 square inches), .26 inches at 100 yards, and .24 inches at 150 yards.

Originally Posted by unkated

Sounds like AV1 (most pistol have damage value 1 or less).

Have you worked on rules for artillery affects on troops in trenches?

Uncle Ted

Not yet.

[Draq]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Only online source I could ever find is forgotten weapons.com, who did tests on the German version, this was proof against rifle fire at up to 4-500 yards.

The British rifle shields have no online testing that I am aware of, period documentation stated it was proof against rifle fire to 400 yards. It was also noted that the shields bogged down in rough, muddy terrain and their use was discontinued in 1915.

If you can find any other sources I would love to see them!

I watch the hell out of that channel

[The Dark]

Originally Posted by dragoon500ly

Only online source I could ever find is forgotten weapons.com, who did tests on the German version, this was proof against rifle fire at up to 4-500 yards.

Just a note that, if it's the video I saw, it was a reproduction with different (softer) metallurgy than the actual German armor. What's seen in the video is less than what the actual armor could do.

An American heavy armor was developed in 1918; while (as far as I know) it was never used, a single company (Mullins and Company) received the prototype, developed dies and had 50 sets of armor on a ship to France 26 days after receiving the prototype. It consisted of a breastplate (16 pounds) and thigh plates (6 pounds) with vulcanized sponge rubber padding on the inside. It was frowned upon by the testing unit because it caused fatigue and was noisy; they recommended discarding the thigh plates and adding a backplate to better balance the weight. In testing, it was proof against 7.92mm machinegun fire at 300 yards and .30-06 rifle fire at 200 yards.

American light armor consisted of a breast-and-back-plate weighing 8.5 pounds. It was developed by the Engineering Division of the Ordnance Department, and made of manganese steel plates held together by leather, padded with an inch of sponge rubber. It was proof against pistol fire ("service ammunition of the automatic revolver") at 850 feet per second - I assume the M1917 is the revolver in question, since its .45 ACP round in military ball should have a velocity around the quoted 850 fps.