What really never happened? Pershings going against heavy German tanks in the last months of the war?
ack-ack
I think he means having a tank that can get up there, and slug things out with the Panthers and Tiger II's.
And people need to remember, there were a grand total of 4 guns in service with Allied or Soviet armored forces that were capable of penetrating the main frontal armor of a Tiger II at any real range. And at least two, maybe even 3 off them, needed special ammunition to do even that much.
100mm (only non-axis gun that almost all sources put as being able to penetrate a Tiger II's turret front with standard ammunition)
122mm (Depends on source. Either it was almost able to do so, or it could barely do so with standard ammunition.) Disregarding outliers that put it at 211mm with standard APC ammunition, most sources put it between 166mm and somewhere in the neighborhood of 190mm.
90mm. Needed HVAP.
17lber(/77mm?). Needed APDS (really inaccurate)
So, yeah. Theres no real chance of getting something that can truely slug things out with a Tiger II at long-range, since no such thing saw combat in WWII. The best 3 for that job would be the ISU-152 with its HE gun, the SU-100, and the M36 firing APCR.
Pershing is just a heavier version of the Panther, less agility at 25mph, armor wise wasn't any better then a panther or less. The Gun can knock out a Tiger tank under 1,000 yards easy with HVAP, otherwise its AP rounds wouldn't dent a Tiger/Panther.
Turret and side armor are a bit better. Biggest advantage over the Panther I can see it having is the .50cal. But its gun could kill a Tiger I from a bit over 2000m away on paper, maybe a tad under 2000m in reality. Basically, if the Tiger I can kill it, the Pershing could kill it.
The First M26 was knocked out by 2 direct hits from a 150mm Howitzer, disabling its turret and tracks, the tank was repaired and brought back into service.
I always heard it was a Nashorn that knocked out the first one. From the story I read, it fired into the Pershing at less than 500m from ambush. With the 88mm L/71, any square hit is an almost guaranteed penetration at that range.