I'm almost certain I read something somewhere or at the very least saw it on the History channel.....that German tank crews would often scrape the paint off of the interior of their tanks so as not to suffer wounds from flying paint chips in the event that they took a hit.
Has anyone else out there seen or heard something like this or was it too many 's on my part?

Doesn't make sense to me. When you get wapped, the metal sort of liquifies and red hot chunks go flying all around like a shotgun. Can't see what difference paint would make.

Crews would scrape light coloured paint off to prevent the sun's reflection from blinding them when the hatches were open.

To Blaster- I guess I should have clarified better, sorry. Considering the German's overall thicker armor, a number of the smaller caliber rounds wouldn't penetrate the armor. Yet at the same time the concussion would knock the paint off of the wall on the opposite side of the impact, creating a form of shrapnel.
To Owen- That's interesting. I've never heard that before. Would they do their whole compartment or just specific areas that the sun tended to hit?
Thanks guys!

Must be really lousy paint... I had a friend get his M-48 popped by an RPG in Nam. Said it made his ears ring and that was it. Talked to a German who was in Jadgpanthers who said the concussion from getting hit from a Sherman 75 was painful. never a mention of flying paintchips....not that I'm disagreeing with you here. I do know that the Germans would repaint the interior hatch covers so the light color would not stand out . US tanks already did that as they were OD for that erason.

Right on. That's good to have some first hand accounts. I wish I could remember where I heard/read that at. Must have been just one person's opinion or experience.