Weak spot
A part of a vehicle noticeably thinner than the armor around it, where a gun that cannot defeat the front can still get through.
Also known as weakspot, soft spot.
Almost every vehicle has one: a driver's hatch, a machine gun port, a turret ring, a cupola, or the lower front plate that sits at a shallower angle than the upper one.
Knowing them is what separates a gun's paper penetration from what it can actually do. A 200 millimetre gun that cannot touch a 260 effective front can reliably kill the same vehicle through a 100 millimetre hatch, which is the alternative to firing premium ammunition at everything.
Related terms
CupolaThe raised commander's hatch on top of a turret, often the only part of a hull down vehicle that can be hit.Lower front plateThe strip of hull armor below the upper glacis, usually the flattest and thinnest part of a vehicle's front.PenetrationHow much armor a shell can defeat, in millimetres, rolled plus or minus 25 percent on every shot and compared against the effective thickness it hits.Armor thicknessThe nominal thickness of a plate in millimetres, before any angle is taken into account.