I had talked with a US Army Cav TC back in 1990s. He was TC of M1 and then M1A1. What he said that it wasn't the penetration, but the shaking/vibrations and heat done to the tank that will kill the tank crew inside. He said that it's easier to repair the tank than to replace the crew. So the REFROGER(Return Force to Germany) exercises usually flying chartered passenger planes with lots of US Army reservists and Army National Guardsmen that mostly are tank crew and others, to mate up with pre-positioned tanks in stockpile depots or get send directly to tank repair yards to practice "accepting" repaired tanks that would have "stains" inside with that certain BBQ smell....