Posted on 11/10/2014 8:06:00 AM PST by C19fan
But it was a logistical issue. Getting tanks across a rather large body of water, in enough numbers to get into play.
It wasn't junk.
You saying that is like saying that my wife's Accord is junk simply because it can't carry a ton of rock.
The German tanks, on the other hand, were junk. They leaked fuel all over the place, frequently broke down. Etc. But they did have thicker armor and a bigger gun. Junk nonetheless.
Interesting - why do you like the T-34 over say, the Tiger? (you may well know more about T 34s than I do - )
You majored in minors, obviously. Adults understood in context what I meant.
And yes, compared to an S 500 Benz, your wifes Accord is junk.....RELATIVELY.
Exactly. Counting Panzer IV forward the Germans built a grand total of 16000 tanks. Of which about 2000 were some sort of mechanically unreliable super tank.
We built 49,000 Shermans alone. The Russians built a similar number of the deadly T-34s.
The Germans make things two ways, wonderful, or they fail in absolute teutonic perfection. A fine example is the V-2 Rocket. A technological marvel by any standard. And what did it do?
For roughly the cost of the Manhattan project, with slave labor, they managed to inaccurately deliver around 3000 tons of HE. The 8th Air Force and Bomber Command could deliver this amount in two raids, week in week out. By that standard, the V2 was a total fail.
They did the same thing with tanks.
LST - Landing ship, tank. It could off load tanks directly from the ship to shore. Very important difference!
My comparison of “better” was in a one-on-one matchup of the Sherman and the T-34.
In terms of any tank, I’d have to really form the conclusion on time, place and supporting elements.
“An engineer can do for a dollar what any fool can do for two”
A.M. Wellington
All I remember as a boy were film clips about these big ships they made at a rate of one per day. They had a big drop gate that could offload tanks, etc. Imagine a ship a day - no unions.
Yes, the T-34 was superior to the Sherman, because of course we had to build Shermans to be shipped thousands and thousands of miles in large quantities. That was the main objective, and we succeeded.
The Soviets had no such logistical hurdles.
I don’t have a problem with that. We succeeded with numbers. Death of a thousand cuts, so to speak.
“where the crappy T-34s of the Soviets”
Care to explain that? None other than Guderian said it was the most deadly tank in the world. First sloped armor, best gun, simple, very fast and mobile. Wonderful on cross country. In fact, most German supertanks were designed precisely to counter the T-34 which was killing them on the eastern front. The Panzer 4s were outclassed and the Panthers were meeting something with as good of a gun as they had but with better armor and in huge numbers.
Forget ideology, the T-34 was nearly perfect for its role and outclassed the Germans.
Wasn’t a lot of the goodness in the T-34 design from American Walter Christie, who had no success selling his ideas in the US?
Of course we are told that we will never face another WW2 scenario due to technology and the rise of asymmetrical warfare tactics. I fear America has lost her ability to create things by hand, sweat, and brains. Not many crafts people are still alive who can use machine tools to create things that might be necessary to protect the nation if technology fails. Also consider that the US is no longer allowed to harvest it's own natural resources and is at the mercy of foreign nations for many strategic materials. I know stats exist that show America's manufacturing capability is as strong as ever, but I agree that America could not duplicate its production of WW2.
Hitler’s mistake—invading Russia (didn’t he read Napoleon?) His second mistake Declaring war on the USA (Didn’t he remember WW I?) That being said—I don’t believe our muli-cultural, Global economy driven, nation could do it again. And if you think their will never be a WW III you do not understand history. The war will come—grim and terrible. Socrates said it best: “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
#3 The Germans certainly found that out. Today it could be America with far too few fighter aircraft and other types.
“Wasn’t a lot of the goodness in the T-34 design from American Walter Christie, who had no success selling his ideas in the US?”
Sure was! Hiram Maxim had the same problem.
” but I agree that America could not duplicate its production of WW2.”
It took us over 5 years to simply up armor every Humvee in Iraq and build a few MRAPS. In WWII this would have been a one month project,,, maybe.
I love all the X tank was better than Y tank talk. The argument is made as though the tanks fought individually, in a vacuum. The Sherman was the best tank of the war, becasue the US (and its allies, including Russia) used it across the entire globe, and it beat not only the Nazis, but Imperial Japan to boot. It was so good, the Germans used them whenever they could lay hands on them. Period, end of story.
Quantity has a certain quality in battle.
Ok, so I stole the quote...
5.56mm
I feel this way about the present F-35 strike fighter. The program will cost $Trillions, and we will wind up with 400-500 working aircraft, max.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.