Posted on 04/17/2017 4:30:35 AM PDT by C19fan
German tanks during World War II were often outmatched by superior Red Army designs beginning with the T-34. Armor, reliability and firepower were all—at various times—serious shortcomings. To counteract the Soviet beasts, Germany rushed ahead with tank destroyers—armored vehicles designed to inflict long-range firepower from concealed positions—but these also had a mixed record. The introduction of the Ferdinand during the 1943 Battle of Kursk turned into a disaster as the vehicles broke down from mechanical failures.
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Uncharacteristic for Nazi tank designs. Usually they went for overdesigned, expensive, and unreliable.
One reason the Ferdinands were unreliable was because the Jewish slave laborers conscripted to manufacture them were sabotaging the internals.
US tank destroyers were equally poor.
Far better to have up-gunned the Sherman; and to have up-armored it. Far too many of men were lost in that medium tank because of Washington’s decisions.
Yes, it was better than nothing. Better than the early light tanks it replaced. But not much better.
The Ferdinand also lacked a turret so the entire 65 ton vehicle had to be repositioned to line up another shot.
That doesn’t seem like a good idea.
I wonder what Ferdinand Porsche was thinking with that design?
The Ferdinands were made from the chassis of Porsche’s failed Tiger 1 proposal. It was more a stopgap measure taking advantage of existing stocks. Many of the German tank destroyers and self-propelled artillery pieces were cobbled together from old Panzer 3, 4 and 38 (Skoda) chassis as well as captured French tank chassis.
The only thing the Sherman had going for it was the astounding numbers of them that were built and sent to the battlefield.
Germany simply could not match those numbers.
Load of crap. The T-34 was a piece of junk. The only redeeming features were the Christy suspension and the fact that the crew and motor could be swapped out quickly after they were dead. Russia had lots of them and Germany could not compete with the numbers, same with the Sherman. Sherman crews were known to abandon their tanks when they sighted a Tiger without a shot being fired. German armor was far superior but far too few to stem the tide against the Reich.
“German tanks during World War II were often outmatched by superior Red Army designs beginning with the T-34. Armor, reliability and firepower were all—at various times—serious shortcomings.”
This statement is false.
German tanks like the Tiger, Panther, King Tiger, and the Mark IV with the high velocity 75mm gun were the superior tanks. The T-34 was a good tank that could be manufactured quickly. Quantity was the true strength of the T-34. NOT the quality. The use of sloped armor was an innovation. This ONE innovation does not make the T-34 a superior tank. The Josef Stalin class tanks were developed near the end of the war. They were not in enough data to say they they were a match for the Tiger and King Tiger. The same is true for the Sherman. It was sheer numbers that defeated German tanks. If the Germans could have produced the same number of tanks as Russia and the US the tank matchup would have favored the Germans.
Check out any number of books on Kursk. The Russians knew the attack was coming because the Allies had broken the Enigma code. Despite the preparation the Germans mauled the Russians in a tank on tank comparison.
Production data does not lie. Although quite underrated by Allied intelligence during WW2 and still somewhat underestimated today, the StuG III was, nonetheless, the most produced tracked German AFV during the conflict. Its evolution mirrored that of the more famous Panzer IV. At first, the StuG was a simple derivative of the Panzer III for infantry support only, but ended as one of the most important German vehicles of the war. With its low-profile and low-cost, it was the real battlehorse of the Wehrmacht, shifting from a close support vehicle to a tank-hunter of first magnitude, soldiering without interruption anywhere from North Africa to Europe and Russia. The crews loved it because of its low profile and good armor, and the infantry it was supporting was grateful for its firepower and availability.
By late 43 I expect the Germans were using whatever was on hand.
In operation Barbarossa the Germans lost 2839 of 3350 tanks. Kind of hard to make up that kind of numbers.
It didn’t help that Uncle Adolf constantly interfered in weapons design. He personally kept the jet fighter out of production until too late and hated the German assault rifle (sturmgewher?).
The Army could not bring itself to adopt the 17 pounder for its Shermans and TD’s. That would have saved a lot of lives among tankers.
When I was little, around 8 years old, my father introduced me to Hans who worked with him as an engineer. Hans was a Germany infantryman and in the Winter of 43 he spied two Russian Tanks. He went back to the platoon and got authorization for two rounds and the antitank weapon. Hans said he was so excited because if you knocked out a Russian tank you got a one week pass to Berlin, from where he was born... and he knew he was looking at two weeks home! Hans fired one round into the first tank and it exploded. He said he knew he had to hurry because they had soldiers around the tanks now returning fire. He loaded the antitank (Panzerfaust) with the second round and fired it,,, and just as it should have hit the tank a Russian soldier stood up and took the round in the chest. Hans only got one tank and lost the Panzerfaust in his retreat as he was alone and under small arms fire. Once his Battalion confirmed the tank kill Hans got his week in Berlin (that was the last time he saw his family ever again). Old Hans was a funny guy but he only told me that story to get the small kid (me) from liking war due to TV! I remember Hans retired long before my dad and at some point they drew down the department where all the engineers worked - Dad and “PHD” remained as the only staff for about 15 years after that. I never forget Hans telling the story to me, and that he would not tell me a single thing else except war is a terrible thing, and worst when you are doing the shooting and have no family when it ends.
Guderian disagrees with you and said the T-34 was much better than the German tanks. Speed, mobility, simplicity, reliability and firepower were all there.
It’s not a big dispute expect for those who think everything Germans made was superior
The fact that you included king Tigers shows how for off the mark you are. It was mostly a failure due to its singular unreliability and difficulty to transport and maneuver. And it was made in such low numbers that it’s barely worth mentioning.
Amazing story. I can remember as a kid how war was glamorized on tv. Hans must have been quite a guy!
Sure did.
On a modern battlefield though, not so much.
I agree; I’ve read accounts of Soviet tanks ramming German tanks at Kursk because they couldn’t match them gun for gun (trying to disable them instead in close quarters). German tanks were great but had limitations in the mud and ice of the USSR (as any tank would).
Guderian was talking about German armor AT THE TIME which was the PanzerKampfWagen Mk-III and Mk-IV which had 30mm frontal armor compared to the T-34 47mm. The T-34 also has sloped armor giving it an effective 55mm penetration factor. The Panther mimic’d this and was far superior in protection. Their drive train was a different story...
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