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...
And he said Germany needed to make a direct copy. The Germans never fielded anything as reliable and effective as the T-34. It’s pretty clearly the best tank of the war.
And the kraut penchant for complexity cost them dearly. There were about 6000 Panthers made, fewer than 500 king Tigers. There were 80,000 of the better T-34s built.
Yep and most of the Germans gains in the war were with these “puny” tanks. Its was better tactics rather than equipment that benefited the Germans.