Posted on 11/10/2014 8:06:00 AM PST by C19fan
American tanks in World War II were generally inferior to their German counterparts. German tanks boasted better armor protection and more firepower.
But armor and lethality don’t tell the whole story. The same American tanks were superior to their rivals in other important ways. The M-4 Sherman, in particular, helped the U.S. Army win the war—even though, in battle, German tanks destroyed them en masse.
(Excerpt) Read more at medium.com ...
Former 19k....ping the treadheads!
Having a decent and reliable tank in great numbers beats having a great but unrealible tank in small numbers...
My dear departed father who servied in Burma often stated that America’s manafacturing might and logisitics won WW2.
Oddball: “To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three Tigers”.
That’s exactly what won WW2 - the Sherman was a piece of junk compared to the Panzer, Panther, Tiger tanks - but we made a zillion of them, and they were simple to maintain, relatively good on gas, and fast.
Germans, as they do sometimes, over engineered magnificent machines - so great were they that they could not be mass produced, and sometimes were not reliable.
This also played out on the Eastern front, where the crappy T-34s of the Soviets overwhelmed the superior German tanks on sheer numbers, not to mention logistical supply lines.
T-34s were not crappy.
They outclassed every German tank at the time of thier introduction...
American know how expressed in a million ways in the manufacture, transport and application of its industrial might during WW2 was a major factor in winning that war.
We fought a war on three fronts--Europe, Africa/Italy, and the Pacific--simultaneously, and all that had to be supplied.
Just the complexity of building a submarine or a bomber is might numbing.
You can see videos on You Tube on how B-24 Liberators were mass produced.
Also, how bombing raids of hundreds of planes were planned and executed in the days before computers, satellite communications and GPS systems.
Incredible accomplishments.
After the war, this generation built the modern American cities, the Interstate Highway system,and sent men to the moon and back.
Truly, the greatest generation.
True. They were the best tank of the war.
Former 19k here too.
But it is probable that the number of American tank crews killed were also greater than those of the German crews.
Or doesn’t it matter in time of war?
It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.
There was nothing wrong with the T-34. The PKW V Panther was an attempt by the Germans to copy it. Unfortunately, some sort of committee got hold of it and turned it into a mechanical nightmare.
Likewise, the Sherman was a great tank; it was our doctrine that was flawed. The US Army (including Patton) thought that Tank Destroyers and anti-tank guns were supposed to fight tanks and that tanks were supposed to kill infantry and create breakthroughs. So the Sherman was armed with a low-velocity 75mm that good for throwing HE. Patton wanted a second MG mounted coaxially with the main gun, but didn’t want it converted into an anti-tank weapon.
The Brits, with the Sherman Firefly, proved that the Sherman was perfectly capably being converted into a tank-killing machine, but the nice people in charge of US Ordnance didn’t follow up with our own version. It was not until the very end of the war that the US got good tank-killing tanks, like the Pershing.
The Sherman went on to see service into the 1960s, when they were still serving with the Israelis as 105mm armed “Super Shermans.”
Yup. I'd add the Victory ship to the list of logistical WW2 brilliance.
Give the GI a tool to use, lots of them and get the hell out of his way!
I cannot imagine a more out of place and irrelevant comment on this thread than this. WTF do you mean? Who's blaming any tools? Who's the poor craftsman? Seriously, what....?
Nothing wrong, but it was not the technical craft the Tigers were for example. The key to the T-34 is that they made them so close to the action, that many rolled out of the factor floor and onto the battlefield literally. Germany could not match that kind of logistical advantage.
C Troop, 1/1 Cav Americal, I CORPS RVN 68-69. Medic and honorary Tanker.
"Free Trade" has ruined a possible repeat of that.
b/c of Hitler & Tojo (short-mindedness) were in charge, it's that simple.
that and the overwhelming might of American mgf. and logistics
and grit..much of which (in key areas, unfortunately), is gone now. We were lucky.
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