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Nazi Germany’s Panzer Corps Faked It ‘Til It Made It
War is Boring ^ | December 27, 2015 | David Axe

Posted on 12/28/2015 10:27:21 AM PST by C19fan

The terms of the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I prohibited Germany from joining Great Britain, France and other major powers in developing tanks — those heavily-armed, thickly-armored tracked vehicles that had debuted late in the conflict and had helped to break the stalemate of trench warfare.

But the tank ban didn’t actually stop Nazi Germany from inventing new tanks and refining tactics for their use. Instead, the treaty limitations pushed German armored vehicle development into the military-industrial shadows. In the decades before Panzers swept across Europe and the Soviet Union, the Panzerwaffe armored corps evolved in secrecy.

(Excerpt) Read more at warisboring.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: armored; davidaxe; germany; tanks; warfare; warisboring; ww2
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The British in the 1920s experimented with combined all arms mechanized units. The Soviets under Marshall Tukhachevsky advocated for deep strikes with large mechanised units. The article does not mention but the Germans experimented with doctrine in the Soviet Union.
1 posted on 12/28/2015 10:27:21 AM PST by C19fan
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To: C19fan

Scariest looking tank ever.

2 posted on 12/28/2015 10:31:43 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: C19fan

“Military-industrial shadows”?

Kind of like Iran’s nuclear weapons?


3 posted on 12/28/2015 10:36:50 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (I don't know what Claire Wolfe is thinking but I know what I am thinking.)
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To: central_va

As scary and awesome as the Tiger was they should have put those resources into Panzer IV development. They could pump them out at much higher rates.


4 posted on 12/28/2015 10:39:57 AM PST by miliantnutcase
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To: C19fan

The French, British and Russians all had better tanks than the Germans in 1939- 1941.

The allies also had a vastly superior number of tanks.

So the “ban” did work. The allies just forgot about superior tactics, training and leadership.


5 posted on 12/28/2015 10:41:41 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: miliantnutcase

The Panzer Mk iv had a crappy transmission that MTBF was measured in hours. The their credit Pz repair troops could swap a tranny in about an hour.


6 posted on 12/28/2015 10:42:33 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: 2banana

Actually those vastly superior early war tanks theAallies had did not have radios, the German tanks did.


7 posted on 12/28/2015 10:44:06 AM PST by MNJohnnie ( Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered)
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To: central_va

Nobody said nothing about locking horns with tigers!


8 posted on 12/28/2015 10:45:36 AM PST by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: miliantnutcase
The Panzer Mk iv had a crappy transmission that MTBF was measured in hours. The their credit Pz repair troops could swap a tranny in about an hour.

My bad the MK V had the lousy transmission. The Mk iv was a good platform, just under powered..

9 posted on 12/28/2015 10:48:51 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: miliantnutcase

Exactly but they seemed to have a fetish over size


10 posted on 12/28/2015 10:50:02 AM PST by xp38
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To: central_va

“Scariest looking tank ever. “

I remember hearing/reading something that said there were never more than about 70 battle-ready Tigers at one time. (Maybe this was on the Russian Front only)

But just the rumor that a tiger was operating nearby would scare the crap out of allied tankers.


11 posted on 12/28/2015 10:52:15 AM PST by PLMerite (The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: PLMerite

A tanker had two choices if they saw a Tiger. Unless they out numbered the Tiger more the 6 to 1; Runaway!


12 posted on 12/28/2015 10:55:33 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: C19fan

And we had JEEPEXs and GOLFCARTEXs.

We had the National Training Center and a top-notch Opposing Force.

And we went through those “Battle-hardened desert rats” of the Iraqi Army like they weren’t even there.

Now, they train Tankers at the Infantry School.

Hooooaaaaahhhhh!


13 posted on 12/28/2015 10:56:27 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: central_va
The Mk iv was a good platform, just under powered..

I read an interview with a Sturmgeschutz crewman, he liked the late models III better than the IV. It was almost the same thing, but the IV was slower, and that mattered.

I'm tracking a guy in England that found the stripped, rusted, shot-out hulk of a Stg. III in the UK, and is completely reconditioning it. The transformation is stunning.

14 posted on 12/28/2015 10:56:43 AM PST by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: central_va

Seems anything german manufactured had a gazillion parts versus non-german like manufactured goods.... sort of a we built the fisher space pen and russians used a carpenters pencil in space thang .


15 posted on 12/28/2015 10:57:27 AM PST by Squantos ( Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet ...)
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To: Riley

Stug III was the poor man’s panzer. Extremely effective though.


16 posted on 12/28/2015 10:57:56 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Squantos
Seems anything german manufactured had a gazillion parts

Kind of like their language and word structure.

17 posted on 12/28/2015 11:00:12 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: wally_bert

18 posted on 12/28/2015 11:00:44 AM PST by anymouse (God didn't write this sitcom we call life, he's just the critic.)
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To: central_va

Interestingly, I find the German language very precise although verbose. Words mean exactly what they translate to. German is fun!


19 posted on 12/28/2015 11:06:49 AM PST by raybbr (Obamacare needs a deatha panel)
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To: MNJohnnie

Having a radio was a BIG advantage. It meant that tanks could coordinate over a wide area, and also call in air and artillery support.


20 posted on 12/28/2015 11:07:53 AM PST by SauronOfMordor (Socialists want YOUR wealth redistributed, never THEIRS!)
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