[LS]

We built 11,000 tanks in WW II---not all Shermans, of course, but the armor and technology had a lot to do with why we could field so many tanks. You could change the tread of a Sherman in 15 min---six bolts. A Panther took at least an hour. You could, with a winch, replace a Sherman turret in about an hour. Tigers had to be towed from the front---they couldn't be repaired there.

In Lima, OH, they were turning out a tank ever 4.5 HOURS. You simply can't beat that with high tech.

[Rinnwald]

Correct sentiment, but a little off on the math. The US produced around 102,000 tanks and self-propelled guns, 49,000 of them Sherman tanks. The German equivalent workhorse tank, the Pzkfw. MkIV, had 8,500 produced.

[NFHale]

“...In Lima, OH, they were turning out a tank ever 4.5 HOURS....”

One wonders if, had we been subjected to continual air attack that decimated our factories and production facilities, as the Germans were, how different that would have been.

Enjoying the relative security of having two oceans between us and the Japanese and Germans, we were able to go round the clock production...

I think a real astonishing fact is that the Germans could continue producing war material at all in the face of American daylight precision bombing and British night bombing... plus the Russians hammering them from the East.

They were tough SOBs. My old man had a lot of respect for them... didn’t care much for the SS, though. Said “we NEVER took them prisoner, unless ordered to...”

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep. Part of the German problem was insisting on building the best parts possible. The Nazi tank engines had roller bearings on the crankshaft mains while the Sherman had much cheaper and easy to manufacture bimetal main bearings.

[X Fretensis]

We manufactured over 44,000 Sherman tanks during the second world war.