Americans did not go for grand tank on tank operations like the Germans and Russians.
For Americans and Brits, the weapon of choice against German tanks was an airplane and we had total air superiority by the time D-Day had arrived
“..Americans did not go for grand tank on tank operations like the Germans and Russians...”
That’s an interesting statement... now that you mention it, you have giant tank on tank engagments, like Kursk on the Eastern Front (Operation Citadel), but nothing really equivalent like that in the West.
I guess maybe Operation Goodwood (massed armor attempt during the break out from Normandy) would be close...
The Germans absolutely HATED our rocket-firing P47s and the British Hawker Typhoon... Jabos, they called them.
Air power kills. Always.
I think that the lesson to be learned from the Sherman isn’t that it was simply an inferior tank. The lesson also isn’t that quantity can beat quality. I think that the lesson to be learned from the Sherman is that our military equipment will reflect the thinking of our leaders. Our military leaders in the 1920s and 1930s were focused on WWI and the use of artillery and infantry. Most everyone gave up on horses. Our leaders had a horrible case of “Groupthink” that made outcasts of the old Cavalrymen. Farrago’s book on Patton is subtitled “ORDEAL And Triumph”. The ordeal was Patton trying to get the Army leadership out of their groupthink mode.
It is a lesson that we have forgotten, again.
For Americans and Brits, the weapon of choice against German tanks was an airplane and we had total air superiority by the time D-Day had arrived.
American battle doctrine in WWII also leaned more towards the Gun Motor Carriages or "Tank Destroyers" for hunting enemy armor.