“read that two advantages of the Shermans were numbers and speed. In a tank battle, the advantage goes to the tank that’s already there, hiding or sitting behind cover, and waiting for the other guy to come into range.”
But that is precisely why the Sherman numbers and speed mattered very much. The Nazis could sit and wait forever in the defense. The Allies had to move to their position and attack them. Speed and numbers were crucial.
Had we made the mistake of aping the German concepts, we would have probably had a very bad time of it.
The German giant tanks were simply not reliable. And their size and complexity made them hard to crank out in huge numbers. A smaller number of less reliable ponderous monsters would have been the ruin of our fast moving war.
Can anyone imagine Patton’s sweeps happening in Tigers?
But anyway, they all fall to a P-47. ANd that was what Germans fears more than anything. The Jabo.
And politics aside, the best tank of the war is probably the T-34. Fast, reliable, simple to produce and use, with slope armor, and a very good gun.
RE T-34:
Sloped armor - The German Mark V Panther employed sloped armor as well, after coming up against the T34s. I believe the King Tiger Mark IVB used sloped armor as well.
But as you said regarding the P47... the Russian version was the Illyushin Shturmovik IL-2. Their airborne tank-killer.
The Germans used a version of the Stuka Ju-87 fitted with 37mm cannon for busting Russian armor - see “Rudel’s Fire Brigade.”
Yes, I can imagine Patton’s sweeps with Tigers. It was called “Blitzkrieg.” The “shortcomings” you point out didn’t slow the Germans down much.