[OneVike]

Advanced diesel sub versus our large aircraft carriers is the same as an advanced anti-tank weapon versus an Abrams

As I recall the Germans in WWII counted upon their big heavy armored tanks to do the job but our smaller faster tanks were more then a match for their Shermans.(I think I got the right name for the German tank) I believe they were able to take advantage of the Shermans week underbelly and slower speed. There is always a week point and a smaller enemy will usually find it.

[21twelve]

We had the Shermans, their were the Panzers. There is a liitle town nearby with a Sherman tank in the town square - unbelievable how tiny it is!

I think a lot of our success with the Sherman was because of smart men making changes in tactics, etc. Not to say that can always be done, but it sure can help. That, and being able to make decisions in the field at very low levels to be able to quickly adapt to changing situations in each battle.

[calex59]

As I recall the Germans in WWII counted upon their big heavy armored tanks to do the job but our smaller faster tanks were more then a match for their Shermans.(I think I got the right name for the German tank) I believe they were able to take advantage of the Shermans week underbelly and slower speed. There is always a week point and a smaller enemy will usually find it.

Our tank was the Sherman. They were cheese boxes compared to the Tiger and Panther of the Germans and were even slightly inferior to the Mark IV which preceded them. You are right though on the numbers. Shermans eventually overwhelmed the German tanks. That was because air superiority and the eastern front knocked the he** out of the Germans production. If Hitler would have had a brain our many Shermans wouldn't have won the day, they would have produced enough Panthers that we would have lost the armor battle except for one other thing. We built a superior tank and fielded it at the end of the war.

We knew we needed a better tank and built one. Numbers don't always win the day.

[jpsb]

Wow, the Germans named their tank after a US Confederate War hero! How cool is that? lol, Shermans are US tanks, Panzer is German tanks.

[SeminoleSoldier]

Actually no, the German Panzers (Panzer III, IV (Panther) and V (Tiger)) were usually more than a match for the Shermans (our tank). The Shermans were thinly armored, and because they used gasoline had the tendency to spectacularly burn up when hit. The Shermans were nicknamed Zippos by the soldiers who crewed them.
German armor being superior, even direct hits were not always effective on Panzers. Hits to the front usually deflected. It took hits below the turret on the sides or to the rear to destroy them.
However, we produced so many more Shermans than the Germans Panzers, German armor was often overwhelmed. However, it was air supremacy that usually crippled the effectiveness of German armor units.
IMO, the best tank of WWII was the T-34, it was highly mobile, armored, heavily armed, and simple enough to mass produce. In fact, the Germans gave serious thought to simply copying it.

[itsahoot]

(I think I got the right name for the German tank)

Sherman was our tank, Panzer 88 was one of their biggies.