WWII Equipment - Vics, Aircraft and Kit

[brewster]

Stalin: We make more tank than Fascist can destroy.

We did the same. Worked. There was that quote in the Sherman doc about them killing Shermans coming through a pass till they ran out of ammo before we ran out of Shermans and got overrun. Different level than Stalin in the cannon fodder dept but same idea.

[C-Mag]

Stalin: We make more tank than Fascist can destroy.

We did the same. Worked. There was that quote in the Sherman doc about them killing Shermans coming through a pass till they ran out of ammo before we ran out of Shermans and got overrun. Different level than Stalin in the cannon fodder dept but same idea.

The Sherman wasn't designed to engage in tank on tank combat, that's what the Pershings were for. American armored strategy was to support infantry advances. All that said, the Shermans faired extremely well compared to T-34's. Look at the numbers. You had a 50% (+/-) chance of dying in a T-34, worst of any major tank design in the war.

[C-Mag]

Just had this debate in another thread Brewster, I'll copy over a bunch of info if you want to read it, but the crux can be summed up in this quote.

The truth is, they have built around 57,250 units from 1941 to 1945, but they also lost about 44,900 during the war, that is 78% of all T-34’s built during war time.

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Here's some battle accounts highlighting the performance of the T34, 'the best tank of the war'...…… it had sloped armor, so it was really, really good.

18 April 1945 blocking position on the road from Protzel to Bollersdorf opposite Ernsthof. A Soviet armor assault emanating from Gruhow is repelled, 64 Soviet tanks are knocked out for the loss of one Tiger 2.

19 April 1945 3 Tigers engage over 100 T-34/85’s and a company of JS 2’s.
The first and last JS 2 are knocked out thus blocking traverse from the Soviet tank turrets. The three Königstigers wipe out the Soviets(120 tanks)...............In the late afternoon the 3 Tigers are attacked by 30 T-34’s and destroy them.


https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/08/0 ... ld-war-ii/

More dispelling of Myths and burying the T34 as the best tank of the war
https://thearmoredpatrol.com/2016/02/28 ... sian-t-34/

I believe what is meant by that "best tank" comment was that it was the best tank at the *start* of the war. By 1945 Germany had made a ton of changes to their own tank designs and easily bested the t-34.

That may be what he intended, but I'll dispel that myth a little later. I learned a lot reading and researching this subject. I was surprised to learn that you were 2X as likely to die in T-34 than if you were in a Comet, Crusader or Sherman. T-34s didn't have a radio. The T34 also had the worst suspension and stability of any of the tanks typically seen on the battlefield. No shock absorbers. Armor spalled easily. Slow engagement of targets. Krauts found they could get off 3 rounds before the T34 could acquire at return fire.

http://chris-intel-corner.blogspot.com/ ... f-war.html

I think the way the myth was built was that the German Blitzkreig got such an unstoppable reputation early in the war, and when they petered out in the expanse of the Russian steppe, the T34 Myth started to be built.

[brewster]

Stalin: We make more tank than Fascist can destroy.

We did the same. Worked. There was that quote in the Sherman doc about them killing Shermans coming through a pass till they ran out of ammo before we ran out of Shermans and got overrun. Different level than Stalin in the cannon fodder dept but same idea.

The Sherman wasn't designed to engage in tank on tank combat, that's what the Pershings were for. American armored strategy was to support infantry advances. All that said, the Shermans faired extremely well compared to T-34's. Look at the numbers. You had a 50% (+/-) chance of dying in a T-34, worst of any major tank design in the war.

FWIW that anecdote was from an anti-tank unit not a Panzer. It seems to me our grand strategies were far more protective of infantry than tank or air crews where we could replace the hardware faster than they could destroy it. 2nd to last place I'd have wanted to serve was on a B-17 crew in the 8th air force. Last would be a sub in the Pacific.

[C-Mag]

I'm all ears brother.
If you have some evidence that the T-34 greatness isn't all myth and battle stories about sloped armor magic lets hear it.

I've looked at this issue quite a bit and I've come to the conclusion that the T-34 was a sub-standard WWII tank.

[brewster]

I'm all ears brother.
If you have some evidence that the T-34 greatness isn't all myth and battle stories about sloped armor magic lets hear it.

I've looked at this issue quite a bit and I've come to the conclusion that the T-34 was a sub-standard WWII tank.

That's not my dog in the fight. The Sherman wasn't great either, but both were produced in sufficient numbers to win over superior German weapons. That's the story on basically all fronts of the war. Though we eventually had better planes than the Zero, mostly we produced way more ships and planes than Japan could. I recently watched a YT vid illustrating the disparity of shipbuilding, it was remarkable.

Not that I would expect WW3 to be that kind of slugfest, but we couldn't do that if we wanted to, we don't have the industry, steelmills and shipyards. How long do you think it would take GM to retool a pickup truck plant to make tanks???

[brewster]

Here's that vid. I'm sure one of European theater ahrdware would look similar.

[de officiis]

[C-Mag]

Denmark I think

[C-Mag]

Great pic- Battle of Britain I suspect