Favorite ww2 tank here?

Not the fastest, but fast enough. Not the best armoured, but armoured well enough most of the time. Not the most heavily armed, but armed well enough to do the job nearly all the time. Good ergonomics for the 1940's. Better situational awareness and quicker to engage than any Axis vehicle. Fitted with good radio communications. Excellent reliability and maintainability for the time. Available in large enough numbers that Allied troops could have medium tank support almost everywhere they had to engage the enemy.

Don't know much about tanks (outside of watching videos of them crushing cars on YouTube), but I'm going with the Sherman tank, simply because it is the cutest tank I've ever seen (well, cute as far as tanks go at least).



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The Sherman had it's flaws also, the only one that you could get me into voluntarily was the later M4A3 model with the larger T23 turret with a high-velocity 76 mm M1 gun. My father worked with someone who fought in a Sherman and it repeatedly took three Sherman tanks to even consider taking on a Panzer tank, not to mention the dreaded Tiger Tank. (Sure it got stuck in the mud from time to time but then it could kill you from such a long distance that it sometimes didn't matter).

My favorite tank though is The Soviet T-34:

This new armored vehicle had an excellent 76-millimeter gun and thick sloped armor and cruised at more than 35 miles per hour. It possessed many advanced design features for the time and it could blow German Panzers to Hell.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-soviet-t-34-the-lethal-tank-won-world-war-ii-13889

The saddest Tanks of the WWII had to be the Japanese? How could a country that designed and built the Mighty Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" not keep up with improved tank designs when they were once a leader? Someone get me back into that Sherman!!!!Fast.

https://ikazuchisen.wordpress.com/debunking-japanese-tank-myths/

kinetic7--

I'd have to say that my favorite tank of WWII would be the T-34, as well.
Fast, powerful, and, equally important, capable of being mass-produced.
Apparently not too difficult to maintain, either, as several East Bloc nations kept operational models in their inventories all the way into the 1980s.

I'm waiting for someone to say the German King Tiger is their favorite, probably the most powerful tank of any nation in World War II-- even more so than the T-34.
It had an 88mm gun which could punch through more than six inches of armor at a range of 2,000 yards (more than a mile). It also had 150mm of armor at the front of the tank and the face of the turret, 180mm. To quote from my source, The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of World War II, edited by John Keegan: "Frontal attack of this tank, by any weapon available to the Allies, was out of the question."

However, it doesn't make the cut for me, simply because it was ponderous as heck, not maneuverable in the least, and its enormous size made it operationally-limited in terms of where it could be deployed.

You could say it was like the Yamato of tanks: technically impressive, but not all that useful.

As for the Japanese and their tanks--

Yes, they were awful vehicles (until the very end of the war, when larger, more powerful models were designed, but by then it was too late), but in fairness, the Japanese probably figured they didn't need to concentrate on tank design.

They knew they would be fighting on Pacific islands where tanks would be of limited use against opponents who possessed almost none (the Americans, British and Dutch in their colonial possessions of 1941-42), and that they would be fighting on mainland Asia against the Chinese, who possessed only very obsolete tanks in the 1930s and early 1940s. Even when the Chinese received more advanced American tanks later in the war, they seldom made effective use of them.


Sincerely,


Todd




Opinions are like tattoos-- everybody has one.

I've always thought the King Tiger was mainly developed as a movable gun platform, not being a Tank engineer, it is obvious that this monstrous machine would have an extremely limited usefulness but imagine it parked on the open Russian steppe and even the T-34 would have no place to run.

I do understand the design philosophy behind the mass produced Sherman, as large scale tank battles during war are usually a minor occurrence unless the terrain warrants it and saturation of such large numbers of Shermans on the battlefield would be a great tactical advantage in moving troops forward-rapidly, a lesson learned or modified from the Germans own Blitzkrieg tactics?

Not to forget the Pacific conflict, the Sherman was absolutely ideal, trying to imagine off-loading a Tiger tank onto a desert Island-LOL (something Gilligan would dream up).


Separating Legend from History: Bazooka Effectiveness

During the bitter fighting in the bocage (hedgerows) after the Normandy landings, it became clear that American antitank weapons were not living up to expectations when facing Panthers and Tigers. To determine exactly how serious the problem was, the First U.S. Army conducted firing tests in July 1944. In conducting the test, First Army used every weapon in its inventory with an AP capability against two captured Panthers (no Tigers were available).  

The results of the test were appalling. None of the American antitank weapons could penetrate the front of the Panther's hull. Only the 3-inch gun stood a chance against the Panther's turret mantle, but at less than 200 yards. However, all the weapons fired could penetrate the sides and rear.  

Just two weapons, the 105 howitzer (using HEAT) and the 90mm antiaircraft gun could pierce the front of the hull. Had a Tiger 💪 been available, the results of the frontal tests would have been similar, but its thicker side armor would have defeated most of the smaller weapons. The heavier Tiger II, or "Royal Tiger' had even thicker armor, and its front was impervious to all U.S. antitank weapons until hyper-velocity (HVAP) ammunition became available for the 90mm in 1945. Shocked by the results of the July test, General Eisenhower commented angrily:

Why is it that I am always the last to hear about this stuff: Ordnance told me this 76  would take care of anything the German had. Now I find out you can't knock out a damn thing with it.


http://elementsofpower.blogspot.com/2012/06/bazooka-magnificent-weapon-or-crapshoot.html

Hobart Funnies

All things considered, I would say the T34/85.






"I hear no voice. The dead cannot speak."

Panther Ausf G




Send her to the snakes!