WHat do YOU rhink was the best tank of world war two? (based on performance, not personal preference)
I would have to say the Tiger 2- possibly the best tank of world war two- huge 88 gun, heavy armor, and terrorizing to see!
My vote would have to go to Germany’s Panther
Panther G Late. It was a fine balance of thick sloped armor, powerful long barreled 75mm and reasonable maneuverability. KT was too heavy and slow, but finely armored and armed.
T-34/85. Could take on the best of the best. Though if you wanna go real technical, the T-44 saw service near the end of the war and that was really the next generation up so that would easily be the best tank during that era period. Of course the js-3 would make a strong claim in the best ww2 tank area.
I’m gonna go ahead and be different and say the jagdpanther. That baby could take out anything it wanted with an experienced crew operating it. Although if the E-50 would have seen the light of day my vote for overall best tank design would go to it.
best?-- as in 1 vs 1-- or 5 shermans vs 1 tiger --or simple vs comlex — tough call-- i think i agree with Tankmaster – t -34/85---- i know you didnt ask but how about favorite 3 or 4 – or top 5— mine are tiger,panther,t-34,sherman,stug III-- how about you guys?[?][:D]-- treadwell
The best tank of WWII IMHO woulf have to be the Panzer IV. Decent calibre gun coupled with speed and excellent manueverablitity. These tanks could take on anything anywhere at any time. Ironically, the Panzer IV was originally designed to combat infantry! But I still think that the Panzer IV was one, if not the best tank of WWII…
Tiger I rules … I favourite …
T-34.
I’m with tankmaster. It’d have to be either the T-34 or the JS-3 Stalin, but that one came a little late.
The panzerklein:
[(-D]
IMHO the most important tank in history - not just WWII - was the T-34. Without it, the Germans would have likely defeated the Soviets and turned all their attention to the British. The tank also remained a viable combat vehicle long after WWII had ended. The Tiger I is probably the second more important tank of the war and the Sherman third.
Remember many of the large tanks designed at the end of the war were POS’s. The Tiger 2 was very unreliable and of bubious quality. The Tiger 1 was considered a superior quality tank.The Stalin 3 was a known disaster that they never could get corrected. The Stalin 2 was considered a better tank. My first choice would be the Firefly . Reliable and deadly, a good combination. The Centurion came out about the end of WW2. At first it wasn’t so reliable but that was corrected. The M 26 was another good choice. And I agree with the earlier answer the Panther G was also good but still suffered with automotive problems. Greg
I’d vote T-34 as well. Good enough gun, rather fast, innovative sloped design, good engine and a lot of caracteristics that are still found in tanks (US or soviet) nowadays.
From my research the Tiger I was more like a psychological weapon but in reality it wasn’t that usefull during the war. It was often broken, very heavy, slow and was used mainly for defence because of the amount of gaz and time it needed to move to somewhere. Panzer IV and panthers were the real deal.
Shermans r often overlooked because they were crappier but hell they did produce a lot of em… I don’t think crusaders did a really bad job in africa either…
Sherman. Definitely the best tank of WWII. Shermans continue to serve to this day in the militaries of the world. Upgunned Shermans took on and bested main battle tanks designed in the 1950s.
All of these Shermans were built in the 1940s! Why are they still soldiering on? Superb construction and intelligent design. The Sherman was the tank that showed up for the battle, and then showed up for the next battle, etc.
Showing up for the fight is half the battle, and that’s what disqualifies many of the technological terrors that were tender teddies once they hit the muddy battlefield.
It’s no coincidence that an aggressive commander like Patton loved the Sherman and never had a bad thing to say about it.
Pershing. It was a little late to make much of a difference, but it did make a great Kitty Killer.
one of the mods needs to just take one of these threads and pin it at the top. there’s gotta be one every 3 weeks. all it’s going to do is turn into a pointless fight among personal favorites and patriotic biases. and what’s a better performing tank anyway? some tiger 2 might’ve shot up 100 shermans in a row and then broke down on the side of the road while the 101st sherman survived, served for the rest of the war, served in the korean war, was exported to israel where it was upgunned, served for 50 more years and now some crazy is driving it to work on a daily basis and gets great gas milage but back in 1945 it took 100 shots to take out one tiger2.
then again, what’s a better performing bike: some ducati or that old 89 kawasaki ex500 that i used to have? the kwak cost me $300, ran relatively realiably and got decent milage, had a decent amount of power and even though the whole thing was held together with duct tape it would’ve made a great track-day bike. it probably would’ve kept going for 100k longer and i got $800 out of it on a trade in. in the meantime the ducati would need $1000 a month of maintenance to keep it running. but what’s a better performing bike? the ducati. guess that’d mean the tiger’s got better performance…
anyone have the figures for average kill per tank per tank model?
I’d say the King tiger, impressive armor, excellent gun which could take out anything even at a range of 2 miles! Of course the tank had alot of problems, it suffered from a lack of mobility because of its high weight and high fuel consumption.
Anything German! After all, isn’t that what sells?[:D][}:)][;)]
hmm everyone says the T-34… it’s too much like the sherman, and the ruskies didn’t mind sending 500 of them as sheep to the slaughter against a Panther unit or whatever. So for production and swiftness, the Sherman and T-34 yes… but for quality, The Panzer IV definately takes the cake. Most variants you guys are relating are based on the Chassis of the Panzer IV and it’s different Marks. Sure, by the end of the war the Tiger and King Tiger and whatever overshadowed the Panzer IV, but don’t forget the Syrians were using Panzer IV’s in the 60’s says alot about the workmanship of the Germans, which BTW was the major factor in the loss of the war! America produced and produced with quantity in mind, not quality (feel bad for the Shermie crews!), but the Germans produced versus Quality which made a slower production = less tanks!