PZ 1 = 1,550
PZ II = 1,900
PZ 35 (t) = 650
PZ 38 (t) = 1,400
PZ III = 5,850
PZ IV = 8,500
Panther = 6,000
Tiger I = 1,350
Tiger II = 500
Kind of amazing when you consider they fought a muti front world war with these paltry numbers. If somebody has the allied numbers, lets compare.
Steve
Just off the top of my head, wasn’t the Sherman over 30,000 and the T-34 over 60,000?
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M4A3 Production: 12,596 |
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Total M4 Production: Approx. 49,234 |
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So when you look at the numbers that were in the same class a sthe sherman and T-34 (PZ IV on up, you’re looking at a total of 16,350 tanks across all fronts. I don’t have the numbers for Assault guns and SP’s, but I see now why they made them.
Steve
How many tanks did the Germans make? Not enough to win[swg]
Yeah, but from another perspective, look what they did with what they had. If they had even made 60% of allied numbers, the war may have lasted much longer. Considering that most of the German armor was laid waste in the east, my hat is off to these Panzer truppen. I wonder if we would have done as well if the cold war would have turned hot…just food for thought.
Steve
Ah, but what isn’t taken into consideration is the numerous captured Russian, French, and other countries. One must also include all the SPG’s (StuGs, Jagdpanzer, Jagdpanther, Marders, etc.) Inflates the AFV numbers quite a bit.
They did make over 11,000 Stug’s though and they became pretty effective tank destroyers.
Others of note;
Hetzer 3022 and the Jagdpanzer 1900.
For a country whose industry was smashed increasingly during the later years of the war and with all the blundering and obsessions for heavier armour, the Panzerwaffe recieved over 50,000 AFV’s.
However, compared to the USSR and the USA, there was simply no competition. I heard somewhere that each German AFV had to kill at least 12 AFV’s opposing them to achieve any sort of parity and that simply was not going to happen.
Cheers
Mike
One other source I have says that the Russians produced 90,000 AFV’s and the US over 100,000. Them alone would make it 4:1 to the Germans.
At the end of the war, the Russians had over 60,000 armored vehicles in their active-duty inventory…this covers the whole spectrum of SPGs, Assault Guns, Tanks, TDs, etc. A very impressive figure when you consider it. German industry never could have kept up with the volume demanded to hold that back…that’s why towards the end they kept hoping the Western powers would unite with them to hold back Bolshevism…they knew the size of the tidal wave that was coming.
This was why NATO studied the German accounts of the Eastern Front battles so much. AS to how NATO would have done, I think it all depends on the year, some periods, NATO was in far better conventional shape than others.
Keep in mind that AFV probably includes halftracks here…
Roughly 1,300 Tiger I’s…think about it: Tamiya has molded more Tiger I’s than was actually produced…probably hundreds (or thousands) of models for every 1 Tiger I produced !!!
You might want to check this source out. I know it might not be the best resource, but the info seems accurate enough.
That number does not include halftracks btw but does include SP guns and anti-air though.
Well I await with bated breath for Dragon or Revell to release more allied braille scale armour. Building a Sturer Emil was a load of fun, but only two were built! I guess that proves that the current love affair for German WW2 armour continues unabated [:)]
Cheers
Mike
You guys mentioned captured vehicles,
However, most of the tanks in this force can be equated to zero in terms of effectiveness. How many hundreds of FT-17s did the French have? The only really worth while tanks the germans captured and used as is were outdated in a year or two-of course the exceptions are any captured soviet armor, and various US items.
Another thing to keep in mind, is the state of the wehrmacht. The allied armies were almost totally mechanized. The German army, however, at its best was only able to field less than half its army as mechanized. Most of their infantry was foot bound, and supplies reached them by horse. If the war had been drawn out longer, the horse casualties the germans sustained would have negated any advantage to be had by the armor(interestingly, in 1945, armored divisions started to receive horse drawn supply units in their TO&Es). Also, the fuel state in germany was so bad that coal powered trucks were created. A Tiger may be scary, but with the allied domination of the air, and its fuel restricted, it would have had its claws and teeth removed.
Outstanding points…I mean it really wouldn’t have mattered if the Germans had produced 100,000 King Tigers, because the reality of the situation was that they had neither the fuel nor trained crews to man them (they would have been left sitting in the plant’s parking areas)…interesting to note that 1944 was the best year for the Germans in terms of tank and aircraft production…
Speer is credited for the amazing numbers for '44, despite the incredible Allied bombing campaign going on. Total War finally hit Germany proper.
Mike, thanks for the numbers. I did think the Jagdpanzer IV numbers to be over twice those shown though. Maybe they were switched with the 70/A.
I suppose we do have to admit that building 3000 hetzers in a country with infrastructure constantly being destroyed is kinda cool.
We should also note that fear of german tanks by allied infantry was something-it forced entire French divisions in 1940 to ‘melt away,’ and the breakthrough in the Ardennes to be successful…for a few days. The psychological factor of these behemouths is not to be trifled with.
Actually, the Hetzers were made in Czechoslovokia…
Actually, the Hetzers were made in Czechoslovokia…
Another thing to take into consideration is that for the most part, the Germans had homefield advantage. The vast majority of US armor had to come from the midwest (Detroit area or thereabouts). There are probably a good number of Shermans sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic, Pacific, English Channel or other coastal waterways because the ships or transports didn’t make it to shore.
Just the fact that the US got tens of thousands of tanks into the battle from half a world away is amazing.