No need to apologize, this is a good discussion[:D] Soooo…
Time for me to spout here a bit. Like I said, I like all of the variety presented by German WWII vehicles!!! Many of them are just COOL looking. Of course, I like Shermans and Chaffees too!
As far as engineering goes, yes, the plate work on the hulls and turrets of those tanks is second to none, as was the armament! Let’s not forget that this same ‘attention to detail’ kept the Germans from turning out the numbers of tanks they needed, along with their inability to figure out which tank they wanted as their ‘main battle tank’ cost them a lot. Why would a country that had an excellent tank like the Panther want to mess with a King Tiger? Big gun? Big deal. Lots of armor? Lots of weight! Underpowered, hard to transport, useless in urban warfare… Cool looking?? OH YES!! Great to model? YOU BET!! But not much good as an all round fighter in places like Aachen.
German WWII tanks were also noisy and I’m not talking about their engines (although the Maybach really barks, as did the Pershing… the M5 on the other hand, was as quiet as a mouse! … I guess it had to be! LOL). And yes, if the Allies could hear a MkVI coming two kilometers off, they could call in air support to knock it out. That’s not only due to loud engines but also due to the dry pin or ‘dead’ track they used (which ate up fuel!). Of course, on the other hand were the half tracks with individual roller bearings in each shoe… talk about a maintenance headache! Quiet though… but so is a rubber bushed live track, like on the Sherman.
The US tanks were second to none for ease of operation, maintenance (except for that Chrysler Multi-bank!), and were fairly comfortable for the crew. On a PzKpfw III, the TC had to straddle the gun guard when seated in the back of the turret and it was CRAMPED back there! (been there, tried that) Not my idea of a good TC’s position when you have to move around all over the place looking for targets. Of course neither was the single periscope on the Sherman’s split hatch. But that at least could be swiveled with one hand by the TC who was fairly comfortable on his little butt pad (those goofy round seats US tanks had in WWII). AND as was pointed out earlier, a Sherman was more likely to make it into battle, because it could cruise like crazy.
Good engineering doesn’t always mean complicated engineering, which is what the Germans tended to do with much of their WWII armor. Were they good tanks? Without a doubt. Could they have been better if they were simpler? Depends on what ‘better’ means. There’s little doubt there’d have been more of them if the Germans would have allowed for butt plate welding, rather than interlocking corners. Yes, it’s much stronger in construction, but once a 17 pounder pierces the side plate or an air to ground missile blows the tank onto its back, what does it matter? Are they fun to model? OF COURSE!!
Finally, my opinion on the moral of modeling war is fairly simple. It’s part of history and remembering history is good. Yes of course, war is terrible and there are war crimes. There are also civilian crimes (rape, murder, etc) committed every day. But, all of this, good and bad, is part of our human history… and it goes back a lot longer than I… and that’s a LOOOONNNNGGG time!. I’ve met several dozen WWII US vets, a few German and Soviet WWII vets and they’re all pretty much the same as individuals. They all remember the funny as well as the horrible things that happened to them. None of them started the wars they were in, they were just told to serve their countries and follow orders. None of them admitted to doing anything criminal during the war, but who would? All of them said they still had nightmares about battle… 50 years later.
Personally, I think that service to one’s country is a great honor (considering that only around 3% of all Americans have servied in the military), and I’ve felt that way since I enlisted in 1975 when the American people, as a whole, hated soldiers.
So, I guess what I’m saying is have fun modeling, try to be accurate if that’s your intent… sometimes it isn’t, right? … and (for a heavy ending here) people in any military do what they do for various reasons, adventure, a way ‘up’ in society, because they were conscripted, because they want a challenge, because they want to serve their countries or think they’ll be considered heroes, or as in my case, because I wanted to play with armored vehicles![:D][:D][:p]
I’ve found that veterans, no matter where they come from are pretty much the same and are, as a whole, as fine a group of men and women as you’d ever care to meet.
Spouting finished. for now.
Have a GREAT weekend all!
Ron.
