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What Germany did in WWII Military and Technology wise is Incredible

J-Rzez

Member
Radar and the ability to crack german code was invaluable, and great tech advancements.

Outside of that Germany did establish some things:

They were the furthest along with nuclear research
They found out the effects of smoking
Rocket technology

Their tanks were generally superior, though over-engineered and costly for a country lacking resources as time went on. The Panther was the grandfather of the MBT. They had superior tactics and the use of radio helped them early on, later their guns and armor solutions were superior, but was too late, too costly, and over engineered leading to complex costly, time consuming repairs.

The ME-262 was a game changer. It was considered a death trap for their pilots as they were exceptionally vulnerable on take off and landing though, and considering by time they were in use it was on their defensive stance, their impact was negated. But P-51 pilots have stated numerous times they were scary, and very effective. If they had them earlier while on the offensive, things would have been a bit different. Also, the 163. Their FW-190 was a great plane too.

The STG44 was the grandfather of the assault rifle.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
Radar and the ability to crack german code was invaluable, and great tech advancements.

Outside of that Germany did establish some things:

They were the furthest along with nuclear research
They found out the effects of smoking
Rocket technology

Their tanks were generally superior, though over-engineered and costly for a country lacking resources as time went on. The Panther was the grandfather of the MBT. They had superior tactics and the use of radio helped them early on, later their guns and armor solutions were superior, but was too late, too costly, and over engineered leading to complex costly, time consuming repairs.

The ME-262 was a game changer. It was considered a death trap for their pilots as they were exceptionally vulnerable on take off and landing though, and considering by time they were in use it was on their defensive stance, their impact was negated. But P-51 pilots have stated numerous times they were scary, and very effective. If they had them earlier while on the offensive, things would have been a bit different. Also, the 163. Their FW-190 was a great plane too.

The STG44 was the grandfather of the assault rifle.

Uh the US actually built nuclear weapons and the Germans weren't even close.
 
Radar and the ability to crack german code was invaluable, and great tech advancements.

Outside of that Germany did establish some things:

They were the furthest along with nuclear research
They found out the effects of smoking
Rocket technology

Their tanks were generally superior, though over-engineered and costly for a country lacking resources as time went on. The Panther was the grandfather of the MBT. They had superior tactics and the use of radio helped them early on, later their guns and armor solutions were superior, but was too late, too costly, and over engineered leading to complex costly, time consuming repairs.

The ME-262 was a game changer. It was considered a death trap for their pilots as they were exceptionally vulnerable on take off and landing though, and considering by time they were in use it was on their defensive stance, their impact was negated. But P-51 pilots have stated numerous times they were scary, and very effective. If they had them earlier while on the offensive, things would have been a bit different. Also, the 163. Their FW-190 was a great plane too.

The STG44 was the grandfather of the assault rifle.

I always wanted to see a movie or miniseries that shows the few instances that German jet planes like the 262 were used late in the war against allied planes. That'd be a pretty intense war/action movie the more I think about it.
 

ZOONAMI

Junior Member
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

Seriously sure the Germans had scientists. The US and the allied powers had better ones. What purpose does this thread serve in this climate of widespread nazism, racism, and anti semitism?

It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.
 
Their tanks were generally superior, though over-engineered and costly for a country lacking resources as time went on. The Panther was the grandfather of the MBT.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_battle_tank
Ctrl-F 'Panther'
0 results found

The Panther was really only good at killing other tanks with a low caliber, high velocity gun that could not fire good explosive shells. The first true MBT was the Centurion which is technically part of WW2 and could have been rushed into service if there had been an need to. The Centurion is still in service today.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_battle_tank
Ctrl-F 'Panther'
0 results found

The Panther was really only good at killing other tanks with a low caliber, high velocity gun that could not fire good explosive shells. The first true MBT was the Centurion which is technically part of WW2 and could have been rushed into service if there had been an need to. The Centurion is still in service today.

Some people do argue that the Panther was the progenitor of the MBT (not that it was one) on the grounds that it was a rather heavy, but still fast tank with thick armour. I don't really agree with that assessment but it's not unheard of to see someone argue the case. The Soviets, Germans and British were all concurrently trying to make their tanks more heavily armoured while keeping up the speed and stuffing bigger guns into them, and the Panther had no meaningful influence on actual early Cold War MBTs, so from my perspective I don't see the point in classifying it as such.
 

KDR_11k

Member
I wonder how much more could have been achieved without the world wars. Before those Germany used to be a major science powerhouse and such but especially the Nazis drove a lot of that out of the country. Now practically every discovery comes out of the US.

The trope for a lot of German WWII tech is "awesome but impractical." A lot of it was designed almost like they wanted to inspire terror in their enemies first, and actually kill their enemies second.

That was an actual doctrine, they mounted whistles on the Stuka's wings specifically to inspire fear with the noise.

They were the furthest along with nuclear research

Nah, when the research facility for nuclear stuff was inspected by Americans after the war it was extremely primitive. While German scientists may have known the theory they were not even close to a practical result.
 

Apt101

Member
The accomplishments of Mao against the US in the Korean War always impressed me. Employing hit and run tactics that played on MacArthur's arrogance luring him into reckless situations, and using a force with far lesser training and poor equipment, he almost wiped out the 1st Marine division and any Army that was supporting them. He forced the stalemate.

However, overall, Germany's accomplishment in both the World Wars is probably the most impressive in history. Unfortunately.
 

JettDash

Junior Member
The accomplishments of Mao against the US in the Korean War always impressed me. Employing hit and run tactics that played on MacArthur's arrogance luring him into reckless situations, and using a force with far lesser training and poor equipment, he almost wiped out the 1st Marine division and any Army that was supporting them. He forced the stalemate.

However, overall, Germany's accomplishment in both the World Wars is probably the most impressive in history. Unfortunately.

I'm don't see how getting your country completely destroyed and millions of your people killed is impressive.
 

Chuckie

Member
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_battle_tank
Ctrl-F 'Panther'
0 results found

The Panther was really only good at killing other tanks with a low caliber, high velocity gun that could not fire good explosive shells. The first true MBT was the Centurion which is technically part of WW2 and could have been rushed into service if there had been an need to. The Centurion is still in service today.

To be fair, he said the grandfather of the MBT, not the first MBT

The first generation of main battle tanks were based on or influenced by designs of World War II, most notably the T-34 and the Panther tank.
 

StayDead

Member
Wrong picture
2bf9c474c05a31182b180ea99eaa0f4d1394812754_full.png
:p

Bismark is love.
 

Apt101

Member
I'm don't see how getting your country completely destroyed and millions of your people killed is impressive.

We're discussing military accomplishments and technology, not the near-time cost of a given war. With your line of thinking I could just as easily point out that the loss guided Germany's development into the peaceful economic powerhouse it is today. Or how Japan's crushing defeat led it into building a far more peaceful and and productive society. But like your comment, that would be asinine for this thread.
 
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

American tanks were dog shit tier compared to German and Russian ones during WWII.

The only good thing about Sherman was mass production
 
Well wasn't the Manhattan Project manned by German scientists who didn't want the Nazis to get hold of an atomic bomb.
Yeah, before the Nazis Germany was a science powerhouse, but the Nazi regime brought the exile/military drafting/incarceration/purge of many of its most brilliant scientists and engineers. In the end Nazi Germany was a corrupt, politicized and evil regime that was destroyed because of its own stupidity.
Yes good scientists and military people remained and produced results, but Nazism/WW2 were an enormous setback for German science and society that basically led to many of the brilliant European scientists of the time exiling to the US (Or being captured by the Soviets) and never coming back, and to the continent becoming a second to the US/USSRin science and economy for decades.
If it weren't for the Cold War and the Marshall plan Europe would have had a very hard time ever catching up.

So overall, Nazism was fucking shit for German and European science.

Edit: I would say that the myth of the superior, scary German engineering is the Allies being unable to admit they were enabling, incompetent cowards during the years prior to the war and during the first years of the war. The incompetence of their generals and politicians let Germany radicalize itself, let it become a military superpower, let it conquer most of Europe and its resources, and that made difficult to beat. But it could have been stopped much sooner, and in order not to admit that the myth of super weapons was born.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

Seriously sure the Germans had scientists. The US and the allied powers had better ones. What purpose does this thread serve in this climate of widespread nazism, racism, and anti semitism?

It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.
giphy.gif
 

Dommo

Member
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

Seriously sure the Germans had scientists. The US and the allied powers had better ones. What purpose does this thread serve in this climate of widespread nazism, racism, and anti semitism?

It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.

The notion that we should downplay any and all achievements of groups who we dislike/have committed heinous acts is revisionist and ridiculous. What purpose does it serve to cover our eyes and say "the nazis did nothing right. They were a pathetic military force and they were doomed from the start. America always had all the answers and kicked those baddy asses quicksmart." It's just unnecessary and at worst, foolishly naive. Everyone in this thread knows the nazis were morally bankrupt and committed grave horrors beyond measure. That doesn't mean they didn't also create historically impressive tech that's fascinating to study and consider, that can also serve as a warning to how dangerous they were and not to be underestimated.

It's in no way minimising the human atrocities of nazi Germany. And America didn't 'wipe the floor' with the nazis. The Soviet Union delivered the biggest body blows to them. But nah, we'd better make sure the narrative is one where the technologically, politically and morally superior America slapped the feeble Germany into its place. Anything less would be justifying the holocaust.
 

llien

Member
First precision guided bomb:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_X


Nazi Germany had top scientists in most areas.
After WWII most if not all of them moved out of the country and something broke, nowadays and for decades there isn't anyone of "world" caliber any more.



Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers.

No, US definitely didn't have better planes and definitely didn't have better tanks.
Navy - yes. subs, not sure.

US was able to come into war late and wipe the floor with axis powers, because they were pretty much finished by USSR by then, bar Japan.
 
It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.

No it's not. This culture of "If you're not completely PC you're complicit in bigotry, racism, etc" needs to stop. Hell, this isn't even not PC, it's merely discussing history.
 
They did build a favourite weapon of mine.

The Schwerer Gustav 80 cm railway artillery:
7449c90282af82afd659c34c337b3144--schwerer-gustav-railway-gun.jpg


It's stupidly huge.
It requires a stupid amount of manpower.
It's stupidly slow to fire.
It requires you to build a special stupid railway system to move the damn thing.
It stupidly had negative war effort impact when comparing what it actually managed to it's cost of running.

They built two.

And I love it.

Didn't it crushed the Sebastapol fortress by piercing into its ammunition depot ?

Also, it was planned to have it refit into dual turrets and mounted on the H44 battleship design, the pinnacle of Hitler's fleet with a ship to his name :


This would have never been built. Even if germany won the war, they would have, by that time, understood that battleship were obsolete to carrier warfare and they would not have commited to such a gigantic project. It was drawn mostly to hype Hitler and have him put more funding into the Kriegsmarine renovation and expansion effort.
 

Bastables

Member
Some people do argue that the Panther was the progenitor of the MBT (not that it was one) on the grounds that it was a rather heavy, but still fast tank with thick armour. I don't really agree with that assessment but it's not unheard of to see someone argue the case. The Soviets, Germans and British were all concurrently trying to make their tanks more heavily armoured while keeping up the speed and stuffing bigger guns into them, and the Panther had no meaningful influence on actual early Cold War MBTs, so from my perspective I don't see the point in classifying it as such.
Espially when you consider that the Panther was a reply to the "Heavy" T34. Compare the weight of the t34 to the PIII and IV and in particular to the BT's and the T26.
Koshkin The designer litrially envisioned the design as a "universal tank".
 

llien

Member
Yeah the Soviets don't issue rubbish tanks to half their Guard Armies.

USSR was losing tanks at such a rate (see battle of Kursk), they didn't have luxury to say no to whatever help they could get.

Sherman was easily best or one of two best tanks back when it first arrived.
Jesus, these claims.

I don't know if it has been mentioned but their rocket program was really advanced, the creator of the V-1 and V-2 rockets went to work with Nasa after the war and he was the one who created the spacecraft that landed on the moon, here he is : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Interesting to note that USSR was able to pull ahead and do that Gagarin thing only because US tried to downplay von Braun.
 

Bastables

Member
USSR was losing tanks at such a rate (see battle of Kursk), they didn't have luxury to say no to whatever help they could get.


Jesus, these claims.



Interesting to note that USSR was able to pull ahead and do that Gagarin thing only because US tried to downplay von Braun.
Guard Tank armies get the best equipment, Soviets thought the Matilda and M3 as awful tanks and therefore were never issued to Guard armies.

So the Russians lost so many tanks during Kursk, so crippling they then proceeded to then continue to launch a counter offensive that reclaimed 2000km with over 7000 more tanks as part of the counter attacking operations.
 

btrboyev

Member
Man I hate these discussions. Just like child beauty pageants, even if they're technically innocent they really attract a certain kind of person

The tools y'all are pounding your dicks about were created with the expressed purpose of murdering, enslaving, and subjugating hundreds of millions of people toward the end of global Aryan domination. To celebrate any aspect of Nazism without extreme sensitivity can normalize their actions and worldview.

Oh shut the hell up. We all know what nazi's are and what they did. It has literally nothing to do with what anybody here is talking about. We are talking about engineering and scientists. All war machines are intended to kill and murder. What is your point and why can't anyone talk about history without it being offensive? Absolutely no one in here is celebrating Nazi's
 

Keasar

Member
Didn't it crushed the Sebastapol fortress by piercing into its ammunition depot ?

Also, it was planned to have it refit into dual turrets and mounted on the H44 battleship design, the pinnacle of Hitler's fleet with a ship to his name :
It did. Crushed the fortress to bits. The thing is however that the same result could have probably been achieved with a smaller artillery regiment of more cannons, less manpower and etc. No matter what the Schwerer did, it was just too expensive in the end.

As for the gun, it was also planned to be fitted for one of the Nazi Supertanks or Landkreuzers. Specifically the theoretical P1500 Monster.
am3WxnL.png

As expected though, this tank was once again of stupid design. It wouldn't be able to drive fast, if it could at all. And if it did, no road or terrain in the world would be able to support its weight. If it came to a river it was game over. The project was cancelled quite early.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
No it's not. This culture of "If you're not completely PC you're complicit in bigotry, racism, etc" needs to stop. Hell, this isn't even not PC, it's merely discussing history.
It's getting pretty extreme...

You can't even talk about machinery or clothing without people jumping down your throat for being a Nazi glorifying person.
 
It did. Crushed the fortress to bits. The thing is however that the same result could have probably been achieved with a smaller artillery regiment of more cannons, less manpower and etc. No matter what the Schwerer did, it was just too expensive in the end.

As for the gun, it was also planned to be fitted for one of the Nazi Supertanks or Landkreuzers. Specifically the theoretical P1500 Monster.
am3WxnL.png

As expected though, this tank was once again of stupid design. It wouldn't be able to drive fast, if it could at all. And if it did, no road or terrain in the world would be able to support its weight. If it came to a river it was game over. The project was cancelled quite early.

Yes its far to big for a tank. Back to artillery, I think they had a very powerfull 460 or 500mm mortar ? Heavily used in the eastern front too that worked wonder. Gustav's gun was just too big. Far to cumbersome. As you said, more and smaller guns could do its job. I don't think its main caliber was decisive in any engagement it was brought.

We can argue about its iconic use, as a propaganda tool, or even as a technological demonstration. Perhaps, if war lasted longer, it could have been further down improved to make it load faster and could have been use is other situation (maybe not tank, why not giant ship ? or coastal defense ?) but that's a lot of if and with the fast rise of missile warfare, I'm not sure with even 10 more years to develop around the Gustav, it would have found a legitimate, efficient use.
 

Haunted

Member
I've visited the Historical Technical museum in Peenemünde recently (the secret development platform for the infamous V2 rocket project and where the allies poached their rocket tech scientists from) and it was absolutely fascinating.

Seeing the scale of the production and development while trying to keep it a secret to flyover reconnaissance. The dreadful ambition of the (military) heads of the project to be contrasted with the scientific (often peacefully intended) ambition of some the scientists involved, dozens of interviews with contemporary witnesses and while it was also extremely mindful of the horror that was intended to be wielded, it manages - at the very end - to document the transition of the project and the dream towards peaceful and civilian uses with the rocket tech being used to bring us (humanity) into the space age.

http://museum-peenemuende.de/?lang=en

Amazing place to visit.
 
it inspired some great war game scenarios

Code:
[IMG]http://historynet.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/image/2012/MH/07%20JUL/HandTool.jpg[/IMG]

rctw / wolf: ET
[IMG]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZSjAfYVZBa0/maxresdefault.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://download.hirntot.org/addons/hdet_screenshots/img/rg-05.jpg[/IMG]

did the allies not have panzerfaust equivalents?

the game only gave those to the axis soldiers :(
 
Maybe it wasn't that spectacular, but the "88" FlAK ("aircraft-defense cannon") was an incredible effective weapon - not only against aircrafts, but also tanks. The first one (Flak 18) was actually developed during WW1.

Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-443-1574-26%2C_Nordafrika%2C_Flakgesch%C3%BCtz.jpg


The WW2 version (FlAK 36/37) was able to penetrate over 84 mm of armor at a range of 2 km. During the North African campaign, Rommel made the most effective use of the weapon, as he lured tanks of the British Eighth Army into traps by baiting them with apparently retreating German panzers. A mere two flak battalions destroyed 264 British tanks in 1941. (wiki)
 

phaze

Member
it inspired some great war game scenarios

Code:
[IMG]http://historynet.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/image/2012/MH/07%20JUL/HandTool.jpg[/IMG]

rctw / wolf: ET
[IMG]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZSjAfYVZBa0/maxresdefault.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://download.hirntot.org/addons/hdet_screenshots/img/rg-05.jpg[/IMG]

did the allies not have panzerfaust equivalents?

the game only gave those to the axis soldiers :(
Americans had bazooka, British PIATs
 

A Fish Aficionado

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me

And in the invasion of Iraq, the APA supported torture. That led to a huge brain drain of that organization once it got publicized.
http://www.slate.com/articles/healt...lame_for_greenlighting_bush_era_enhanced.html

I feel like the Norden bombsight really needs a mention here when discussing important technological advances.
Great piece of tech and an analog computer, but no where near as accurate. Mostly marketing and propaganda.

This just leads to an argument of "strategic bombing" which is WWII morality in a nutshell.-
 

Keasar

Member
Yes its far to big for a tank. Back to artillery, I think they had a very powerfull 460 or 500mm mortar ? Heavily used in the eastern front too that worked wonder. Gustav's gun was just too big. Far to cumbersome. As you said, more and smaller guns could do its job. I don't think its main caliber was decisive in any engagement it was brought.

We can argue about its iconic use, as a propaganda tool, or even as a technological demonstration. Perhaps, if war lasted longer, it could have been further down improved to make it load faster and could have been use is other situation (maybe not tank, why not giant ship ? or coastal defense ?) but that's a lot of if and with the fast rise of missile warfare, I'm not sure with even 10 more years to develop around the Gustav, it would have found a legitimate, efficient use.

I believe you're talking about the 600 mm Karl-Gerät mortar.
Karl6.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Gerät
 

A Fish Aficionado

I am going to make it through this year if it kills me
Germany was already a failure by 1943.-ish. Maybe 1942.

They had great pushes in the Battle of the Bulge, but overall they were getting steamrolled once Britain defended itself from invasion, and Russia just being all balls out brave on the Eastern Front.
 

Hermii

Member
What Germany did in WW1 is more impressive. They had a real shot at winning right up until then very end, while ww2 was lost at Stalingrad.
 

pigeon

Banned
Their tanks were generally superior, though over-engineered and costly for a country lacking resources as time went on. The Panther was the grandfather of the MBT. They had superior tactics and the use of radio helped them early on, later their guns and armor solutions were superior, but was too late, too costly, and over engineered leading to complex costly, time consuming repairs.

The use of "superior" here is confusing to me. In general I assume the weapon that actually makes it to the battlefield to be used is superior.
 

Necro

Banned
USA had some pretty nice inventions or upgrades. Real big fan of the p51, p61 black widow.. oh not to mention flying fortress/superfortress.

Finns made that cool ass massive anti tank rifle.
 

Keasar

Member
USA had some pretty nice inventions or upgrades. Real big fan of the p51, p61 black widow.. oh not to mention flying fortress/superfortress.

Finns made that cool ass massive anti tank rifle.

Not an actual flying fortress though. :(
300px-Color_Photographed_B-17E_in_Flight.jpg

9-10 year old me was very disappointed when I learned that.
 
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

Seriously sure the Germans had scientists. The US and the allied powers had better ones. What purpose does this thread serve in this climate of widespread nazism, racism, and anti semitism?

It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.

You need to spend less time on the internet.
 
Yeah I don't at all like the premise of this thread. US had better planes, tanks, guns, bombs, navy, subs, pretty much everything. That's why they were able to come into the war late and wipe the floor with the axis powers. Fuck nazi Germany.

Paising Germany during wwii is cool I guess.

Seriously sure the Germans had scientists. The US and the allied powers had better ones. What purpose does this thread serve in this climate of widespread nazism, racism, and anti semitism?

It's literally a thread of minimalizing how awful nazi Germany was, complete with pics of hey look yall, these nazi death machines were pretty dope.

Every single line in this post is wrong.
 
Jesus, these claims.

It was definitely a top tier tank in 1942 when it was introduced. Good armour protection, good mechanical reliability and ease of maintenance, excellent gun for hitting soft targets and still able to deal with all but the heaviest tanks of its day, good ergonomics and a spacious layout for the crew to work in, and most importantly capable of being mass produced like a motherfucker.

For 1942, the only other contender by my reckoning is the T34/76, which is even cheaper to produce and has a lower profile, but typically manufactured to pretty rough standards and not being very ergonomic. Most people would rank the T34 as the #1 tank at that time (and quite a lot would rank it as the overall #1 for the war), although the Sherman is not without its advocates.

The late war E8 variant with 76mm gun, improved suspension and wet stowage was arguably the best tank in its weight class of the war, every bit as good as the late war T34 variants and Panzer IV variants. It may not be winning 1v1 frontal duels with a Panther at 1km but it also weighed 10 tons less, was an order of magnitude less prone to mechanical problems and cost substantially less to produce while still being able to deal with like 90% of all German armour effectively.

While I wouldn't say the Sherman was the best tank family of the war, it is definitely the one that gets the most unfair reputation, and I would probably rank it as one of the best, it's primary failing being that it didn't see much action at the time in which it most favorably compared to other tanks in the field. But despite theorycrafting about how this or that German tank could beat it in a fight, or "5 Shermans = 1 panther!!!", the actual real world statistics bore out that it was an effective combat vehicle.
 
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