Re: shermans versus panthers

On Sun, 7 Jan 2001 15:01:20 -0500 , "Barclay, Tom" <tomb@bitheads.com>
wrote:

>[Tomb] Not quite true. I mentioned that in the original post! *LOL!*

*checks history* D'oh!

>[Tomb] The T-34 is undoubtedly better than the Panzer III. I wouldn't
say it
>was (except perhaps on a mechanical robustness level) hugely better
than a
>Pz IV. The T-34/76 was I beleive the tank that russian tank commanders
were
>prepared to exchange 3-1 with Panthers. The T-34/85 could kill a
Panther one
>on one. 

The T-34/76 wasn't hugely better than the Pz IV, no. But the stats I
have
suggest it was better. It had comparable armour thickness, with better
sloping. It weighed about the same, but was much faster (55 km/h road
speed
versus 38 km/h for the Pz IV). It had a greater operational range.
Fording
distance, vertical obstacle crossing, and trench crossing were all
superior. I
would have to dig up data to find out how the guns compared, though, and
in
that the T34/76 may have been inferior. 

>[Tomb] I'm sure rifles from 1900 were still in use with some forces
too.
>When you don't have to cope with lots of TOW, Hellfire, etc, then you
can
>really get by with older technology armourwise....

Oh, very true. I think, though, that it is a testament to the vehicle
that it
is robust enough to survive use anywhere into the 80s. 

If I'm not mistaken, I think some places are still using T34 chassis for
mounting other weapons, such as AA.

>[Tomb] Soviets also used salvaged German tanks. Both sides salvaged
what
>they could because any working tank was better than not having one....

True. The Western Allies also captured weapons, but mostly to test their
capabilities. They weren't lacking for tanks of their own, that's for
sure.
The American production capability during the war was truly amazing. I
remember in my university WW2 class reading about ship production. At
the
start of the war the US had, what, 4 carriers? By the end of the war
they had
something like 140-odd carriers of all sizes and classes, and a number
being
built that they ended up scrapping or converting. (Canada was no slouch
either, having the 3rd largest navy by war's end, even if it was
destroyer
heavy...).

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,