Sherman's was something else

Actually the M4 was an excellent tank well-suited to the criteria for
which
it was designed.  The problem was that it wasn't used for the
application
for which it was designed.  There were also some (major) problems with
the
doctrine that established it's design criteria.

The M4 was designed as a "breakthrough exploitation" vehicle.  It's
(intended) job was not to fight other tanks, or even entreched infantry.
It was supposed to go through holes in the enemy's line, and cause havoc
in
the rear areas.  Tank destroyers and artillery were supposed to take
care
of enemy tanks.  In practice things didn't work this way, which caused
an
adjustment in doctrine.  If you'll notice there aren't any tank
destroyer
units in the U.S. armed forces now (that I'm aware of).

German tanks on the other hand were designed to kill other tanks, and
survive close-in "knife fights".

>From a logistics standpoint the Sherman was far superior to the German
tanks in that it was easily maintained, reliable, and easily
transported.
The US also won the production war because the available technology to
produce vehicles was more effectively applied by the US industry.  The
US
had it's auto industry produce it's AFV's and they did it just like they
did cars, assembly line, they cranked them out like they were making
cookies.  The Germans on the other hand had their heavy machinery
industry
produce their AFV's and while that industry was certainly suited to
producing huge behemoth machines, they were not equipped mentally or
physically to produce large volumes of vehicles.  Look at the disparity
in
production numbers some time, it's mind boggling.

As someone else mentioned, probably the best tank from WWII was the
T-34.
It was fast, rugged, easy to produce, and had an excellent weapon
system.
The measure of it (and the Sherman's) success is the fact that they are
both still in use in some places of the world today, 50+ years after
they
were designed.

Bill

(All that WWII micro armor research just came in handy)

									
				       
		    "Brian Bilderback"					
				       
		    <bbilderback@hotmail.com>	    To:    
gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU 			    
		    Sent by:			    cc: 		
				       
		    owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Be	    Subject:	 RE:
Merc Guild				   
		    rkeley.EDU						
				       
									
				       
									
				       
		    01/08/02 06:36 PM					
				       
		    Please respond to gzg-l				 

Eli Arndt Wrote:

>Keep in mind, those same Shermans fought in armies that beat back
Tigers
>and Panthers.

Wow,a debate about the relative quality of WW2 Armor.... thanks, Eli,
just
what we needed to get this moving in another direction....

What does everyone think of the "Shermans weren't as good as Tigers,
just
more numerous" arguement, especially prior to the upgrade to the 76mm
gun?
I refuse to believe I even come CLOSE to having a right to speak on THAT
issue....