Dont know if this topic has already been covered but I thought I would give it a shot!

What Tank do people consider the best performer during WW2 in the following categories...

Light TAnk
Medium Tank
Heavy Tank
Self Propelled Gun
Tank Destroyer/Hunter

My own preferences are...

Luchs
T-34/85
Tiger I
StuG III
SU-100 or JAgdPAnther

I will go into my reasons for the above choices in a bit, but what do the rest of you think were the best tanks to come out of the war?

Russian T-34. A great all-round tank.

I'd say the JagdTiger.

The damn thing was so heavy that it couldn't cross most bridges in Europe. Thats why it wasn't used that much but when it got to an open battlefield at long range it KICKED ASS

The T-34 was good but in my opinion the numbers made it Great

Hmmm....This belongs in the Hardware area....

hmmmmmm, SHERMAN, perhaps this should be in the hardware section, but I think this is in the right forum in that the question is the "best tank in World War II". As for my opinion, I am still thinking! As for your answer, you might want to reconsider?

Yep, but seeing as Im the mod, and not you, im moving this....

And I'm the Admin, so I'm moving it back to the history forum...
*flexing muscles*
(just kidding, it can stay here)

Military Hardware, Military Gear and Technology
This is the place for Hardware, military gear and technology related discussions. (historical and modern)

Perhaps I should make a history of military hardware forum..

There has been a similar thread before, but that one was about best medium tank of WW2:
http://www.military-quotes.com/forum...pic.php?t=1394

And we do also have a worst tank of WW2 thread going on:
http://www.military-quotes.com/forum...pic.php?t=2697


But you can continue with this thread here, since it's about other tank categories as well, not just medium..

Cary on..

Here's one to start some controversy!

I vote for the Sherman tank.

Three things are important for a tank: Lethality, Mobility and Survivability. The Sherman gets a C for Lethality, a D for Survivability, but an A+ for Mobility (plus they were built in vast quantities).

What made the Sherman so valuable to the US Army in WWII was that there was usually one around when you needed it. They traveled fast and they were built with reliable Detroit engines. They typically didn't break down, and when they did, they were pretty straightforward to fix (mainly because they were mass produced like Chevys, so there were lots of parts around).

The German Tiger IIs killed Shermans 20 to 1 in open-field tank battles, but the German tanks were so mechanically unreliable that they were typically hauled to the battlefield on transporters. Unless there was a lot of advance planning, German soldiers could pretty much count on a friendly tank NOT being around when they needed it.

Repair on a Tiger II was kind-of like repair on that Mercedes -- you better have a factory mechanic and the parts are only available at the Mercedes dealer.

I don't know the reliability of the Panther, but they were built in such small quantities they were pretty much irrelevant to the outcome of the war.

Now the Panther with a US powertrain cranked-out in vast quantities on Detroit assembly lines -- that would have been a formidable tank!!

Light tank Stuart
Med tank Panther hands down
Heavy tank Tiger 1 Tiger 2 JS 2
SP Gun STUG 4 /SU 152
Tank destroyer Panzer Jagd 4 Knockedout the most amount of tanks in History cheap to build perfect for a defensive war.
But it is a very hard if not Impossible subject to finalise. The T 34 was produced in massed Quantity with 50000 built and around 40000 knocked out. It was reliable cheaper to build but suffered greatly to the 76/ 88 and 128 mm german guns. As with the Sherman origanly could be destroyed with HE shells due to unseccured ammo stowages. For performance the Panther was the best tank of the war hands down and the Tiger not to far behind. with only 10% of Tiger 1 knocked out by Allied tanks and AT guns the rest by air or break downs. The ratio of Tigers knocked out to tanks destroyed was 8:1 the highest in history. It is belived that if break downs and those knocked out from the air are Substracted the figure was up to 40:1 pretty good. But to look at the basics they didn't stop what was coming at them so in Military terms they where a failure, which means the most successful tanks of WW2 was the Sherman (tommy cookers) or the T34 strenght in numbers. the two highest loses of classes of tanks in history.

My vote goes to the Panther G type for best all around design although there weren't enough of them at that point to make a large enough difference for the jerrys. The T-34 then would get my vote as having had the greatest influence.