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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: maceng2 who wrote (36987)8/11/2002 9:49:40 AM
From: Hoa Hao  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 281500
 
Tiger tanks couldn't be massed produced, or maintained as well in the field. Too heavy and unmanueverable. The rest of the German equipt was the same. The Panther was a great tank... too bad it never ran. The Soviet tanks had similar problems; one problem with tanks is crew comfort, rest assured, after bouncing around in a Sov tank, you weren't in good shape to do much. Fact remains, the Sov Guard regts were equipt with Shermans.

Looking at drawings and specs and a few examples of a neato torpedo looking German aircraft and you would think they were genuis at this stuff. Closer inspection shows that the US did more basic research on a broader front and was better at shifting out what was doable and could get into production faster. You can find pictures of US jet aircraft lined up at mid west airfields dated 1943, but why mass produce them if a P-51 can tactically out fight Me-262s?? Don't even get me on the subject of u-boats...



To: maceng2 who wrote (36987)8/11/2002 10:36:23 AM
From: Hawkmoon  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 281500
 
the vastly superior Sherman tank??

Y'all must be talking about "The Ronson", a nickname it, like the lighter, earned by always igniting on the first try... :0)

The Sherman was more mechanically sound that German or Russian tanks, but aside from the "Jumbo" version, it wouldn't have stood much of a chance. Of course, by that time the M-36 Pershing tanks had begun to be produced enmasse to replace the Sherman.

The key to US success in France and Germany was air supremacy and tactical air support. Control the air and the enemy can only move at night. Then there was US artillery which prove so vital in the Battle of the Bulge.

In addition to this was the US logistical network which was far superior to the Soviets. Some of you might have noticed in pictures of Soviet Tanks from that era, they often have external fuel tanks. That's because the Red Army would mobilize for an assault, build up a supply base, and then attack. They had extreme difficulty in resupplying on the move. So they would attack until they ran out of supplies, and then they would hold their positions until their supply network could catch up. And part of this was due to the particular rail gauge they used which didn't match that of Western Europe (this had hindered Hitler's advance into Russia just as much). Both sides spent considerable time replacing the rail networks of the other to accomodate their different track gauges.

Hawk