Bluecoat

Woah! I think we do nee to zoom the map out a bit - as Gunerdogz explains... Soviet victiory came for a combination of factors - and not because the T-34 was tottally Uber. If you look, for example, at the Allie tnkas in france in 1940 - they OUTNUMBERED and several types OUTCLASSED the German tanks. E.g. better armour and guns - the thing tanks are suppsed to be strong in - that would make us call them a tank. The only reason the Germans could win and did win inf France was by the way they employed their weapons. So it matters how tought your tank is but how you use it. As has been said - the Russians went for huge concentrated attacks....anyone read about Operation Goodwood in Normandy??? Very similar I would argue, to Soviet ideas. Massive pressure to break the enemy - an economic war - not the quality of the tank. All the Panthers and tigers could do were delay the inevitable german defeat - despite the 3:1 kill ratio sustained by the Germans on the eastern front (superior tactics in defense). CMBB - the First Revisionist Computer game??

Don't forget that like the Sherman, the T-34 was just as adaptable - beng much upgunned - taking the 57mm, the 75 to 76mm and ultimately after 1943, in larger numbers the 85mm. This evolution rang alongside the improvment of the ergonomics of its design for its crew and mechanical efficiencies. The Original T-34 did a colossal route march if I remember rightly - covering one helluva distance (i have the details somewhere :/) It also provided the chasis for the other Russian Spg's. Thats another bonus of the T-34 that in design terms matched the sherman (and thats without the aforementioned +'s of curved armour, tracks, speed etc).

Gah! (OT) Reminds me of reading in "Nothing less than Victory - An Oral History of D-Day" about the sole british soldier told by his officer to walk down a village street so that his officer could spot the sniper :/.

Wow! Many thanks for sharing your thoughts - good and reading . [ September 17, 2002, 03:46 AM: Message edited by: Bluecoat ]

Appalingly - it must be mentioned the high ratio of Tanks that the Allies generally had to trade off to acheive a victory against some of the very well designed and utilised German Panzers. Indeed- there are plenty of tactics mentioned in this thread to avoid such negative loss ratios - but at the end of the day - he has a bigger gun (kill you at 2k) and heaver armour (you need to hit him on the flanks to get a kill with anything less than 90mm). [ September 17, 2002, 03:38 AM: Message edited by: Bluecoat ]