To me, the Tiger tank was a waste of resources since it took so many to produce one. Notice that the armor isn't even sloping. Also, spare parts for it were hard to come by and its transmission gave it fits. Sure it has that nasty 88mm gun on top and nice frontal armor, but when compared to the Panther, it just isn't worth every ton in comparison, as the Panther is faster, has a great gun, and has decent armor. Ironically, the Panther is a German version of the T-34.
The T-34 was able to be up gunned and was regularly repaired when damaged, unlike many of their German counterparts. The sloping armor was not only more effective, but wisely used resources to build yet more tanks. When it first came out, it had no peer. In Korea, the up gunned t-34-85's were feared by our infantry as our WWII standard bazooka's often bounced off them.
For me, I do like the Sherman tank since it has a stabilized gun that can fire on the move. Later versions had better guns and armor as well. The 17 pound gun on British versions makes the 88mm look bad, especially with any modified penetrating rounds.
Of course, US artillery tromped them all. Only we could call over 100 tubes on a target all at once at a moments notice. The Germans feared this above all else.
Best Regards,
Mark
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