So check this out:
Dude had a Panzer V in his basement.
Just chillin’
Look at the exquisite condition that thing is in!
So when historians rank tanks, they typically do so along 4 axes: speed, armor, armament and production value.
The Panzer V usually does well in these rankings, but never wins due to that 4th metric. However, if you remove that metric, a case can be made that it’s the best overall tank in the war.
Finally, it is the cousin if my personal favorite tank, the Jagdpanzer V
Very cool.
I love all tanks. But especially WWII tanks.
As for this guy, that’s ■■■■■■■ awesome. But man his basement must be enormous.
Many in Russia have a lot of love for their World War II era tanks. A music group even wrote a song in memory of the T-34.
Here is a link to the lyrics in Russian and English:
Lyube - Спасибо Т-34 (Spassibo T-34) lyrics + English translation (lyricstranslate.com)
A T-34 recently turned up in the Czech Republic:
Ah, man. Why’s it pink!?
Come and look I have a tank in the basement I imagine many neighbors were surprised.
I have no idea. Perhaps it was for rust protection?
Hey look they just discovered Germanys total war equipment for NATO.
Maybe an anti war statement?
Yuk, yuk, yuk
Cool article. The Panther was one of the best tanks in WWII.
I hope it gets properly restored.
I think the T34 belongs in the top four.
It looks like it won’t need much work at all. It’s been inside, warm and dry, for years.
What did you mean about “production value”?
Joshing aside it is and impressive find, not just any tank a Panther V arguably the best tank of the war. I also like the Jadgpanzer as well, glad they didn’t have these two tanks in bulk at the beginning of the war.
Basically, cost, technical difficulty of production, and numbers produced. The Mk V was very intricate, and required special tooling and all that.
As a result, about 6,000 were produced. The Soviet answer was the Soviet T-34/85, and about 55,000 were built.
So even though the Panther was a better tank in armor and armament (the T34/85 was faster), the T34 wins because they absolutely swamped the Germans.
Incidentally, there were about 50k M4 Sherman’s produced. And while this tank was mediocre in all regards except production value, it tends to place fairly high because it was cheap and easy to produce. Plus it served in every theater of the war.
And they had a disastrous debut at Kursk. But by 44, they were absolutely deadly. The kill loss ratio of Panzer v. T34 is said to be 5:1!
Yep they overwhelmed them with numbers with a good enough tank. I think the kill ratio for the Tiger tanks alone on the eastern front was 10 to 1. But as you point out it doesn’t matter if the other side pumps out 55,000 tanks and Germany only managed to build 1,347 Tigers throughout the war and probably less Panthers.
Some argue that Germany should have just kept the panzer iv and upgraded the gun and armor because the price of the bigger tanks were so expensive and not to mention between the panzer iv and the stug III (Both highly successful) they were both way more reliable, suffering way fewer losses due to equipment malfunctions.
I understand Panthers were cheaper to produce than Tigers probably making them more cost effective.
Up gunned Sherman Fireflies were pretty effective but in general Shermans they weren’t designed to go up against Panthers and Tigers.
It’s my fifth. Specifically the T-34/85.
That’s just my personal choices.
I adore Tigers though. It was state of the art for its time. Yes it was needlessly complicated like all German AFVs but the engineering that went into it was second to none.
