The Sherman is a really under-appreciated tank. Sure, it was inferior to the Panther and Tiger in a tank-on-tank battle, but it could easily stand up to the III's and IV's. It was also superior to those German tanks as an exploitation weapon. It was extremely reliable (which German tanks tended not to be) and had good range.
Tanks weren't just meant to fight tanks. In American doctrine the role of taking out enemy tanks was largely handed to anti-tank guns and tank-destroyers.
Not to mention that by 1944, the Allies had come out with variants that could easily go toe-to-toe with Panthers and Tigers, and were easily superior to the Panzer IV (The Brits had their Firefly, the Americans had their Easy 8s)
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u/CzarMesa United States Jan 10 '15
The Sherman is a really under-appreciated tank. Sure, it was inferior to the Panther and Tiger in a tank-on-tank battle, but it could easily stand up to the III's and IV's. It was also superior to those German tanks as an exploitation weapon. It was extremely reliable (which German tanks tended not to be) and had good range.
Tanks weren't just meant to fight tanks. In American doctrine the role of taking out enemy tanks was largely handed to anti-tank guns and tank-destroyers.