Hello Leccy, the Soviet authorities as data production number of 61,293 T34 all versions. Now I think it will be really difficult to get accurate numbers.
Friendly Fred
fred109
Yes I was finding various figures and settled for a rough average of those produced during WW2 and assumed the higher figure was because they were still produced after the war.
I also believe the Germans produced closer to 1500 Tiger I’s, not 1200. And while I agree with Chevan that the Mark IV Panzer was a workhorse and was highly effective and adaptable, and the Heer might have benefited more from fielding the upgraded Panzer Mk IV prototype than they did with the Panther; but that being said, a Mark V Panther tank was only marginally more expensive and difficult to produce than a Mark IV. The relative low production numbers of the Panther are more the result of its late start, and the interference of Allied Strategic Bombing on industry, the inherent limitations of German industrial production, especially when using slave labor late in the war…
Well yes . I’ve checked out the sources and the most correct datas i found was
Ò-34-76 - 35312
Ò-34-85 - 21048
i.t. up to 56+ thousand total that’s is closed to your figures.
As for Shermans M4
M4 Sherman (all) - 49234
including M4A3E8 - 3370
But i know not all the shermans were on service in Europe. While almost 100% of T-34 fought against GErmany.
Pz.6( Tiger 1) - 1365
Pz.6 B( Tiger 2) - 489
Hello JR, in my opinion the term “efficiency” includes many things, the capacity of the tank was moving, his armor, his weapons, but also its ease of production and therefore its availability in large numbers and is something that is very important , ease of maintenance. Why the T34 is often the favorite in these studies is simply that it brings together the largest number of factors, without diminishing our Russian friends, we must know at the time the majority of Russian people composed of farmers, is one of the factors considered by the designers of the tank, it can form a limited number of mechanics, given the urgency of the situation, and to circumvent the problem, they all just created a tank that is easy to maintain mechanical pieces with easily exchangeable, which is also found on many Russian productions of the time, thus the T34 was a machine easy to maintain, requiring no d enormous knowledge mechanic, over its cost of production and its implementation was much less than a Tiger or Panther, which required a lot more skilled labor and were much more difficult to repair in the field, despite excellent mechanical efficiency of the services of the Wehrmacht.
That’s why I think the T34 is for my part certainly one of the best tanks designed in the Second World War despite its faults.
Friendly Fred:):)
I’m still not sure whether it is in “WWII time scale” optimum to produce different types of tanks or simply one ideal tank. It is clear that WWII was the THE armor theatre of all times (remember Kursk) and since then tanks haven’t had the same impact.
On the one hand you can go for production as quality of a tank. But there is a limit. A cheap tin can can be produced in loads and loads but it is worth shit.
On the other hand you can go for refined almost unbeatable small production tanks. But than you get outnumbered.
I sincerely doubt the “non-economic” Tigers were that removable. The psychological benefit was astronomic. Whether the Germans should have produced that much of them is another question, but the Tiger “worked” in a very broad meaning. I’m talking about the tiger I.
And what the Panther is concerned: they still managed to produce thousands of Panthers in one year, far more than Tigers. Again, why is the production of the IV that better than the V. I guess routine and experience by the crews, in maintenance alone for example. Yet the Panther was deadlier.
The most overdone production is the “assault gun / jagdpanzer” stuff on the wrong chassis. Jagdpz IV for example, or Jagdtiger are by no means better choice than the cost effective Stug’s. And the chassis used was way to valueable to be used for fixed gun vehicles. In tis case 1 tiger is better than 2-3 JagdPz IV. And 4 StuG’s definitely are.
“Effective” is misleading. Subjective in the way you want to read effectiveness.
I repeat : the T34 is the most effective shot up tank during WWII. 
The T34 is the most effective tank!
Based on what? Speed? Armor? Firepower? Combination of two or three?
Looking back on WWII, if Germany would have produced the ME-262 a couple of years prior to when they actually came into service, and in greater numbers (7500), it is very scary to think what might have happened. I do not know if the USA would have been able to produce a jet fighter quickly enough to counter Germany. I know this thread is about Tanks, and with regard to that, Germany had a winner in the Tiger, but did not use it in ways that could have turned the tide of the war. If Germany had numbers in the thousands of the Tiger Tank and parts to keep them running, along with using them smarter, God only know what would have happened. Believe me, I am glad the war turned out the way it did. I think all of us has at one time or another, wondered what might have happened if things such as what I am talking about had occured. I am German by family tree with my great grandfather coming to America in 1889. When I did my family tree research, I found out that I actually had family that fought for Germany in WWII and died for Germany. The whole mess of WWII was and is still sickening to dwell over with the result of what happened to so many human beings from all sides, and of that, I hope and pray we never fight WWIII.
Posts concerning the outcome of an Alliance between the soviets, and the Reich have been moved to a new thread, found here.
Let’s just put this ME-262 thing to rest. It was a great plane, but it wasn’t the only jet around. The English had been flying their Gloster Meteor for some time and even located some squadrons to Europe before the end of the war. Had the Me262 threat become more, uh, well, threatening, the Meteors would have been used against them. The Americans were further behind, but not by much. The ME262 was not a war-changing weapon, at least not in WW2.
The first P-80s arrived in Europe in the last few weeks of the war and didn’t see combat. They were a hell of a lot more effective as jet fighters than Me-262s though.
One thing that isn’t often appreciated is that the German jet engines were an evolutionary dead end. The Russians for instance got just about all the German jet engine research postwar, yet their engine industry is built on license built RR Nene engines and some limited Soviet prewar research. The German engines - particularly the “advanced” ones - were junk and not capable of expansion. That leaves the Germans stuck with the low-thrust engines of the Me-262 for the forseeable future, while the Allies have engines 5 or 10 times more powerful on the way. Jet fighters work for the Germans in the short term (and even then due to short ranges only in defence), but after that they work for the Allies.
Wat is a war changing weapon? A nuke perhaps.
Combined warfare as in the blitzkrieg used weapons available by all relevant nations (airplanes, radio, tanks, mechanization), yet it was tactics that made the difference.
Combined arms operations (popularly called Blitzkrieg) could not be carried out by all armies (at least in 1940), the French and Soviets had very few tanks with radios, they had no doctrine of how to actually use tanks in a combined arms role (they were purely infantry support). The British had no continental army and were desperately trying to make up for years of indifference and lack of money for the armed forces, they had a doctrine and tactics which with modifications served throughout the war but the equipment was lacking (mainly in reliability).
War changing weapons need not even have to cause death directly. Radar was a war winner finding many uses even down to artillery shells, Radio allowing quick reliable communications.
I don’t mean to be a jerk, but isn’t there an ME 262 topic we could move this to? This is about the best tank in the war, not German fighters…
Agreed Churchill, so please, no further discussion of the 262 in this thread. Please feel free to begin a new thread if those interested wish to pursue that topic.