Daryl Hunt
Your Worst Nightmare
- Banned
- #41
The T-34 wasn't a great tank until the 1944 runs, after extensive engineering recommendations from American testers finally got the okay from the politicians. When your side has almost total air superiority and vast numbers, you can get by with crap for equipment, especially if your main tactic is human wave attacks from the 3rd century.
The Shermans did fine for what they were designed for; in WW II the technology race changed almost monthly. They caught up quickly whenever flaws or to counter the Germans new tech. The Shermans also did well in Korea, not as well as the new Pershings but better than the T-34's did. The Sherman Jumbos were great at taking fortresses and assaults of fortified positions. A lot was going on in the arms race, in very short time spans, so just because something got surpassed in February doesn't mean it wasn't viable and upgraded by, say, August, so it's a matter of what day or month it is re being a 'piece of shit' or 'great'.
Some 'civilians' were winning small skirmishes in VN with .38 Police Specials versus AK's, after all, so don't go overboard on touting up tech.
the advantage the Sherman had was you could take it with you. Just load it up on the ships and take it with you. Yes, there were better tanks but not as portable that were as good. The Sherman was very important in the Pacific as well as Africa, Italy, D-day, Southern France and more.