M4 Sherman vs Tiger

[Greybeard]

Hello All,

I've read many books placed in WW2.. I always thought it interesting that so often the writers talk about 'Tigers' and '88's.. with only the occasional mention of a Panther later in the war.. SP guns were pretty unmistakeable - but given the superior performance of the German guns/optics in North Africa/Italy/France compared to the US Sherman it's no wonder that everything became a 'Tiger' or '88' especially since barely 3000 Tiger 1's were produced.. compared to Panther and Mk-4 production the Tiger was a rare cat..

Along time ago I saw a photo of Russian tank crews standing on a dead Tiger at Kursk.. you could count 15 odd hits on the portion of the Turret that you could see the Ruskies standing on - and only 1 was a hole.. made me wonder how many other Dents/pocks there were that you couldn't see..

the biggest thing that the Sherman had going for it was rugged reliability, and large numbers..

For the P-38.. thanks Grumbler - I knew that the cold and wet had dire effects on reliability.. with the 'L' model the oil coolers had a means of controlling the qty of air passing thru.. so the oil didn't run so cold and starve out the engine's oil system..

-Greybeard