what was the best tank in the world in ww2???????????

Answer 1

To be accuretaly saying, German Tiger I and Tiger II would be the answer.

But, most of the WW 2 historians say the best tank is Soviet T-34. Why?

It is because, the T-34 has the best balance in productivity, firepower, armor, and good speed.

The Tiger I, which was regarded as the best tank ever made, has 88mm gun. The 88mm gun was actually first used for the anti-aircraft gun before the development of the Tiger I.

The Tiger I also has a superior protective armor ever developed during the WW 2. If any tank was met with the Tiger I "head-on" (facing front each other), there was no way to destroy the Tiger, by any allied tanks.

During the Russian campain, there is a record that a Tiger I was hit by the Russian T-34s over 240 times, but the Tiger managed to advance further 40 miles despite its transmission, and some other parts damaged.

Okay, then why the WW 2 historians are not choosing the Tiger as the best tank?

First, the Tiger I and Tiger II are every expensive to build. Also, it is very difficult and time consuming to build. Tiger I and II designs are not suited for mass production, because the German engineers focused only on the performance superiority, so how much it would cost and how many hours it would be needed to build weren't really cared.
So they were built surprisingly low numbers during the actually WW 2.

And the Tiger 2 has the building cost that is equal to building three fighter plane. the And the Tiger 2 was too heavy that the engineers had to build the special bridges for them.

Second, the Tigers were gas guzzlers. They consumed large amount of fuel like a mad man's endless eating.

What was really velnerable to Tigers were not what they were; it was what everything goes with it. The fuel trucks, ammo trucks, logistics convoy. You attack them, the tank is useless.



Now, let's focus on what make the T-34 the best tank during the WW2.

First, it is extremely easy and fast, cheap to build the tank. When you take a look at the design of the T-34, you'll notice they are mostly simple rounded, and flat.

They were built about 84,070 ! To contrast, the German Tigers were built 1,355 (hard to believe!).

Second, as mentioned above, it is very well-balanced on firepower (76.2mm gun), good speed (53 km/h (33 mph), revolutionary slipping-armor (the angle of the armor is not 90 degrees like Tiger, but it literaly has armor angle that is around 30~40 degree, so the when hit by the enemy canon, the shots would bouce off easily).

When first T-34 appeared on the Russian front, the German Mark 4s just could not beat the T-34; and the to Germans, discoverying the T-34 was a shocking to them, because the Germans regarded the Russians as a inferior, sub-human. They were shocked that the Russians developed such a brilliant tank.


It was a fantastic tank to fight on the Russian front, because of the huge numbers were built and the firepower was resonable (but still inferior to German 88mm). Along with the supporting infantry, the T-34s swarmed to the Germans like a waves of sea.

Now, here is the nasty part of the T-34; while the Tiger has a steering wheel just like a car of today, the T-34 was still driven by two sticks.

Driving the Tiger is very confomtable. But driving T-34 is a pain. It is because the two steering sticks were very stiff, and you have to apply huge force to manuver the tank. There is even a report that the Russian tank crews would carry a big hammer, and whenever they have problems with pushing and pulling the steering sticks, they would slam the stick with the hammer, then the tank would move. This happened especially when changing the gear.

Also, the T-34's armor was designed well, but still not thick enough to endure Tiger's 88mm guns. The Russians took huge casualties from the Germans, but fortunatelly, the Russians won by the numbers and speed (T-34 was also used as infantry carrier vehicle, just like today's APCs).

For your information, while Tiger I was able to knock the T-34 over 1 km, the T-34s were able to inflict damage to Tiger when closing in 400m.

There are much more to say, but since the answer is becoming too long, I will give you the conclusion;

In my view, the best tank made during the WW 2 was Tiger 1 (Tiger 2 is too heavy, too fuel-consuming).

HOWEVER, the Tiger was horrible at the productivity (only 1,355 tanks were bulilt. It's over 10:1, compared to T-34).

The T-34 takes the crown of the WW 2, because it is very easy to build, and the firepower, speed, armor are well-balanced. That was why after the WW2, the T-34 appeared in Korean war, and many other world conflicts to even 1970's.

Answer 2

It actually depends on the year.

After Tiger tanks appeared on the Leningrad front in August 1942, it became apparent that the Soviet tanks needed to be upgunned, so the existing series were developed to produce the T34/85 (medium) and KV85 tanks armed with the 85 mm L/51.5 gun, but it was clear that faced with the Tiger a new heavy tank was needed, which was the IS series.

The IS1A (85 mm) and IS1B (100 mm) were superseded in early 1944 by the IS2, armed with the 122 mm L/43 gun, at the time the most powerful tank gun in service with any army. It could penetrate 185 mm of armour at 1,000 metres, although it was slow to load, being based on an artillery gun, with separate ammunition and initially an interrupted screw breech - later modified to the standard falling wedge type.

The IS2 was considerably lighter than the Tiger, both Ausf E and Ausf B and faster. The the gun could take them both on. It was also more mechanically reliable.

The final version, the IS3, was a substantial redesign, with a much lower profile and heavier armour (200 mm on the turret front), without being heavier overall. 500 had been produced by the end of the war, but issue to units had only just begun and very few were used in action. It was arguably the best tank produced during WWII, but never had a fair test (like the American M26 Pershing and British A34 Comet in this respect, both introduced in small numbers in 1945).

Of course, what we usually fail to take into account in these discussions are the heavy tank destroyers, used by both sides on the Eastern Front. They ensured that none of the tanks were invulnerable. No tank in service offered any sort of guaranteed survival for the crew.

Answer 3

Sherman Tanks: human beings had a good tank in WWII The sherman changed into truly made because of the person-pleasant aspects that were used, making it person-friendly to fix them. They were extensively utilized on D- day with an amphibious attachment. also, it featured both armour piercing and explosive rounds. For the Germans i'd say the tiger tank or the mouse tank. both heavily armoured yet more advantageous hearth capacity and determination. more advantageous acceptable for take on the Sherman. The soviet T34 had sloped armour making it more advantageous secure hmmm dont understand a lot about the others yet those r my possibilities.

Answer 4

I'll take a battalion of heavy tanks Panzerkampfwagen VI Sd.Kfz 182, the King Tiger over a battalion of T-34's anyday...but that's just me.

In reality, the T-34 were more prolific, and thus came out on top although there were not the best.

One lone Tiger (under Michel Witmann) stopped the entire Canadian 3rd Division on their first assault on Caen in 44. Paul Hausser's Tigers beat a Red Army 7 times its size at the 3rd Battle of Kharkov.

But in the end, the number of the Allied tanks won the day....but one on one or in equal numbers, the Tigers always came out on top.

Answer 5

The German Panther had the best mix of armor protection, mobility and firepower. There were a lot more T-34s and M4 Shermans but the Panther was more than a match for them given even numbers. The Tiger was much heavier which restricted it's mobility.

Answer 6

The Ruusian T-34 tank.

Answer 7

I understand why everyone is saying the t34, but i think that they are over looking sheer tank mass. I think that the Sherman is one of the best due to the fact that it was easily mass produced and would do basically whatever you wanted it to do. This means that the Sherman tanks never took on another tank one to one, but a group on one.

Answer 8

Russian T-34 the only tank that got the Germans on the run in the East!!!

Answer 9

Definitely the Soviet T-34

Answer 10

I agree. The T34 put everything else to shame.