The Germans built 22050, the British 27019 and the US 88410 tanks from one source I have. Even if you remove the 191 light tanks, 127 Matilda 1's, 484 A24 Cavalier, 1728 A13 Covenantors and 3779 Crusader gun tanks, that still leaves 20710 tanks of decent to excellent levels of quality built during WW2. The US did not make a bad tank in WW2 at all.
Essentially, Britain, Canada and the USA built 5 times as many decent tanks, as the Germans made total tanks, which includes 2228 Pz1's and 1856 PzII's which lacked any type of AT ability. With T-34 production, we are talking around x8 more, and that does not include the T-70, KV-1's KV-2's, KV-85, IS-1 & IS-2. The Germans really needed quality to gain parity. The Tiger 1 did give them tactical superiority in 1943, where fielded, but was always in too few numbers. In 1943, the Panthers lack of reliability meant that it was more likely to be out of action than killing a T-34. You only need to look at Kursk to appreciate that fact. Even the Panther G still had final drive issues, and was too large and heavy for what it added to an army. Its sides were too weak, but worst of all, was the lack of vision sight for the crew, most were blind when the hatches were closed.
At the beginning of the war, many believe the Pz III was the best tank of the war. It was the preferred medium of the Heer, when they had their significant victories. It had reasonable armour, adequate gun, and decent mobility. On paper it looks okay enough, but it had a fatal flaw that probably cost Germany the war. It was unreliable. When Germany attacked Poland in 39, only 1 out of the 67 Pz III's that took part was still running after a month, half of those from breakdowns. The same breakdown rate was true for the first month of Barbarossa. The real 'crime' of the PzIII was that the apparent losses of this tank during the conquest of France definitely contributed to the infamous 'Halt' order, which allowed around a third of a million French and British troops to escape. The two Front war cost Hitler his planned empire.
The only really decent tanks that Germany made were the Pz II and Pz IV. The II was uber reliable, and effective, not when fighting, but outflanking, and pouring through gaps in the enemy line, and preventing enemy logistics being effective. They could also shoot up enemy artillery. They were still handy in 41, but completely outdated, even as a recon afv 42.
The Pz IV had adequate armour and mobility. A simpler design than the III, it always had two excellent points. The first was that it always had a decent gun, and both had a decent HE round, especially the earlier model with the howitzer. So useful was this gun, that it was fitted to all manner of other afv's, such as early Stug's, half tracks, armoured cars and even PZ III's when they realised it was no longer a useful battle tank. The second was that the IV had fantastic ergonomics for the crew.
No German tank was overall better than a Sherman, Cromwell or Churchill. The Germans did not have the best tanks.
confused.
