Snake Featherston
Banned
Why do you all think the T-34/76 was worth copying?
I believe the late model Panzer IV or even the Sherman was a better all around vehicle. The T-34 worked for the Russians because their ideas were that the vehicle's entire life was measured in days or weeks. Crew comfort and efficiency wasn't important because their crews didn't last all that long either. The 76 mm gun on the T-34 wasn't particularly powerful.
As for the best tank of the war, my preference is the late model Panther. It was very fast, had a wonderful gun (better than the 88 mm in the Tiger I) and had good armour all around and very heavy armour in front. The Tiger I wasn't all that bad either with better armour all around. For a lighter vehicle, the Easy 8 Sherman was pretty decent.
Another point to consider is that every nation was building tanks to their own operational theories and practices. An Infantry tank had different requirements and purpose than a Cruiser tank....
- Ivan.
And both of them broke down at the least possibility for them to do so, while the Sherman and T-34 were quite powerful, well-armored, and most crucially actually were reliable machines. German armor was overengineered and tended to break down far too much to be viable at a warfighting level.