WWII tank wank

so I know there have been a lot of talks in here about german super tanks and how they were completely impractical. However I was wondering what it would take to make them moreso? for instance although a bit ASB perhaps airborne munitions are less effective, at least as far as close air support goes, or some kind of armor is developed that is more susceptible to high velocity rounds but less so to explosives. So give me your thoughts?
 

The Sandman

Banned
Well, first you need some different laws of physics to allow them to move at more than a snail's pace once you've loaded them up with guns and armor. Assuming that you can actually make workable tracks for them, anyway.
 
What about a more conventional wank--increasing their effectiveness?

Suppose that Germany decides to begin researching a more advanced medium tank design in 1939 to replace the Panzer IV--so that in Barbarossa, Germany has its own Panzer V; not a Panther, but a much more solid design with the ability to shoot through a B1-Bis' armor.

Japan, having sent advisors to the SCW to study German Tactics, respond to that war by developing their own tank models for their war against China.

The US and UK both invest more in tank technology, because Germany's counterfactual Pz V is more than a match for their own designs.

Inspired by German progress, Italy responds by attempting to make its own variations of the Pz IV and V.

Finally, Stalin, recognizing that war is on the horizon, rushes the T-34s. By the End of the war, the Soviet Union is mass producing T-55s instead.

Basically, everyone invests more in tanks, they all get more benefits from the investment. Silly ideas like the Maus are never developed, and instead, the German "Secret Endgame" tank is something that has major advances in efficiency instead of size; a tank that goes faster and gets better mileage for the same sized engine.

I guess I just don't see the Axis and Allies powers building insane 1,000 ton machines as a real wank.
 
so no chance of a super land battleship? :( and I wanted a real life version of the fat boy from SC

Thing is, that's not really a Tank Wank. A Giant Land Battleship is basically a really poorly thought out "bomb this" target. Its actually the exact opposite of a wank--this would be a tank "screw", since Germany would be blowing its budget on these vehicles instead of just upgrading its "Panzer Vs", which probably would have been the best idea.

The Tiger is generally viewed as a mistake for simply being too large and taking too much resources--too little bang for their buck. The Maus was a 150 gas guzzler that offers much less than the four lesser tanks Germany could have had instead.

You have to balance production and combat power, and given the Maus' immobility and great height profile (as well as its external gas tank), I think it questionable that the Maus would even fight as well as a Tiger in practice.

Landcruiser? Not going to happen, unless Speer has quit and Hitler is personally ordering the thing. BTW, that's going to be a big gift for Hitler to Stalin--the 200 odd tanks that Germany DIDN'T MAKE to build this machine. And perhaps even 200 is being conservative, seeing as how there is zero economy of scale here.

So, to clarify, do you mean you want Germany screwing itself with giant, and comparaitvely useless tanks, or Germany to play harder and build more, dangerous designs?
 
The US and UK both invest more in tank technology, because Germany's counterfactual Pz V is more than a match for their own designs.

So what'd they have? I understand the US has the M26 Pershing (and those Sherman Jumbos), but for the real heavies, they might as well mount the T28's gun on some better chassis.

For the British I was hoping that the 3.7in AA (A32 Tortoise) be mounted on something more manuverable. Of course, this is besides the Centurion.

What about the French?
 
What about a more conventional wank--increasing their effectiveness?
Suppose that Germany decides to begin researching a more advanced medium tank design in 1939 to replace the Panzer IV--so that in Barbarossa, Germany has its own Panzer V; not a Panther, but a much more solid design with the ability to shoot through a B1-Bis' armor.

The nazis only invaded on the basis that they could defeat russia within 1-2 years, they weren't expecting a long war. Thus the panther and tiger were designed to be used by smaller numbers of elite mechanised units that would be deployed on the envisaged far eastern frontier by the urals.
I don't really see germany going for a halfway house between the panther and the panzer IV, it doesn;t really fit in with the ideology of racial supremacy they had or the autocratic nature of a fascist economy.

The only chance of a proper tank wank is if the germans somehow take moscow and the russians then put the IS series into play come '44 with the nazis in a better psoition than they were in 0TL. In this scenario I can imagine the germans resorting to some pretty mental designs, not that they'd be likely to be successful.
 
Top