The most effective German tank was the Panther. While the Tiger I and II had nearly inpenatreble armor they were very slow, they may have been able to kill any foe with ease and remain alive at the end of the day. The Panther was a much better balance, I don't know why it was never fitted with an 88 its turret was definatly large enough. But the 75mm gun was still excellent and the Panther's armor strong also. The King Tiger really is a combination of the Panther and Tiger but still didn't have the speed of the Panther because of the thick armor. However for a heavy tank Tigers were above average in speed and were also just as deadly psycologically as they were physically.

the most effective German tank of the war and the tank considered the best overall is the mark v panther. it had speed, good armor and a powerful 76mm gun. it was also built in sizeable numbers. the tiger family of tanks were just too heavy and slow and prone to breakdown. they had trouble crossing a number of bridges in Europe and were built in too few numbers to have any real effect on the outcome of the war. less then 325 for the king tiger. there were less than 50 of the hunting tigers built. the panther was good enough to have been used by the french in Vietnam in the 1950's. the only thing the tigers had going for them were the 88mm gun and their thick armor. consider that they were facing 50,000 shermans and 50,000 t-34's. the numbers were not in their favor. Patton's rule of thumb for facing panthers was 5 shermans attacking each panther.

Strictly speaking of tanks (SP guns and Tank destroyers aside) I should say the Panther "G" (Pz.Kpf.Wg. V) which had a 75mm L/70 (caliber length)gun, far superior to anything the allies had, except perhaps the 17 pounder british gun and the 85mm Russian gun in the T-34 M'43. "G" version had a good balance between armor, mobility and fuel consumption; and also left behind the mechanical failures found in "A" and "D" versions. Royal Tigers (Pz. Kpf. Wg. VI "B") as british called them were good weapons but in general lacked mobility and were mechanicaly unreliable, also they consumed huge amounts of fuel (5 liters per kilometer +/-, sorry I do not know in miles/galons). Yet they were excellent defensive weapons, despite of their size.

To this question, it might be more appropriate to look at WWII in a overall scope.

1939 - mid 1942: PzIII mid 1942 - late 1942: PzIV 'Special' late 1942 - early/mid 1943: Tiger early/mid 1943 - 1945: Panther

The most powerful German tank would be the JagdTiger with it's 122mm main gun and huge amounts of armor - altho not a "tank" technically, but a "tank hunter" (also, as stated, not produced in any sufficient number to really of made an impact). Some also might consider the "Maus" to be the most powerful German tank, but it never left the development stage. Not to mention both held signs saying "bomb me" due to their monstraousity.

The PzIII and PzIV 'Special' were literally the workhorse of the German Army - they were the most commonly faced and commonly deployed. Even up till the end, the PzIV 'Special' showed it faced consistantly.

In actuality, the Panther is a derivative of the Russian T34 (meaning that they based the Panther on an examination of the T34 chassis).

The Panther had a better gun than the Tiger (in terms of armor penetration), slopped armor (good for deflecting shots), good suspension and mobility (incredibly important for military strategy and operational effectiveness), and when fielded with a good crew and put in numbers was the beast of the battlefield.

In tank design, there is 3 factors which determine how "good" a tank is: Firepower, Armor, Speed/Mobility. Concentrating on one usually produces a negative effect on the other two - its all about finding the healthy median. With the Tiger, it lacked Speed/Mobility but excelled in Firepower and Armor, but the Panther found itself a very well suited median, and that's why it is commonly named as the best overall German tank.

After studying tanks for years now, I have actually found a better question to ask, "What is your favorite German tank?". My response - .... still undecided ;)

PzIV AUSF.H OR J MODELS. AFTER ALL THEY WERE THE WORKHORSE OF THE GERMAN ARMY.

The early German tanks were effective for their speed in which they crossed land = blitzkreig

Did not mean they were outstanding tanks though, but were deadly in organised formation.

Probably the most effective German Tank was the Panther (Panzer V) for it's armour and firepower and relative mobility but suffered from reliability, and it's road wheels on the eastern front would freeze up in the morning frost, leaving them vulnerable through immobility

It had a disastrous start at its debut at The Battle of Kursk where it suffered mechanical problems, but after these were fixed, it went on to have a fearsome reputation in combat, particulary with the Western allies.

The Tiger Tanks 1 and 2 were formiddable in armour, firepower, but not in agility or reliability, where it suffered problems from wheels freezing up on the Eastern Front, and the engine and gears was overstressed by the weight of the Tank.

The Tiger was best used in ambush, for it was slow. Michael Whittman, who commanded a Tiger Tank on the Eastern Front and on the Western Front, took out 35 Sherman Tanks with his one Tiger in an ambush in Normandy.

I would say the Panther was the most effective German Tank when reliable, and its Tank hunter variation Jagdpanther was most effective German Tank destroyer.

Not the best and most effective Tank of WW2 however.

That is reserved for either the T-34/85 Medium Soviet Tank, an upgunned version of the original T-34/76 Medium Tank or the IS-2 Soviet Heavy Tank.

The T-34/85 was derived from the T-34/76 which influenced the Panther to be made when encountered much to German fright in the Soviet Union.

It had an 85mm gun, just slightly below the effectiveness of the Panther, so had great firepower, great armour uparmoured from the T-34/76, had awesome agility, and great reliability.

The Panther and Tiger could only match it on two factors, firepower and armour.

The IS-2 Heavy Tank had a 122mm gun, could blow a Tiger and Panther's turret off it's mount from a distance as well as close up, had formiddable armour, was classified as a Heavy Tank, but weighed the same or less as a Panther Tank, which was classed as a Medium Tank.

It had firepower, armour and reliability and good mobility.

Those four factors is what makes an effective and awesome tank.

Most effective Tank Destroyer, is between the SU-100, JagdPanther and SU-152, but that's another topic!

I'd say say the most effective tank would have had to be the last models of Panther, the very few which were manufacutred with an '88' in place of the 76mm gun. The Panther had a superb blend of well-sloped thick armor, superb speed and maneuverability and when compared to the Tiger (And especially the K�nigstiger and it's anti-tank spin-off, the JagdTiger) was relatively reliable.

When you talk of German Tanks and Armour, we all think of the Tiger, JadTiger, Panthers, and King Tigers. My favorite is the Mark IV. It served on all fronts (Eastern Front, Western Front, Africa, Italy, and even the fall of Berlin). Its main attributes were reliability and it was upgradeable. With a competent crew it was more than a match for any allied tank on any front And it did the brunt of the fighting throughout the war. Proving it was a real workhorse. Another favorite armoured vehicle is the Stug-III OR IV Assault Gun. The Russians really feared this vehicle and a couple of Stug's would routinely show up and destroy large numbers of soviet tanks attacking German Infantry. I would love to talk both Russian and German tankers to get their point of view. I know the Germans had more awesome armour, but while the Tigers were getting flattend on the roads leading to Normandy, those Mark IVs and Stugs were suviving because they could get off the roads, cutting through woods/Forrest and avoid allied aircraft. The Mark IV fought from the early stages of WW2 until the 70's in numeorus Middle Eastern Conflicts. Lets see the Tiger match that service record.

With out a doubt, it would have to be the Panzer V (Panther G). As stated before this tank best blending all the attributes of an effective armoured vehical. A small # of these where eqiuped with Infra-red night sights for night fighting. Coupled with the tactical prowess the German commanders and crews displayed throughout the war, the end result was a dangerous envirnment for allied tank crews.

The most effective German tank of the war was the Panther (all models). The Panther had a very good combination of firepower, armor and mobility. In addition, Germany built ~5000 and had material effect on the battlefield.

The Panzer Mark IV. It destroyed more allied tanks than any other German tank and more of them were built than any other tank. The Panther was a far better tank but in numbers of kills that goes to the Mark IV. Shangster

Well according to Otto Carius the, "Tiger" was the best tank. He should know he is credited with over 150 tank kills in WWII. He and his Tiger took out everything from Soviet T-34's, Stalin's, and Shermans. Upkeep and maintenance were something of a problem but something as groundbreaking and modern as the "Tiger" was couldn't be properly tested and troubleshot, if you will. The T-34's had a 76mm gun that wasn't a joke but compared to the "Tiger's" 88mm main gun there was no comparison. With a kill range of 900 meters on the sloped armour of a T series Soviet tank is very impressive and only the Soviet Stalin tank with it's 122mm gun could match the "Tiger's"killing range. The Panther was a great tank but it didn't instill, "Tigerphobia"!!!

The Panther and Tiger tanks had one major problem, they were too well designed making them slow to build and difficult repair in the field. I would not have been very happy in Sherman (Tommy-cooker to the Germans, Ronson to the British) but they could be turned out quickly. Repair wasn' much use after an 88mm shell had found it's target!

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