Did the Allied Forces get better tanks or did the Germans?

Answer 1

The Germans had superior tanks but the allies had numerical superiority. The allies tanks were also faster and more maneuverable, but had less firepower and were easier to destroy. On the western front, no comparison.....German tanks were far superior to anything the British/Americans put out. Three German tanks could take out ten American tanks without suffering a single casualty. Trouble was, Germany lacked air power and fuel, so this huge potential advantage was negated. On the Russian front, it is more complex. The Russian T34 was an excellent tank and just coming into major production late summer 1941. The T34 was hardly perfect however. Advantages would be speed, traction, sloped armor, handling, and mass production ability. Disadvantages were rate of fire due to crew members having multiple jobs and lack of communications. The German tank forces excelled at command and control. Thus the German huge victories on the open steppe. The Russian tanks, well made, lacked this command and control ability and generally had to rely on numerical advantage/mass. This situation is, to me, similar to the British advantage over the Spanish Armada. The Spanish had large, well built ships with lots of firepower. The English had smaller, more nimble ships that could out manuever the Spanish. Ultimately the English won. Of course, Germany lost but that is more due to lack of air cover and fuel as noted above. Also, the combined Allied armies produced probably three tanks for every one the Germans produced. Hard to beat those kind of numbers, whatever your qualitative advantage.