Which country really had the best tech in WWII?

[SLN445]

Until they got upgunned, better armoured and/or converted into solid TD versions that is.

[Tankfriend]

Definetely nnot the Chinese... they were still using swords and spears!

Heh, they weren't very far tech-wise compared to everyone else, but they weren't as blatantly backwards as this throughout, either. They had their share of firearms and vehicles, some of which were badly outdated, while others were copies of pretty capable designs. A good deal of their service rifles were copies of the German Mauser Gewehr 98, for example. Not to mention foreign military aid shipments that brought more modern equipment into the country, too.

[StugIII]

Early German tanks were pretty garbage too...Pz II, early Pz III and Pz IV, none of them could compare to T-34s, KVs, Char B1 or SOMUA S35.

Until the Russian monsters were released, the early Panzers pretty much steamrolled straight through Russia... I mean, T-60s and T-26s were useless against the German war machine.

[Wulfburk]

USA: M3 stuarts were just garbage. It wasn't unntil the Lee came that they actually had a chance in North Africa.

USA only got to north africa when there were shermans and churchills rolling around the british army, but by then they were fighting the Tiger 1 already in Tunisia.

[Cyclops]

Until the Russian monsters were released, the early Panzers pretty much steamrolled straight through Russia... I mean, T-60s and T-26s were useless against the German war machine.

? KVs and T34s were in service June 1941. "Both types were encountered on the second day of the invasion – 23 June 1941" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...4_and_KV_tanks so I think what you mean is "all Soviet tanks were useless against the German war machine until Stalin came out of shock and Soviet doctrine adjusted".

Its a fair point about the composition of German tank forces, in Barbarossa the Wehrmacht panzer divisions had mostly PzIII's with PzII's the next most common: PzIV's not even the most numerous type. IIRC there were as many Czech tanks as PzIVs (not sure but its something silly like this). I found this astounding when I first read it as a young fella. All you hear about the Germans in WW2 is Tigers and Panthers: in reality all their gains were made with mid-1930's designs.

The "Blitzkrieg" (yes I know this term is controversial, lets say "Springtime for Hitler") phase of the war was on the back of the Pz III (OK along with the Stuka, Messerschmitt, etc etc it was a team effort) . The only significant operational success not spearheaded by forces composed primarily of Pz IIIs was Fell Blau. Considering the quality of French tanks and aircraft it is a tribute to the organisational and doctrinal superiority of the German forces they won such comprehensive victories West and East.

[StugIII]

USA only got to north africa when there were shermans and churchills rolling around the british army, but by then they were fighting the Tiger 1 already in Tunisia.

Churchills were not used a lot in Africa. What I meant to say was the Lee was one of the only effective tanks in early North Africa, considering the Cruiseres pop guns.

[SLN445]

The Matilda tanks with their heavy Armour where fairly effective in the early stages of the North African Campaign, required the use of the 88 in order to take them down easily before the Germans could upgun their tanks.

[humble]

Churchills were not used a lot in Africa. What I meant to say was the Lee was one of the only effective tanks in early North Africa, considering the Cruiseres pop guns.

British AT guns were among the best in WW2. The 2 pdr, 6 pdr and 17 pdr were every bit as deadly as any German design. It is a mistake to denigrate the 2 pdr (40mm) when it was a very capable weapon.

[Tankfriend]

It is a mistake to denigrate the 2 pdr (40mm) when it was a very capable weapon.

Early on, and against lightly armoured targets later on, at least. Basically, the same thing happened to the 37mm PaK 36 on the German side, too.

[SLN445]

I'm not sure about the PaK 36 but with the 2 pdr it had the large issue of not having a high explosive option, which made it useless outside of Anti-tank roles.

The 37mm PaK 36 apprently was able to penetrate 180mm thick Armour when equipped with Stielgranate 41 ammunition, though it was horribly innaccurate with an effective range of roughly 300m and required the gunners to expose themselves to load the thing.

[Tankfriend]

I'm not sure about the PaK 36 but with the 2 pdr it had the large issue of not having a high explosive option, which made it useless outside of Anti-tank roles.

It had an HE shell available, though I'm not sure how effective it would have been at that small a caliber. Maybe just enough for MG nests.

The 37mm PaK 36 apprently was able to penetrate 180mm thick Armour when equipped with Stielgranate 41 ammunition, though it was horribly innaccurate with an effective range of roughly 300m and required the gunners to expose themselves to load the thing.

Yeah, but that was probably born from the desperate need to make any and all equipment work for as long as possible due to the deteriorating conditions in the war. Had the UK been in the same position, who knows what they might have done with the 2pdr gun.

[SLN445]

It had an HE shell available, though I'm not sure how effective it would have been at that small a caliber. Maybe just enough for MG nests.

Yeah, but that was probably born from the desperate need to make any and all equipment work for as long as possible due to the deteriorating conditions in the war. Had the UK been in the same position, who knows what they might have done with the 2pdr gun.

While there where HE shells available, most sources i can find suggest that it was either not implemented into active service or in very small amounts.

A lot of interesting things are born out of desperation