Originally Posted by Huntsman
Pitt's tank "Fury" ia a Sherman M4E8 "Easy 8"with the 76 mm gun.
With HVAP ammo it was more than capable of taking out any German tank up to Tiger MKVI. Like in the movie.

Testing of the time showed the 17 lber was slightly better but the APCR they used had atrocious accuracy.

The German guns had a bit more pen range tho and they would try to stand off at the limit of range allied tanks could pen them.
The German Panther and Tiger were rushed into service and were not properly developed at the time they first were put into service. Nor were they ever around in significant numbers.
Panthers were extremely prone to breakdowns.
Lucky for the Allies!

The Sherman was actually a very fine combat tank, tho the early versions were optimized more for infantry support.
They had a decent 75mm gun.
When the first info came out about improved German tanks they put the 76mm into it.

Pretty well all armor forces of WWII experienced severe casualties. Most tank casualties came from anti tank guns more so than tank vs tank.
The difference for the Allies was that they out produced the Germans in tanks by a huge margin.

The Germans initially had very fine tank crews well trained and motivated. They made the difference for their side. Many late war Tiger crews had very large kill totals.

I saw the movie tonite and took it for what it is. I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

Bit of a Tank history buff here ...LOL.


I seem to recall the original 75mm had a better HE round which was considered very good for general purpose Infantry support which was why there was some reluctance to change.
Eventually, as the armour on German tanks improved, one of the senior American officers in Europe (Patton?)is supposed to have said: "Don't send me any more Shermans with the 75mm�..

As noted towed anti tank guns and tank destroyers played a far bigger ant-iarmour role than tends to be appreciated today..


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