I wonder how the war would have been if Hitler had mass produced the Pz.Kpfw. IV with the long 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun instead of the panther or even the tiger.
I wonder how the war would have been if Hitler had mass produced the Pz.Kpfw. IV with the long 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun instead of the panther or even the tiger.
Dragged the war out a little bit longer, but not much else.
As much as the Panther and Tiger tanks messed up production/logistics, it ultimately boiled down to a long term slugging match which Germany couldn't win.
The translation note could be misleading. While "Panzerkampfwagen" directly translates to "armoured fighting vehicle" (or "armoured combat car" if we are litteral) it actually means "tank". Other vehicles that are armoured fighting vehicles, including tanks, are collectively called "panzer", but no armoured fighting vehicle other than tanks are called "Panzerkampfwagen".
To avoid confusion the note should say "Tank" and not "Armoured Fighting Vehicle" as it currently does. I'm going to change it.
I wonder how the war would have been if Hitler had mass produced the Pz.Kpfw. IV with the long 7.5 cm KwK 40 gun instead of the panther or even the tiger.
Believe it or not, the Panther was actually CHEAPER to build than the Pz IV, from what I've read.
It may have been cheaper (where did you read that from, anyways?), but it was a whole lot less reliable and harder to maintain and repair.
Sorry, I was wrong. According to WikiPedia, it was not cheaper to build than the Pz IV, though it was only modestly more expensive and a much more potent weapon. It was far cheaper than the Tiger, though, and much, much easier to mass produce.
The reliability issues were real and at no time was more than around half of all existing Panthers at the front line combat ready.
