The T-34 was the greatest tank of World War II

IntroWhen going about evaluating what makes a great tank, one must use a set criteria. The best criteria for evaluating tanks consist of design and performance. The German Panther embodied a balance of great firepower, tremendous armor protection, and dynamic mobility unmatched by any other tank of the period. The tank benefitted from superior design, and consequently, superior performance and a tenacious fighting prowess. The manufacturing efficiency of the factories producing the tanks says almost nothing about the actual tanks' abilities, so this should not be taken into account when deciding which tank was indeed greater than the other. Many of my opponent's arguments against the Panther are relatively unfounded or insignificant, because the "over-engineering" issues were quickly resolved and production numbers increased of the Panzer V Panthers.C1: DesignThe German Panzer V Panther tank had quite definitely the most elegant design of any tank in World War II. It featured superior German engineering that was state-of-the-art for 1942, whereas the T-34 was lagging behind technologically as it was designed in 1937. [1] [2]a) ArmorWhile both tank designs featured the recent development of sloped armor, the armor of the German Panther was greater than the armor of the Soviet T-34 in relative thickness, density, and strength. The Pather's front armor was 80mm thick of strong, durable homogenous steel that was both welded and and interlocked for strength; the Soviet T-34 had only 45-47mm of front armor, making it more vulnerable to tank destroyers, bazookas, and tanks than the Panther. The Panther and T-34 had relatively the same weaknesses in other parts of the armor; however, with the Panther's superior speed, its weaknesses were less likely to be hit than the T-34's due to the superior mobility and maneuverability it offered. The Panther had 40mm more armor on its turret than the T-34.My opponent claimed that the side armor of the Panther wasn't sloped; and therefor, less of a good tank. However, the Panther did have sloped side armor that was angled better than the T-34's side armor to deflect rounds more easily and protect the superior Panther five-man crews.b) ArmamentWhile the Panzer V Panther was of only average caliber for its time, the it's main gun was a more powerful tank gun than the T-34's, because of its large propellant charge and very long barrel, which resulted in a very high muzzle velocity and superior armor-piercing characteristics. The Panther also featured two MG 34 machine guns specifically designed for use in armored combat vehicles that had an armored barrel sleeve.As far as firepower, In 1943, when the Panther's were initially employed into combat, the 76mm gun of the T-34 could not penetrate the Panther's hull front armour and was "out-ranged by the Panther's long 75mm and the Tiger's 88mm."c) CabinThe cabin of the Panzer V Panther was clearly superior to the cabin of the T-34, which was described as suffering from an "unsatisfactory ergonomic layout" in which a "two-man turret-crew arrangement required the commander to aim and fire the gun, an arrangement common to most Soviet tanks of the day." This made the T-34 less successful in subsequent firing and tactical position-grabbing. The Panther made use of its increased space to allow for a much more efficient three-man turret crew that allowed for tactical and firing advantages.The cabin of the Panther allowed for a three-man turret-crew, and a five-man crew in total, which outnumbered the T-34's crew by one man. So, on plain numerics, the Panther was the winner here, but further exacerbating the T-34's terrible cabin and numerical shortcoming was the fact that German crewman were far and away superior than Russian crews. The Russians tank corps were filled with illiterate conscripts that were unable to properly use the tanks.d) Engine The Panther featured a Maybach HL 210 P30 engine, V-12 gasoline engine which delivered 650 metric hp at 3,000 rpm and had three simple air filters, whereas the T-34 had a 12-cylinder diesel model v-2 at500 hp. So, the Panher had a better engine, which accounts for its greater speed than the T-34, 55 km/h compared to 53 km/h, respectively.A point my opponent brought up was that the engine of the Panther was useless, because "by the time the Panther had been introduced Germany was on the defensive" However, that is a fallacious statement, because we are trying to determine what was indeed the best tank of World War II regardless of the situations of the changing tide of the war. One could say that the T-34 was useless in the Cold War, because the United States could have just shot a nuclear weapon at it, but that doesn't get at the fundamental issues of what makes a great tank; it just serves as a red herring to divert us away from our concepts of tankology. If my opponent wants to claim the speed of the T-34 to his advantage, because the Soviets were winning on the Eastern Front, he may claim the relatively high speed, but not based on the circumstances surrounding the tank's advancement, but because of the actual performance of the tank, even thought the speed of the T-34 was less than the Panzer by 2km/h.TurretThe Panther's turret was covered in 100mm steel armor that made the gun mantlet unable to be penetrated by the M4's 75 mm gun, the T-34's 76.2 mm gun, or the T-34-85s 85 mm gun. The T-34's turret's front was covered in 60mm of steel armor, making it a much easier victim for the higher-velocity shot from a Panzer V Panther. Also, my opponent mentioned that the Panther was subjected to a problem of rounds bouncing off the turrent mantlet and exploding on the "thin top armor." There are two problems with this verbal attack:1) The T-34's turret mantlet is a much more likely candidate of being completely destroyed by a Panther hit, making the attack effective.2) If the T-34's round was deflected, the chances of it falling on the top armor were slim, as the round is travelling extremely fast, and a deflection would likely knock the round off to the side in a diagonal from the initial impact point. Steering and transmissionFor now I'll post a quote, "From the point of view of operating them, the German armoured machines were more perfect, they broke down less often. For the Germans, covering 200 km was nothing, but with T-34s something would have been lost, something would have broken down. The technological equipment of [Germany's] machines was better.Next round I'll show how German's Panzer V Panther's superior design equated to superior performance.SOURCESDrabkin & Sheremet 2006, p. 43.Zaloga 1994, p.16.Forczyk 2007, p. 4Spielberger 1993, p. 60