What if Germany develop mass produced tanks

Yes, they did something like that, the Panzerjager Hornisse or Nashorn on a PzIV chassis. Not quite what you expected, is it?

 

Looks like it could of used more thought to it. That or the Chassis is too small for much.

 

the Marder (I,II,II), Nashorn/Hornisse and the Elephant/Ferdinand were true panzer jagers designed specifically just to hunt out tanks from a distance (which explains the thin skin surrounding the gun crew) until they came out with the jagdpanzers (Hetzer, jagdpz IV, jagdpanther, jagdtiger). These being more successful due to low Silhouette and better crew protection.

"The Panzerjäger (abbreviated to PzJg in German) were anti-tank vehicles produced by taking an existing anti-tank gun complete with gun shield from its carriage and mounting it on a tracked chassis to give a mobile anti-tank gun.

Development of the Panzerjäger idea started before the start of the war and continued until about 1943 when the better protected Jagdpanzer ("Hunting tanks") designs took over. Panzerjäger continued to serve until the end of the war."

Panzerjäger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Those are the operative words. An anti-tank gun is as the name describes a gun designed to kill tanks. The unit commanding officer will decide on his overall anti-tank defence fire plan and locate his assets accordingly, siting his ATGs, panzerfausts, whatever, to cover the approach avenues he determines as most posing a risk.

Therefore the ATGs will have to be towed into their selected position, ammunition dumps located, close defence infantry sited, shelters dug, camouflage arranged, etc., there are a lot of preparations, it's not only a matter of dropping a gun here and the devil may care.

Problem is that if the enemy doesn't quite behave as expected the fire defence plan will not quite work and the guns will have to be relocated. Now moving a towed gun, be it by wheeled tractor, horse, Skffz 10, whatever, is a a protracted business and a very very vulnerable one, something not to be done in the heat of action. An ATG once sited is more than likely to stay put.

Also an ATG may be perfectly camouflaged, but once it fires for the first time everyone and his dog will know where it is, attracting all manner of fire in retaliation, that's what artillery and mortars are for.

Therefore the need for mobile ATGs, which is what these Panzerjagers were, ATGs with a set of tracks underneath to provide mobility to scamper off to another firing position. Also helpful is the limited amount of armour plate, which was good enough for infantry small arms and a modicum of shell splinters.

Of course these Panzerjagers had to be expensive and limited in number, therefore available only to a select few units, especially those who already contained some measure of logistical support for heavy vehicles, beyond the means of the regular infantry division.

 

Yes, well they become "tank hunters" that gets off topic of one tank for all kind of thing I suggested.

 

Its the fuel Issue, That hurt Germany its tanks when ran and had fuel were great. I have read they had like 10 to 1 kill ratio against Russian T-34s in some cases. The Sherman were not up to German, Or Russain tanks later on in the war. Its they ran and were more dependable then anything Germany had. Plus big plus here Americans were able to repair Sherman in the field very fast and any part that was able to be reused was. Sorry if I got off subject. The Omega

 

You also have to have men capable of using the technology in those tanks. Hitler´s strategy was both getting the troops short of men and also built new units with no adequate know-how of their equipment.