Rommel vs. Patton in single tank combat

Split from "Who had the best and the worst tanks in WW2?"

I don't know if this is true or not, but i heard GEneral patton wished he could do single combat with Rommel in tanks to decied the fate of the war.

Rommel would have a panzer III or IV because it was in North Africa, Patton would have a Sherman. How do you thinks wins? They had equal armament, but I say Rommel has the armour advantage and wins, plus Shermans burned like a torch if hit in the engine.

 

Ooh Wspauldo12! You are on dangerous ground suggesting that Sherman's were flamable. Other phrases to avoid are 'Ronson' and 'Tommy cooker'.

Patton would have got out of the tank and used his six-shooters. Although Rommel and other German Generals had a lot of respect for Patton, Rommel would have either: (a) been too smart to turn up or (b) predicted what Patton would do and nipped round the back of the sherman to syphon off the petrol for the DAK.

On a more realsitic note, gun versus gun, pzIV F2/G would probably have the edge over early Sherman 75mm. The pzIII J would also give early Shermans a run for their money. However, a cold comparison of gun Vs armour stats does not show how a tank would actually perform in the field, there are just too many factors and variables to take into account.

 

At least he wont get torched ( please pardon the pun ) for writing it anymore.

 

nice points. i especially like the "Patton would have got out and used his 6-shooter. :bang:

on a side not, Patton was put in several different places in the world before leading the dummy army so the Germans would be second guessing even more.

Hitler also once called Patton "That crazy American cowboy"

 

The Sherman in any version has an armour advantage over the Panzer III and IV because of slope. The thickness of its armour was comparable to that of the PanzerIV but the German tank had little slope if any on the glacis plate.

In terms of gun the PanzerIV's late gun way outmatches the Sherman's early gun, but the late M4 was at least equal to it in firepower.

The PanzerIV does have an edge in mobility because it's lighter than the Sherman, but the latter is more manoueverable and reliable.

 

Depends on when the duel would be.

If in the Desert, the Pz.IV or Pz.III would be roughly comparable to the Sherman, with the Pz.IV being ahead on main armament (depending on the model!), and the Pz.III being behind on the armour.

If later, then the Pz.IV would be roughly comparable to the Sherman, but the Pz.III would be increasingly outclassed.

However, a lot depends on the commander. Rommel proved himself a cunning opponant (not for nothing called the Desert Fox) while Patton seems (IMHO) to be more of a 'death or glory' type.
Although, to be fair, both exhibited cunning when required & 'death or glory' when required, so who knows...

 

We should also consider the level of the crew: are green or crack?

About Patton: he had a dog, didn't he? What was it's name?

 

It is much more likely that Patton and Rommel would meet with the former in a Jeep and the latter in his favorite Sd.Kfz.250 command car. However, considering this specific discussion...

I think the commanders would each pick what they considered their best men to crew their tank if an appointment for something like this had been made. So Patton would take daring, agressive crewmen who made use of everything they had; Rommel would probably take intelligent crewmen who knew how to decieve the enemy and when to strike. All, of course, would choose crack troops.

 

Patton's dog was named Willie.

 

Agression and cunning would be good in a 1 on 1, but wouldn't things like who get off the 1st shot be more important? Could a panzer IV out range a sherman gun, but still be very accurate? This is a strange topic because tank battle with just two tanks is different then a couple hundred on each side.



I also think that the way Patton wanted it was Rommel commands the panzer, patton commands the Sherman from inside.


I would also have air command on the line to come srafe Rommel as soon as he showed up at the meeting spot.

 

But that's cheating!

The starting point of this discussion was that Patton seems to have said once that he wished to end this war by facing Rommel one on one for victory or death. That would mean no air force, one could interpret is as without crew members either.

In that case, where the Sherman has the better armour and the PanzerIV has the better gun, it'd still be a matter of luck and tactics...

 

But at overall level, were AK tank crews better than Allied tank crews?

 

Less we forget that better tanks doesn't guarantee victory, German Panzers had to improvise with their Panzer 3 and 4's when they met the formidable and clearly superior T-34 in Russia, yet the Germans often prevailed due to superior tactics and training. Patton is a dashing and daring commander, but his armored forces often enjoyed overwhelming superiority against the opposing Germans (numerically, air support,etc...l), so I am not really sure if he can defeat the cunning Rommel if the 2 were to fight on equal terms.

 

For what i've read from them both, they'd probably solved it in a fencing duel.
Patton was part of the design team for US sabers before WWI, and he was disappointed when trench war ended the usefulnes of swords.
(But maybe he'd end up using his pearl handled six-shooter)

 

suggestion

I think that rommel would, if it was in the last months before he had to kill himself, take a loudspeaker :lol: with him in his tank and then, over the loudspeaker, have yelled to patton: why dont we sit down and have a cup o´ cofee, and talk about things???
and then somehow opened the western front for the allies so the nazi reign of terror would fall............
as far as I know he had those plans, and monty was also in on it (rommel had some contacts in the german resistance organisasions)

I'm not saying that Rommel was one of the "good" ones, cuz he wase'nt

ive just read in a book from 2002 about rommel, so i think that im right in this matter, but as far as i know there is a lot of myths about romel and his death........

 

Welcome to the forum, PfloyD. It's funny to see how you and Kellhound both focus on one side of this fight and assume the other will go along! I can't really picture Rommel drawing a sword, or Patton agreeing to sit down and talk about it! :lol:

 

Well, all German/prussian officers were taught fencing...
But i find all this business highly unlikely.

 

Patton would never SIT down, he might go to meet rommel and pace around, but I can't picture himsitting. He was nuts. HE is also my cyrrent army hero. (what does that say about me?)

Who do you think wins the sword fight? Both men were sorta old, but they both were in pretty good shape. I know Rommel was.

 

Interestingly enough Patton competed in the Olympics in an event where both fencing and shooting were part of the competition , he only missed medalling by one rank if I remember correctly.

Both were IMO fine soldiers and leaders. Patton was, contrary to his image an intellectual, though you wouldn't guess it from his outward (calculated) image.

 

If each side had access to a sufficient amount of supplies Rommel would win