Most important tank for WW2-era Germany war effort.

Now, this poll is not about the best or heaviest or something like that but just about most important tank and its variants and derivatives of WW2-era Germany, most important for their war effort. Please post your reasoning too.

Contenders are:

Panzerkampfwagen I and its derivatives and variants (command vehicles, 15 cm sIG 33, panzerjäger I etc).
This tank started it all and saw service at Poland, France, North Africa and at beginning of Operation Barbarossa.

Panzerkampfwagen II and its derivatives and variants (Marder, Wespe etc).
Main battle tank at the beginning of war. Saw service as tank at Poland, France, North Africa and at beginning of Operation Barbarossa.

Panzerkampfwagen III and its derivatives and variants (StuG, StuH etc).
Used as tank from the beginning of the war up to 1943(ish?). Most numerous tank at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa. Basic chassis stayed in production till the end of war for StuG's and StuH's.

Panzerkampfwagen IV and its derivatives and variants (StuG, Sturmpanzer, Jagdpanzer IV, Flakpanzer etc).
Only German tank that was used and produced as tank from the beginning of war till the end of war. Also most numerous German tank.

Panzerkampfwagen Panther and its derivatives and variants (Jagdpanther etc). Introduced 1943. Quite numerous at the latter part of war, produced almost as much as Panzerkampfwagen IV during 1944. Excellent design.

Panzerkampfwagen Tiger and its derivatives and variants (Jagdtiger etc). Heavily armed and armoured heavy tank, introduced 1942. Very famous but produced in small numbers.

Pz.Kpfw.35(t) & Panzerkampfwagen 38(t) and its derivatives and variants (Flakpanzer 38 etc.). Skoda tanks, boosted German tank numbers at the beginning of war. Useful variants saw service up to the end of war.

 

I voted for the Pz. Kpfw. II, in that it was the second-most common vehicle during Fall Weiß, the most common during Fall Gelb and a frequent vehicle during Barbarossa. Without it, a victory in especially 1940 is unthinkable, more so than the Pz. Kpfw. I.

(By the way, I moved this to the tank forum).

 

Oh, good question! I'm torn...

My 2 contenders are:


PzIII was the main gun tank at the start of the war, and the chassis was used later for the invaluable StuGIII, the cut-price tank that came into its own at the end of the war.

Pz38 (t) was a damn good tank, it equipped several divisions for the early war years. Without those extra tanks things may not have run so smoothly. Plus the chassis was extensively used for a number of very effective tank destroyers later in the war.

 

Like Ricky, I'm torn.

I think the PzIV was the backbone of the german Panzers and an invaluable platform.

The PzV was probably the best platform available... in my mind. Likely under-utilized.

Tim

 

I went for the Pz IV.
In produciton from pre-war to the end, used as a platform for all types of AFV's. Carried the Panzerwaffe through 1944 and remained an important tank, capable of standing with M4s and T34s right up to the end.

 

Thanks Christian for moving this to proper section. Had a brainfart when making this poll, apparently.

My contenders are PzI, PzIII and PzIV. PzI because it started it all and saw some use at the beginning of war. Here it is because it war the first one.

PzIII, useful at the beginning of war as tank and later as chassis for StuG's.

PzIV because it was in production from the beginning to the end. Definitely a workhorse.

So, whats my choice? Dunno, I have to think about it more...

 

I also went for Pz I for the same reasons

 

Really?!? How was the PzI capable of standing up to Shermans and T-34s in 1945? (Asking because I'm genuinely interested, not being argumentative)

 

Somewhere, I read that there was a Pz I that was field modified to carry a 75 mm PAK.

I cannot believe that anybody could vote for anything but the Pz IV. In service from 1939-45 pretty much everywhere.

 

The question is for the entire war effort. My reasoning is, that without the Pz. Kpfw. II, Germany would most likely never get around to using anything better than the Pz. Kpfw. III kz.

 

Interesting, but I can't see that even with such an incredible degree of upgunning anyone could reasonably say that such a vehicle was capable of standing with a T-34 or Sherman.

(I know the original comment came from Quillin rather than yourself, thanks for the information)

 

Simon as nobody voted for the PI and Quillin quoted from the PIV i guess Quillin actually was talking about the PIV (and not the PI).

 

I voted the PIII as I think it was the most important german tank(as this was the tank to fight other tanks) at the beginning of the war and it's chassis was used for the Stug wich was the most important German Self-propelled gun of the war.

 

Yes. The Pz I with the 75 mm PAK (PAK 40 IIRC) smacked on top would still be massively undermatched when faced with any late war medium tank. However, it does have a "chance".

The Pz III comes as a runner up to the Pz IV in my book - it's chassis, in any case. The StuG III was, IIRC, the armored vehicle of which the Germans produced the most.

 

Small typo, forgot the "V" in Pz IV.

 

I think they should have only made panthers after 1943 and stopped messing around with all the tiger models and the other tanks.

 

Panthers were too complex and they needed numbers as much as quality.

Plus a lot of II, III and IV chasis were converted into Stugs and other miscellanious stuff which were highly useful and to stop their producation would have left them without replacements.

Tigers were too expensive to produce in any significant numbers, Germany lacked the resources and the very heavy production capacity to go anywhere with it.

Finally stopping making one tank at a factory and making another is not as easy as you think and would result in a down time probably of months where nothing would be produced.

I do agree that Germany made too many different models and tanks which made repair and servicing a nightmare. However that was probably a result of historic disjointed manufactoring, rushed increases in capacity, capture of foreign equipment and factories not set up for your own uses, limited industrial capacity in general and an overwhelming necesity to produce pure numbers of new tanks/Stugs/TD's just to try and match losses and enemy production numbers.

FNG

 

Panzer IV was a decent all around tank, Germany shouldve just built these in masses instead of the lighter or heavy'r tanks such as the king tiger.

 

No. They would not have had enough crews to effectively use "masses" of Pz IVs towards the end of the war.

 

the IV also had it's limitations in 44 due to it's armour and gun and Germany required something with more kick

FNG