Oh no he is back in schule ! C how are things ? good to see you back. Also Andreas from the back of my PC, posted last week so it is good to see him as well. A hearty welcome back one and all... !

Well you guys know my thoughts on the T-34 which I will not post, but it would of been a wonder if the Germans had the amount of Panthers at their disposal as the Soviets did during the war. Little too late........

The Königstiger with all the reading I have done never should of been used as an attack Panzer and it proved itself repeatedly to be the "King" on the Russian front when used in a defensive role with it's thick frontal armor and the wicked long range of it's high power 8.8cm weapon. Nothing could stand up to this. But it never really fullfilled it's role due to the shortcomings listed.......slowness, easily bogged down n terrible terrain, faulty mechanics and severe engine problems and maybe something overlooked, just not enough man-power in the in the way of troops on the gound to protect this beast; in 1945

~E

So I guess the desicion is made: the T-34 and the Tiger 1 were the best tanks of the Second World War. Now of course this question is very broad but what was the best gun of WW2 including, rifles, machine guns, explosive launchers, grenades/explosives and handguns? This is overall, generally, what was the most effective.

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

I´d go for the Russian Katjusha rocket launcher on this spesification. I bet any soldier who got even close to a barrage remembers it forever...

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wow, only one gun suggested, theres got to be more than that out there.

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

3cm Mk 108 a/c weapon equipped with the Minen-Geschoss. ugly weapon as it delt out it's wrath of destruction especially against Allied 4-engine bombers. Only problem with it was the range and was used as a close in gun.

~E

My favourite for WW2 machine gun ( as in frequent use )

The Suomi machine gun



Plus more details:


http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ejuhola/7.62/suomi.html

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It seems these two guns were pretty good, there's got to be more though. I think of the Panzershrecks, Brens, M-1 Garands. Anything you guys could think of.

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

alright three now, wow Kai seems like we posted two things at almost the same second. Good one!

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

Alright now I know this one is tough but what about planes. Out of all fronts, all countries, which was the best? I know there's been some comparisons between only two but I wonder which one out of all?

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

My definite favourite:



or with the piston engine

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For an aircraft that manages to last the war and is constantly upgraded and is still used for a long time after i would have to say the Supermarine Spitfire. It is constantly upgraded and fulfills many different roles from fighter to a photo recon bird. It also accomadated many upgrades such as the powerful Rolls Royce Griffon engine and the change to a bubble canopy, thus curing one of its early faults. its only main fault was a lack of range but this was inherent in its design as it was originally designed as a interceptor fighter not a escort fighter like the mustang. It was a product of its era in that respect as air forces believed that the bomber would always get through and did not need fighter protection. The spitfire also accomadated many differect wings to enable it to operate at different altitude. this show a great achieve in the airframe design that it could incorporate these modifications. it was also succesfully used in many different condition arounf the world, from the dust of the desert to the jungles of burma. it was also succesfully modified to operate of aircraft carriers. In my opinion a truely magnificent aircraft.

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Thoughts on Military History
Cornish Scale Modellers
Ross' Military Modelling and Art

Stg 44 and the Type 100 !

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Darn Alpha you beat me to it, of course the Stg 44 is the best, it revolutionised armed combat as we know it. Every army eventually reequipped with assault rifles after that, superceeding bolt actions, semi-autos, machine pistols, and eventually even submachine guns.

The '44 was the Electric Commuter Train of Guns. No other weapon (other than the A-bomb) since ww2 has so completely made obsolete every other weapon before it.

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Does anyone have any good pics of the STG44 or 100? [img]smile.gif[/img]

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Hence the saying: One may know how to conquer without being able to do it- Sun Tzu

I posted a few already along with some other people on www.thirdreichforum.com under the "equipment", & "MP43/44" thread, no point doing so here there are heaps on that forum.

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Der große Stoß Büstenhalter auf Ihrem Kopf!!

OK, let me voice my opinion consicdering best and most effective weapons used during the war...
As far as armored vehicles are concerned, I'll go for T-34 and StugIIIF series. Both weapons were highly effective and reliable.
MP-40 is my hand weapon of choice [img]smile.gif[/img]
And in the ar department I am in for Sturmovik.

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There is no difference between death and life-just a circle to be closed by time.

This is a though one...

But I'd say that for handguns I'll choose:
- Garand
- P-38
- MG-42
- The Soviet sub-machine gun... what's its name?

Artillery:
- German 88mm AA and AT gun.
- American 105mm Howitzer
- Soviet 76mm AT and field gun

Armour:
- T-34, both versions
- Tiger I
- Sherman 'Firefly'

Planes:
- Mustang
- Stormovik
- Spitfire
- Zero

And to add the supply masters: the M4 lorry, the Jeep, the amphibious DWK (Spell?) and the C-47.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Herr Generale, I'm so glad you mentioned the DUKW, (and we are getting of the topic big time now!) I don't have much admiration for American WW2 vehicles, but this one is brilliant:

Cargo: 25 troops or 5000 pounds of cargo, 50 mph on land and 5.5 knots in the water, range 400 miles at 35 mph!!!

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Der große Stoß Büstenhalter auf Ihrem Kopf!!

Brat, American combat vehicles were indeed not what we'd call charming and powerful, but we must accept that in supply and logistics matters they built quality and quantity.

We just need to remember that the DUKWs landed more supplies than the Mulberries during D-day and saved the day at Iwo-Jima, by example.

The Jeep and the M4 lorry were just powerful and reliable. Truly amazing.

And not to mention the C-47, which made whole campaigns possible - more noticeable, Burma.

[img]smile.gif[/img] We always forget about logistics, don't we?

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Yep, ant that were all that econ mumbo jumbo is!

LOL

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PPSh41? from all I've read it was indeed a very good gun.

Yep the PPSH was supsidly the best SMG of the war!

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Yes, I think it is the PPSH 44 the one you're talking about... Anyhow, it was that submachine-gun entirely done in metal with high rate of fire and so cheap and easy to manufacture...

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

This is my first post here and let me say thank-you in advance for this opportunity. Now as far as a hand held combat weapon, I cannot say. I have always felt that the only true way to judge a weapons combat worthiness is to do combat with said weapon. The fact that I have not personally been in that situation with those weapons I cannot say which is the best. I have had the opportunity to fire some rounds from a variety of weapons from that era and can pass on what I found evident of the weapons some 50 years post service.
My personal favorite was the BAR or Browning Automatic Rifle. I found that for all its cumbersome downfalls, the rifle I fired was both reliable and repeatable. This may or may not be the case for the majority. I also like the stopping power of the 30-06 round especially compared to the prevalent more modern .223 round. The Russian rifle/sub guns from the era that I’ve had contact with were terribly inaccurate. Once again this may or may not be the norm. I also love the 8mm Mauser bolt action for accuracy, very repeatable patterns, but this was not breaking edge technology in 39, it pre-dates the conflict.
As far as the greatest weapon of WWII, I find myself impelled to write that, in my opinion, that the nuclear bomb was the greatest jump forward that warfare has ever seen. (It is arguable that the introduction of the firearm into warfare was the greatest, but the initial result was not near as effective.) And the introduction of the nuclear technology in warfare has saved more lives since 1945 than any technology. The threat has weighed heavy on the minds of every human conscious of the ability to phathom the true threat that the “nuke” holds, yet it held the west and east at bay from full war for 50 years. No nuclear power every dared engage in “total war”. That is because total war meant the possible/probable? end to life as we know it. The Korean or Indochina conflicts surely would have been escalated to enormous scale if not for the fear/knowledge that no one wins, if no one survives. In almost a Dr. Strangelove way nuclear weaponry kept the “big Dogs” from fighting with just the shear magnitude of the outcome.
From the Trinity tests to right now no WWII era weapon has made near the impact as the 2 bombs that changed the world. There were effective weapons, this include all the handheld weapons mentioned previously in the thread. There were tactical advances; this includes blitzkrieg and mass arial bombardment. There were technological advances such as the V2 and the jet. I still nuclear technology was a leap forward. There weren’t thousands dropped, only 2. Those 2 changed the course of history.

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