Armor Reliability

Another factor was the "quality controll" of the workers building them. The US had the Michigan auto industry building tanks, the Soviets had motivated proletariates building theirs. Did the Germans' use of slave labor include the armor factories? I know that Porsche and Krupp used them.

 

Yes. Evidence surfaced that some of the poor worksmanship on Panther tanks came from intentional and systemic sabotage on the part of the slave workers.

 

I think that slave labor was used in almost every apect of the German manufacturing process. That would be a good reason for some of the many problems experienced by the German tanks. The motivation was definately not there to help the Germans.

 

Even with being designed prior to the war the production of the German armor was too widespread. As ooposed to the US the German tank's components were made and assembled at other facilities. Then assembled at another location. Too many chances and places where quality control could fail.

 

I do agree with some of this from the other forum.

"I disagree that the German vehicle recovery program was as effective as the Americans. In most instances, the Americans were able to refit a Sherman within 24 to 48 hours of it being knocked out, for most reasons unless it burned, whereas the German tanks were usually out at least a week when they broke down because they were over-engineered and difficult to fix. Shermans were only truely "knocked out" if they burned, which is why in the later war the Germans fired upon Shermans until they burned, because they didn't want to see and fight the same tank a couple days later. New crew or not, it didn't matter – the issue was that the tank was still operational and most infantrymen can be stuck in a tank and taught the basics in 24 to 48 hours. They won't be GOOD, but they will be THERE in the tank.
If the Germans stuck with ONE vehicle design, perhaps TWO, they would not have had the logistics problems they had and possibly could have been able to get SOME of the vehicles running and back in service quicker. I am not saying that the German recovery crews weren't good at their jobs, they were. The problem is that even if they recovered the vehicle, it took them LONGER to repair it because it was so difficult to repair. Too many things to check, remove, inspect, and replace to get them running. Think about it for a second. If the German tanks could have been repaired in 24 to 48 hours like MOST Shermans were during the entire breakout and advance on Germany, think how many more panzers would have been at the front line during the fighting? How many more could have joined a multi-day battle? How many more could have been advancing or holding ground with their infantry support? Look how many more tanks would have been present during vital offensives rather than strung out over miles waiting to be repaired during the advance in 1941 across Russia? The failure is in the designs, not the men who crewed the tanks, repaired the tanks, or died in them. It was the designers who made them so overly complex that they could not be maintained in the field. The Germans chose to field the exotics and like most exotic cars, they are prone to breakdown, and difficult to fix because of all of the fiddly problems."