What if Germany develop mass produced tanks

What happen ? Anybody know if Germany develop the tanks that can be mass produced ?

 

I don't think the course of the war would've changed just by having more tanks. In the Russian campaign, they could've used more trucks and halftracks so the troops could've kept up. .
Rommel sure could have used more armor but I don't know if the outcome would be different.
Concentrating on just a few models would have helped,say the MK IV and maybe the StuG series. They would be on equal ground with whatever tanks the Allies fielded. The factories would have been under constant bombardment from the air.
The Allies did'nt have that worry[for the most part]. In Europe, German armor was under attack from the air as much from the ground. Having more tanks would make for longer columns.....juicier targets for the tabos. Without an Airforce to watch out over them , more tanks would'nt have helped much.
Keeping well trained crews in the field might of been a problem as well.

 

Then the Germans would have more tanks??

 

They had as many tanks as they wished, of all shapes, sizes and variants, that was not their problem. Problem was fuel. The only sources were Ploesti, the minor Hungarian fields, and the synthetic fuel plants. The Germans spent the entire war strapped for fuel, there absolutely was no solution for that.

When the Western Allies started bombing the Synth plants and the transport system and then in the end the Russians simply sat on the Romanian and Hungarian fields, well, the end had already been a long time ago...

 

I think a better what if , would be if they accepted the 75mm high velocity gun as the main armament for their tanks. Armed with superior tactics and the 75mm they would have more sucessful in all thier battles.

 

John

The 75mm gun might have been good on the western front, unfortunately this was not the case in the east as the the same gun had a very difficult time with the T-34.

 

I don't know about that. The L/48 was an excellent gun mounted in StuGs and PZ IVs.

 

I have read numerous accounts of the 75mm having difficulty when coming up against the T-34/85 and the KV series.

But I do have an open mind

 

I think that more tanks would have been better than a standard 75mm gun. While both fuel and crews might have been a problem production would not have been, Allied atempts at hindering direct production failed every time.

Laying aside the fuel issue the type of these tanks that we are assuming the Germans were making would be important. If they were PzKw IIIs or IVs, I could be persuaded to say that not much would hve changed, had they been PzKw V or VIs then a prolonged war or perhaps a diffrent out come depending on the date of introduction.

 

Even if some how they put an 88 in every tank, there was no way to keep up with both, the Soviets and the western allies. In the west,even if they kept pace with Sherman production, they still had the air power to deal with.

 

I would suppose that if you went for a Pz V/VI fleet you would have a lot less tanks that if you stayed with PzIVs.

Also bear in mind that the entire production of PzVI amounted to only six months worth of JS2 production, and the Soviets simply capped JS2 production at 250/month as their doctrine did not call for more!

 

If im not mistaken, it was Guderian that wanted more Panzer IV's built as the Panther's and Tiger's were more expensive and harder to maintain..... But Hitler turned him down.

 

The 75mm was able to handle all variants of the T-34 and KV. The later 75mm of the Panther even could stand up to the JS 1 . If the OKW could have over ruled the artillery arm the PZ IV would have been armed with a high vel. 75mm instead of the 75mm how. it had OTL . With this the germans would not have been stalled in their 1941 advance when ever T 34s or KVs made an appearance.

 

I simply said that given more Panthers and Tigers things MIGHT have been different. I made no mention of more Russian tanks or who may or may not have wanted what tank.
(Though I do not think Guderian wantted to stay with the Pz IV for the whole war, he had wanted them to be the standard in 39, not 45.)

You know it would also have depened on how the tanks would have been employed, if Hitlers interferance had kept up then no amount of tanks would have changed the outcome. But then again this is in the "What if" world of Tikilal. (where everyone is nice and honest.)

 

John, would you please take cognizance that the 3 (three) German tank guns of 75mm calibre are distinguished by barrel length in calibres, viz. 75mm /L24; 75mm /L43; 75mm /L70, three entirely different guns in muzzle velocity and penetration ability, and then rephrase this last post so I can understand it?

It might then be argued that with larger capacity engines with larger fuel specific consumptions, the German fuel situation would be even worse. By the way, the specific consumption of a PzIV in smooth off road ground was 300lt/100km, that is 0.66miles/gal if my figures are correct. Not a pretty figure considering the Reich's fuel availability. And you want to "improve" this by standardizing on Pz Vs and VIs!

 

Za, hit the nail on the head early on, oil.

Hitler could have stopped after the fall of France but no he went on believing Blitzkrieg would win out and what a surprise he got by Oct41 on the Ost front, Hitler got a real fight on his hands which would put a lot of pressure on oil production.

 

What's more, with the German-Soviet pact Germany was getting as much oil, foodstuffs, raw materials as it wanted from the SU. Stalin was bending over backwards to comply with all terms of the agreement to keep Germany happy and the wolf away from his door.

Then of course Adolf had to feel itchy.

 

I don't think any particular gun stalled the German advance in '41. After all, the T-34 was a surprise to Hitler. And supposedly, this was only going to be a 6 month campaign.

 

The L 43 75mm was very effective against the T 34. The T 34/85 had the same hull as the reg. T-34 , just a new turret. This gun could have been available earlier if the waffenarmament did not overule the panzerwaffe in the need for the high vel. 75mm for the Pz 4.

 

would it be possible to make a PanzerIV(or maybe a panther) with a Tiger Tank gun hybrid? Like it doesn't actually look like the actual Panzer IV but, I don't know.. what if they just generalized one tank. Good armor, good gun and perhaps maybe even good speed?
I guess it wouldn't make things better since the whole consumption of fuel. I just think if Germany pioneers the MBT theory, and one tank for them all. Wouldn't it be easier to look after? and all tanks would use the same parts :/
I think I am just talking jibberish now.