This is the American M4 Sherman. At the start of production, they were very strong and feared but after the introduction of the Panzer VI Tiger and other strong German tanks, it became quite weak in comparison with other tanks.

The First variant of the M4 was equipped with a low velocity cannon called the 75mm gun M3. It was the same gun featured on the previous M3 Lee and could penetrate 92mm of armor at a flat 90 degrees from 100m. This was fine at first but when shooting the Tiger later in the war, the Americans needed to fit a better gun on the M4.

Just like many problems with the M4, the armor was also quickly obsolete. At the front it is sloped, making it 93mm of effective armor. The sides and rear are 38mm which can be penetrated by almost anything. This meant the driver had to try to face the tank to the enemy whenever possible. And still the Americans used this tank well after it was inadequate.

The Sherman did have something that did not become obsolete. Its engine. It had a healthy 400hp and weighed 30.3 tons fully equipped. This comes to a very respectable power to weight ratio of 13.2 hp/ton. This is the second fastest of the three tanks.

As previously stated, at first the M4 Sherman was a formidable tank. But other nations started producing better tanks. The Americans continued using it and only improved it through variants. The original M4 Sherman was not competitive toward the end of the war. It could not be used in tank to tank combat. All it could do was blow up bunkers and be infantry support.

The German Tiger 1 was one of the most heavily armored tanks in WWII. Its armor and its gun were amazing. You may think Germany should have won the war because of such superior tanks but there was one big problem that will be stated in the overview...

The Tiger I main armament was powerful. The 88mm KwK 36 L/56 packed a punch, often knocking out a Sherman or T-34 with one shot. Normal armor piercing rounds for this tank could penetrate 132mm of armor at 100m. With this tank's APCR (Armor Piercing Composite Rigid) it could go though 171mm of armor. The only downside is that the shells were bigger and heavier, making them harder for the loader to load.

The armor on this thing was quite effective. At a flat 90 degree angle, the front was 100mm. The sides and rear were both 80mm when shot straight on. Additionally, if you were shooting at the tank when the tank was positioned at about a 30 degree angle, the hull was 120mm+ everywhere. This made it almost impenetrable. But, not every tiger driver angled the tank, and allied tanks could be shooting at it from multiple angles so it couldn't be 120mm effective all the time.

Because of the armor, gun, shells, and the size of the tank, it would take a giant engine to make it near as fast as the Sherman or even the T-34. Coming in at 54 tons, it was a beast. Fortunately for the Allies, there were no engines as beast-like. The Maybach HL230 V-12 put out 700 horses, making the power to weight ratio a sad 12.96 hp/ton.

This tank may seem almost infallible, but there are 2 big reasons why it was not the "perfect" tank. Firstly, it was slow and slow to turn so it was vulnerable to flanking. Secondly, toward the end of the war, which was when this beast of a tank was made, Germany was running out of resources. They were only able to make just over 1,000 of them. The Russians and Americans just overwhelmed them with endless Shermans and T-34s to win the war.

The Russian T-34 arguably changed the whole war, starting in 1940. Why? For one, there were over 70,000 made. It is the most mass produced tank ever. They did that because the crews loved it, and it was a great all around machine.

The T-34 may not be known for its gun, (or anything in particular) but it got the job done. The 76mm F-34 gun could penetrate 92mm of armor at 500m, making it slightly more powerful than the Sherman's gun.

The actual thickness of the armor on the T-34 was not impressive. It was 47mm in the front, 45 on the sides, and 40 on the rear, but there was one major factor involved. The angle. All the armor was sloped at a 60 degree angle. This allows for many, MANY ricochets as long as the gun shooting at it was not of a high caliber.

This tank was VERY fast, having a 500 hp engine in a tank weighing only 26.5 tons. It was lighter, and had a more powerful engine than the Sherman. The reason for the lesser weight is not just the armor thickness, but the profile. It was only 8 feet tall, being the shortest of the 3 tanks.

So, overall, this tank did not excel in anything particular besides the mobility. But the mass production and the fact that everyone loved it, made it an iconic tank. So many of these sadly were just thrown at the Germans to overwhelm the superior German Tiger, but it was a good enough tank to get the job done.

"Land Warfare Technology." History of World War II. Vol. 3: Victory and Aftermath. Tarrytown, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 2005. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Nov. 2015

"M4 Sherman" Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

"Tiger 1." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n. d. Web 24 Nov. 2015

"T-34." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n. d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015