[Panther Al]

RN7 is right that I missed the Firefly (A Tank my grandfather finished the war in) and, as well, the Easy 8 - which is probably the best Sherman ever built. Both of these, and even the 76mm armed M4, was a much better Sherman. But they was still a small fraction of the total number of Shermans in the field before the last few months.


I would rate either the Firefly or the E8 as better than any IV, and almost equal to the Panther (Armour still sucks in comparison).


Now, as to why the M26 didn't see combat till March....



Blame the Pentagon. The M26 should have been fielded in time for the push up the Italian boot, not to mention D-Day. It was, for all intents, capable of being ready in time. However, the staffers in the puzzle palace believed that the Heavy Tank was an evil that needed to be purged from the US Army, the main argument was that resources devoted to building, and transporting, the M26 could easily be used to send 3 Sherman's to the front. Considering how good the stock Sherman was compared to the IV, it don't think it passes the smell test. The Pershing was *not* the equal to the Tiger 2. It was however the Equal to the Panther, and the Tiger 1. Its armour protection (depending on where exactly you point too - in spots it was less) was the same as both tanks, and the 90mm gun wasn't as hot as you'd might think - it was based on the 90mm AA gun yes, and the stock 90mm AA gun was the equal to the 88L71, but the gun mounted in the Pershing was basically a sawed off version, not allowing the ammo to get to full velocity before leaving the barrel and hindering its terminal performance. However, that performance was equal to the 88L56 and the 75L70, and its mobility was the equal as well.