AThe Sherman tank was used by the Allies in every theatre of World War 2 and was famed for its speed, maneuverability, reliability and ease of mass production. However its' 75/76mm gun was generally incapable of penetrating the main armour of its' German counterparts, the Panther and Tiger. By contrast the Panther's 75mm and especially the Tiger's 88mm could easily defeat the Sherman's armoured protection as could German infantry anti-tank weapons. The Sherman's high profile also made it comparatively easy to spot and its' use of a petrol engine gave it an unfortunate propensity to burst into flames when hit. British and Canadian troops nicknamed them 'Ronsons' due to this fact in reference to a brand of cigarette lighters guaranteed to 'Light every time'. The Germans rather more bluntly referred to them as 'Tommy cookers'.You can find the armor stats for any armored fighting vehicle in history online. Look up the Tiger I and the Panther, considering it has sloped armor which adds greatly to deflecting armor piercing rounds, and compare that with the Sherman. It was simply pitiful for the General in charge of Ground Forces, Lesley McNair, to be allowed to send so many soldiers into battle in such an inferior weapon, that was practically obsolescent after the introduction of the Tiger.Generally, German tanks were technically superior to allied tanks (we probably had the edge on aircraft, though). The problem the Germans had was that with a war on two fronts and heavy allied bombing, they simply couldn't produce the tanks quick enough. And towards the end, they ran out of manpower to crew the tanks. The Tiger tank was heavy (50 tonnes) versus 30 tonnes for the Sherman but (as shown by the film) could only be knocked out by the Sherman's canon at close quarters and from behind where the armour was thinner. Battlefield comments from Normandy onwards showed that on average it took the loss of 7 Shermans to knock out one Tiger tank. Thankfully, we have a lot more thanks than the Germans. The German antitank weapon Panzerfaust (seen in the film) was also greatly feared by allied tank crews. The single-shot bazooka type device had a hollow charge and could knock out any allied tank at close range. During the last months of the War in Europe, we had greatly superior air power as well and this helped to negate the tank advantage on the ground that the Germans had. You'll also see from the film the Sherman's strength - bristling with machine guns - including the powerful .50 ('fifty') and its maneuverability, it was an excellent infantry support weapon.
