WW2 Tanks

[5MadFarmers]

He also said that the heavy German tanks had to stick to the roads while the Sherman could go off into fields and such where the heavies would bog down.

Total weight of tank on total area of track = ground pressure. The less the ground pressure the more "floatation" the tank had. Wider tracks provide better floatation in mud and snow.
M3 Medium: 13.3lbs
M4 Medium: 13.4-14.2lbs
M26 Medium: 12.7lbs
M5 Light: 12.5lbs
M24 Light: 10.7lbs

The M24 had awesome floatation.

Mark IV: 11lbs
Mark V: 12.5lbs
Mark VI: 15.6lbs
Mark VIB: 13.2lbs

Tiger was higher. Tiger II not bad as it had a longer and wider track. Modern M1A2 is at 15.4lbs. M24 could swim away from any....

And he talked about the electric turret's on the Sherman's while the Germans were hand cranked ??

Yup. Additionally the Sherman had a gyrostabilizer and could thus shoot on the move. The Panther received a nitrogen "stabilizer" but it wasn't a gyrostabilizer. Mark IV had electric turret but late models lost it due to cost and such.

He thought the Sherman's were overall better suited for what they did.

Point of the paper. The M4 is still used in places. Panthers, captured in huge numbers, were discarded. The Russians saved the Mark IVs but not the heavier German stuff as, their reports were clear, it wasn't worth using as it wasn't reliable.

[psteinmayer]

Speaking about the tank engines, I actually prefer the M4 with the Continental R975 Radial engine. Sorry, I have a thing for huge thumpin radial engines!