In this book Steven J Zaloga offers a fascinating comparison of the
combat performance of the two most important tanks involved in the
crucial fighting of 1944, the Sherman and the Panther. Examining the
design and development of both tanks, Zaloga notes the obvious
superiority that the Panther had over the Sherman and how the highly
engineered German tank was eventually beaten back, not necessarily by
the improvements made to the Sherman, but rather by the superior numbers
of tanks that the Allies were able to put into the field.
Putting the reader into the heart of this battle between quality and
quantity Zaloga examines the tactical intricacies of the battles between
these two rivals. Using a compelling account of the ferocious fighting
in the Ardennes region to explain the successes and failures of each
tank he also highlights the fact that a tank can only be as good as its
crew, weighing up the impact of low morale, high cost and mediocre crew
training on the Panthers superiority. Packed with full-colour
battlescenes, technical drawings, photographs, digital gunsight views,
extracts from crew training manuals and real combat reports, this book
brings to life the titanic battles between the Sherman and the Panther.