My Top Ten

I love those shows on the History Channel where they list the top ten ships, airplanes, tanks or whatever in history. I think they're usually wrong, but shouting at the TV is part of the fun. So in the TV spirit of making dubious "top ten" claims based on opinion, I now offer my list of the "Best of World War Two" based on my opinions.

Today, I propose only to talk about the best tanks of World War Two. Stay tuned for other installments.

Best tanks of World War Two:

1. M4 Sherman (sheer numbers, ease of maintenance, longevity, amenability to radical modification)

2. T-34 (first main battle tank in the modern sense, sloped armor, wide tracks, diesel engine, huge production run)

3. Churchill AVRE (most effective engineering tank ever built and invaluable in the close fighting in northwest Europe)

4. Tiger I (excellent anti-tank weapon with a serious reputation, but too slow, expensive and unreliable to rank higher)

5. M24 Chaffee (a light tank, outgunned and lightly armored, but very reliable and the progenitor of the MPGS/MPWS/airmobile tank concept, IMHO).

Honorable mention goes to (in no particular order)

T26 Pershing (a good enough tank, but important because it formed the design baseline for all US tanks to the M48)

Centurion I (better than the Pershing, and the basis of British tank design all the way to the Chieftain)

T-44 (not much better than a T-34/85, but the basis of Soviet tank design all the way through the T-62)

Comet (a great tank, but a year too late)

Tiger I (great heavy tank, but too expensive and heavy for everyday use)

Panther (too big and expensive for a medium tank, but excellent as a heavy tank)