http://weltkrieg2.de/zahlenvergleich-de ... er-panzer/Also check this. Here you can see that the K/D was not depending on Tigers or anything. The K/D before tigers came had been just as high or higher than at times with tiger.
Combat debut of first tigers in the east was the 29 august. During 42 just 78 go build of which 55 in nov and dec 42.
So when you take this time -from november till end of the war- you will see that the K/D did not increase because of axis Tigers or other super tanks.
So to keep the tiger effective there should have happend one of these two things:
1.K/D slightly better for axis, but axis won the war. That means that the super tanks like tigers did attack all the time and maintaining the tactical initiative.
2. Axis would have lost, but K/D would have been always at least 1:5.
None of these things happend so the "super tanks" never gained tactical importance or having any impact on strategic situations.
And then keep this in mind:
(scroll down to bottom)
http://ww2-weapons.com/german-arms-production/http://ww2-weapons.com/History/Production/Russia/http://ww2-weapons.com/History/Production/UK/If you check all this you will see that Axis was the second strongest econemie or at least the one with second strongest war production capacities. Only USA was by far better.
"According to research by a team of Soviet historians, the Soviet Union lost a staggering 20,500 tanks from June 22 to December 31, 1941. At the end of November 1941, only 670 Soviet tanks were available to defend Moscow"
And look at this. The K/D For germans was insane long before the Tigers came and when axis fought with tanks being actually inferior. The losses for axis was:
"Im Frühjahr 1942 hatte die Wehrmacht an der Ostfront rund 35 Prozent ihrer Einsatzstärke von Juni 1941 verloren. Der Kampfkraftverlust war sogar noch höher; er lag bei 50 Prozent für die Heeresgruppe Süd und sogar 65 Prozent für die beiden anderen Heeresgruppen Mitte und Nord. 3319 abgeschossenen Panzern standen nur 732 neu ausgelieferte Kettenfahrzeuge gegenüber."
From june 41 till spring 42 axis lost 3319 tanks.
So that tigers did have very good K/D´s was not because they were Tigers. It was simply because the K/D of axis tanks aganst russians was always good, even better in the early stages.
Also a report from the Jagdpanzer IV (48 i think):
"On June 6, 1944 there were 62 Jagdpanzer IVs available: 31 for the Panzer-Lehr-Division, 21 for the 2nd Armored Division and 10 in the XIIIth Division SS «Hitlerjugend». The XIIIth panzerdivision SS in France was formed during the 26 April of the same year, with an initial batch of 10 Jagdpanzer IV but then another batch of 11 joined in, which saw action in july 1944 after the Allied landings in Normandy. Tank destroyers of the 12th SS Panzer Division SS had a battalion commanded by Sturmbannfuhrer Hanrayh. His subordinate, Oberscharführer SS Roy Rudolph (12th Abt.) was considered the best Panzerjäger-IV and platoon commander ace with 36 kills in total. A fame acquired in the first days of the fighting in Normandy. In the Emeville area in July 20, 1944, he single-handedly knocked several American Shermans. On August 10, it went into action with the First Polish Armoured Division, knocking out eleven Polish Shermans for only seven casualties in his platoon. Roy was killed in action during the Battle of the Bulge, shot by a US sniper while scanning out of the cupola in December 17, 1944. Jagdpanzer IVs of the 12th Division played indeed a significant role during the German breakthrough from under Falaise and during the battle of the Bulge were most were destroyed. "
So it clearly shows that not only tiger was able doing stuff like wittmann did. In fact, such cheaper tanks performed much better under the pressure of 44 than Tigers did. But those didnt earn a reputation as Tigers did.
So tanks that didnt even cost a third of that a Tiger did and which had been maybe even cheaper than shermans did show just as effective results and K/D´s as the Tiger did, just unlike tigers these tanks had a better reliablity and maybe even survivability.
So honestly Tiger1996, you have probably read too much propaganda.
Fact is:
1. Every German tank was from superior quality, equiped with good guns, sufficient armor, good gunsights and other stuff like copulas with nice 360 dgree view and radios.
2. Not only Tiger had good K/D´s. Tanks with much lower cost did just as good as Tigers.
3. Just as important as the tank is the crew.
4. Tigers K/Ds´s are related to some lucky facts.
- They fought USSR
- Superior to everything allied had in 42/43 so far
- Crewed by experienced crews
But that doesnt makes this tank being from "superior quality" to other axis tanks. Considering the downsides in my previous post i would say that every axis tank (stug, Tank IV, Panther) was from a better quality than a tiger maybe as they hadnt so many cons as tiger had.
So i really hope you finally got the picture finally.