Fortunately for the Allies, American factories could produce far more Shermans than the Germans could Panzers. While the 30-ton M4 Sherman may very well be the United States’ most famous tank of the Second World War, it was smaller and largely inferior to German models like the Panther or the Tiger I and II. The M6 Supertank would have been a match for the King Tiger. Here are a few of the ‘super tanks’ that were in the works. A true giant, the Tiger II would actually have been dwarfed by even larger tanks had the war lasted long enough. Also known as the King Tiger, the new war machine carried an 88-mm main gun, had a crew of five and was protected by up to 18 cm (more than half a foot) of armour plating in some places. Within four years, Germany would be developing tanks like the Tiger II – a comparative monster of nearly 70 tons - seven times more than the earlier Mk. The 16-foot long light tank carried a paltry 20-mm main gun and weighed in at a measly 9 tons. Consider the Panzer II – the backbone of Germany’s tank corps for the invasions of Poland and France.

Small, thinly armoured and under-gunned, the first tanks of World War Two were light-weights when compared to the lumbering beasts that would lurch off production lines within a few short years.

TO UNDERSTAND JUST how ill-prepared the armies of the Second World War were for the scope and nature of the coming conflict, one need look no further than the tanks that rolled into battle in 1939.

“Small, thinly armoured and under-gunned, the first tanks of World War Two were light-weights when compared to the lumbering beasts that would lurch off production lines within a few short years.”

Amazingly, this 95-ton beast, which was fitted with a 105mm main gun, wasn’t even the smallest tank in the works. The American T-28 super tank was still in the planning stage when the Second World War ended.

Super battle tanks 2