In your opinion what was the best weapon of the Second World War?

I have to say the M1 Garand: it may not have been the most accurate or lightest rifle to be used. But it was the only semi-automatic rifle that was standard issue for most of the war (to my knowledge) and was definitely better in some aspects than its predecessor, The Springfield '03.

Oh... and the MG42.
It was definitely innovative and good at its job at about 1200 rounds a minute

FG 42, STG 44, and the M1 Garand.

Simple. The STG-44 was the most advanced, and best weapon of the war. This is why we mostly use assault rifles as our primary weapons now.

1538024 I'd have to agree with you on the M1 Garand.

Although, if you want to get technical, I'd go with the B-25 Flying Fortress for one reason, the box formation. (Thank God for Curtis LeMay.)

1538035 Stg 44? Meh, it had a lot of firepower for a rifle of it's time, but I don't think it was that accurate. (I may be wrong.)

1538060 Not as best weapon of the war. But it laid the path for the modern assault rifles.

1538044

Indeed, it was. But it came too late to be of any help for the Germans

1538083

Yeah, Pretty much the whole entire AK family is based of it

1538097 Still. the FG 42 and the Browniong M1918 were amazing weapons.

1538091
Don't say that. I wonder how many LESS kills the Germans would have gotten without the STG-44.

Define what type of weapon.

Pistol: Colt .45
Rifles: M1 Garand/G34 Gewher
Submachine Gun: MP-40
Assault Rifles: STG-44
Machine Guns: MG-42

Heavy Tank: IS-2
Medium Tank: Panzer V Panther
Light Tank: M4 Sherman
Anti-Tank: Anything Carrying an 88mm

Fighter: P-41 Mustang/ME 262
Bomber: B-25 Flying Fortress

1538263

Too late Its been said

(nice avatar though)

1538024 As much as I love my British guns, I don't think there's a more iconic handgun that had as long a service life and was such a workhorse as the American Colt 1911A1.

Not even the infamous Luger has such a service life, and service record. These things are reliable and pack one hell of a punch. Although I'd still rather have my Webley Mk. V, because I like revolvers better than autoloaders and it's British.

1538275

AMERICA!!!!!!!!!

1538268 Err, the Sherman is considered a Medium tank. Although Light tank place would probably be the M5 Stuart.

1538282

1538333

True piece of American engineering

1538337 Britain made this, we win.

1538290
By allied standards it is a medium tank but the original M4 variant was little more than a Panzer III to the Germans. The armament and armor were shitty compared to any other medium tank.

I stand by my decision.

1538505 It's armour and armaments were fine for what it was designed for, it was never designed for fighting Panzer IV's and up. Also what a tank is equivalent to doesn't decide its designation at all. Fun fact; the Panzer III is also a Medium tank.

By your logic a Tiger tank is a Medium compared to modern tanks, and don't say it's not the same because it is, just like a Tiger was never meant to fight a Abrams; a Sherman was never meant to fight a Tiger. (Not a very good example, I know, but like right after WWI the Light, Medium, Heavy classification fell out to the Universal MBT.)

You go by official designation not what it's equivalent to.

When the Sherman first came out it's armour and armaments made it a Medium, just because a tank becomes obsolete by the end of the war doesn't change it's classification; the classification is given when the vehicle is first designed and even by German standards it was a Medium when it first came out. Maybe if the Sherman came out around the 1943 mark would it be considered a Light, but because it was out before then it's a Medium.

The Atom Bomb. Period.

1538578
Fair enough. Honestly this list was just off the top of my head and I have always looked down on the Sherman as a tank. If I went back and changed it I would put the BT-7 in the light tank place but I care little.

1538024
M1 Garand fair and square. As Patton put it-

The greatest single battle implement ever devised.

1538046
Box formation didn't work as well as hoped.

1538268
Best tank is IS-2? Really? Michael Wittmann disagrees.

1538578
At least the British had the sense to make the firefly.

1538690 But how can you look down on the Sherman? It's reliable and versatile, sure it became outdated quickly but that's the Germans fault for making better tanks, damn Germans.

Where armour and armament fail, it succeeds in mobility, reliability, and versatility; the Sherman was the "do everything" tank of WWII.

Rocket tank:

Mine sweeper:

Bulldozer:

It's a boat:

Recovery:

You know what? I don't even know this one...

And that's not even all the variants, there's a Sherman for so many other roles, and that's not even counting the Artillery and Tank Destroyers built around it's chassis.

1538772
Former Tiger aces on the Eastern Front feared the IS-2. Normally I would agree completely but the IS-2 was designed to tackle to Tiger with relative ease. It is the crew that made the Tiger tank so effective. There was very few famous IS-2 crews while the Tigers had amazing crews.

1538796 1538815
You can't make a game mission like this with anything other than a Tiger.

(It's even funner playing the Stipes' theme while you play it)

1538796
It was extremely versatile and I give it that but I still didn't like it as a tank. It would be one of the last on a list for me just because of its abilities against opponents. It did good for what it was designed for but I think it wasn't as good in my own comparisson.

1538854
Agreed but I stand by my statement of the IS-2 being the better tank. It was a tough choice but I made the call.

1539038 Meh, Britain's Firefly variant did fairly well with minimal modification. But that's because British are good at making American stuff better.

I'd have to agree with you, if I was going up against late war tanks the Sherman wouldn't be my first choice either. I'd probably go with the British Comet, low armour but good gun and great speed, if you use the right tactics and apply that speed you won't need to worry about armour. Get in, take a shot, relocate, fire another shot, repeat.

Although I definitely wouldn't want something German, it'll break down after a mile and you'd spend a month taking half the tank apart just to replace something simple, that on any Allied tank you would've been able to fix in an hour.

1539038
Ok, but M1 is best tank, period.

1539113
So true! Well except for late Panther variants, they did well. I would agree as well with the Comet idea. That tank was one hell of a good one.

1539171
In Modern days and of course compared to previous time periods, of course. I really like the German Leopard II but the M1 is something of awesomeness.

1539633
Which is why i'm planning a Team Yankee story.

1539690
Team Yankee?! Do it! Fucking Do It Motherfucker! Oh god, that book was awesome!

Is it weird for me, a 20 year old post college chick, to be so pumped for a crossover with a fictional WW3 book?

1539751
I don't see why. I read Red Storm Rising when I was like 15 and even when I finished I kept reading it for like a year and still do. I love WW3 stuff, but I figured I would be the only one who even remembered the book.

1539171>>1539633 It's hard to say really, the Abrams, Challenger II and Leopard II are really quite equal... even in appearance.

Leopard II:

Challenger II:

M1A2 Abrams:

Easily noticeable differences, yes, but still fairly similar appearance. Particularly between the Abrams and Leopard.

It's funny, American tanks no longer have their star, British tanks like never had an identification marker, while Germany still has their cross. Good for the Germans, now America needs to bring back it's star and Britain... well Britain has to do something, they don't seem to like emblems.

1539844
Tank is best tank

because Bill said so

1539882 Even a French tank could kill that thing in one shot, after all they shoot stale bread; it can punch through a bunker.

1538796

It's really sad that the boat variant wasn't really meant for D-Day. 32 launched, only 2 make it onto shore. That's 30 shermans sunk to the bottom of the English Channel due to complications with the tarp or waves filling the boat up with water.

1538772 Didn't it help the B-25s make the highest number of fighter kills in the war?

1544616 It may have been a pretty crappy boat, but it's still a boat.

1538337 Also, this is the best of American engineering.

'Tis the 'Merica gun.

1545203

1545416

everyone is talking tanks, while im just sitting here thinking of how we(America) made napalm for the fire bombings of japan. napalm killed more japanese overall than both atomic bombs combined.

1551987

Japanese houses where made of wood if my memory serves me correctly so..... poof, there goes the neighborhood... and the neighbors

1550191
I think the Russians have us both beat

1553341 Soviets always have bad ass songs. It's not fair!

1553489
Indeed, them Soviets knew how to make patriotic music

and on a completely different note, at least your national anthem can sound pretty damn awesome

1553720 I'd have to say I like Classical better, but zombie Queen's Guardsmen don't seem too scary, their bright red coats would be visible for miles.

1554015

its not the coats you should look out for.... its the hats

the fanciness of the hat signifies rank after all

1554075 But at night the black hats wouldn't account much for visibility, besides what's rank when they're all zombies and any skills they had are null and void?

1554662

I was making a TF2 joke