I think it´s ridiculous that the Sherman is remembered as a "death trap" and the T-34 seen as "best tank of the war" by many. Both vehicles offered similar armor protection, armor penetration capabilities in early and late versions, ease of maintenance and were even produced in similar numbers.
But due to sheer propaganda the Sherman is seen as a bad tank, while the T-34 is not. It´s the early Shermans that had a tendency to catch fire. This is what lets a lot of people believe the Sherman was bad. What´s often ignored is that by 1944 this issue was fixed with wet storage making the tank quite safe for WW2 standards.
The ridiculous thing is that compared to the T-34 the Sherman was actually the better tank. It offered way better escape options for the crew, vision, internal layout, accuracy especially on the move, wet storage and was a more solid design in general.
This especially shows with the difference in losses of both vehicles during WW2 (not all due to disastrous Soviet doctrine) or when both vehicles faced each other in Korea.
Yet you see a lot more people - and clowns like the history channel - glorifying the T-34.
1
Relic Entertainment
