World War 2 Top 10 U.S. and British Tanks and Tank Destroyers

The M26 Pershing was a medium tank of the United States Army. The tank was named after General of the Armies John J. Pershing, who led the American Expeditionary Force in Europe in World War I. It was briefly used in the final months of World War II and extensively during the Korean War.
Intended as a replacement of the M4 Sherman, the prolonged time of development meant that only a small number saw combat in the European theater, most notably in the 9th Armored Division's dramatic dash to take the Ludendorff Bridge during the Battle of Remagen. Based on the criteria of firepower, mobility, and protection, R. P. Hunnicutt ranked the Pershing second, behind the German Panther medium tank, but ahead of the Tiger I heavy tank. In service during the Korean War, the M26 overmatched the T-34-85 in terms of firepower and protection, but was challenged by the hilly and muddy terrain, and as a result was withdrawn in 1951 in favor of its improved derivative, the M46 Patton, which had a considerably more powerful and reliable engine as well as an advanced and improved suspension to better meet the demands of the specific terrain it operated in. The lineage of the M26 continued with the M47 Patton, and was reflected in the new designs of the later M48 Patton and M60 Patton. (Despite being commonly labeled as "Patton", the M60 series was not officially named as such.)

[@feivellazuardi1867]

Churchill is better than m4 sherman beacause m4 sherman is good at numbers while churchill is better when individualism or with other infantry tanks (matilda or valentine or crusader)

[@sergiokv5711]

Comet was literally a death trap for the driver and driver assistant

Never realized how small the Valentine was, must have been tight with a 76mm gun.

[@TDL-xg5nn]

M3 Lee/Grant should be on there.

[@fatdad64able]

Valentine is so low.....where is the crew during combat????

[@bigcahoona7931]

Anton Chigurh they're pushing it

[@sean640307]

@@bigcahoona7931 The Valentine was a very reliable tank. The ones that gave British tanks a bad name are the early model Crusaders, which had dreadful cooling system issues.

[@Dan-n-Duke-jr2ic]

Everybody's seems caught up to much about how the Sherman stacks against the tiger and panther when in reality it doesn't matter. The Sherman served its purpose excellently as a troop support tank. And with the industrial might of the USA. They were able to crank out tanks better than Germany, thus being able to take on superior German tanks with a greater number of Sherman's where need be. Also if not for the invention of a hedgerow cutter by a farmer to be fitted on the Sherman's to allow the allies to break through the thick hedgerows where they were stagnant and getting their asses ambushed constantly, the allies may have never made it through to Germany. One of the most unrecognized inventions of the war

[@Dan-n-Duke-jr2ic]

John Cornell my apologies, i surely didnt mean any disrespect for my comment, i admire greatly all who served in that war, that was by far the greatest generation,my point was to say it really didn't matter if they had a better tank

[@justcallmejohn2833]

My dad always talked about that hedgerow cutter, that was the next best invention to sliced bread from his memories!

[@badmacdonald]

no centurion? it never fired a gun but was in the war.

[@michaeljaneway9459]

I agree

[@aprilroberson6758]

the Pershing was equal to the tiger in almost every way

[@johnburns4017]

You jest of course.

[@Earl_of_Waitrose]

@@johnburns4017 is right, the tiger is piece of shit irl

[@DeniatitadenCompostela]

Just about as reliable.

[@PaulJersey]

The M26 almost missed the war.

[@user6008]

The M18 Hellcat is technically a Tank destroyer, and not a Tank. But if you ask me, for all intents and purposes it's a Tank.

[@stevehurt1615]

Its a tank to me its got tracks and a gun although a lot had no turret 360% as such!

[@johnburns4017]

Pershing No. 1? Duh! This guy must be American. Even the US dropped that tank in the Korean war.

[@andrewfischer8564]

like 6 pershings saw combat

[@FansSports]

No tank weight info?

[@tzonkotzonkov100]

that's better never seen in it.

[@kevinlutz2679]

U.S. Buick (G.M.) hellcat #2!

[@Delon81116]

Where is T1 heavy tank

[@mdteletom1288]

I came here after seeing the video of the top ten German tanks and tank destroyers and I must say, thank the Lord the Allies controlled the skies and could out produce the Germans because the Panzers outclassed just about every tank on this list.

[@stevelopez372]

Dodadeus Yup and wiped out or sent to work camps to die.

[@tzonkotzonkov100]

is this the tank you won the wwii com'n

[@krtacct]

The Cromwell is better than the Sherman? The post war interviews with British tankers have them saying that the Cromwell was a step backwards and they were pissed when they replaced their Shermans.

[@johnburns4017]

The Cromwell was far better than the Sherman for sure. The British tankers were expecting a tiger then rightly bitched.

[@thomaslinton5765]

0___0 Vanentine ? Really??

[@robertstone9945]

at least 3 of those didnt participate bur the ones that did the Germans like to shoot at

[@warfaremessiah2929]

The Pershing was too late and in too few numbers to truly impact the war the firefly should have topped this list it was loved by it's crews and was the first tank the allies had that could punch through German armour also the Matilda mk 2 could have been a little higher in the list I mean it was the queen of the desert the axis had no gun that could stop it until they changed the 88 into a AT gun it was the only tank of all allies that was in service from the start to the end of the war because of how tough it was

[@haikalzaini4990]

I agreed with you .i love firefly because of its 17 pounder gun and ability to kill tiger

[@scottbox2920]

Warfare Messiah Even years before World War II America refuse to do any research and development on heavy tanks. They only want a light tanks for fast mobile infantry deployment. And because of that stupidity a lot of Americans died that may have lived through the war.

[@Dragonblaster1]

Haikal Zaini Did you see that paint job under the gun barrel? That was attempted camouflage to make the Germans think it was a regular Sherman 75mm, because they tended to try to take out the Fireflies first.

[@samuel10125]

Arguably t had World War 2 continued for a year or 2 more the Centurian would have came into service at the start or middle of 1945 and it would have been better than any German or allied tank both the Centurian and Pershing served together in Korea and by all accounts the Americans were more excited to see a Centurian because of it gun and ridiculous ability to climb steep turain it armour also being an added bonus.

[@CharlesvanDijk-ir6bl]

Till the Comet which was a Johnny Come Lately the British didn't have anything. The Yanks were great in production.

[@stonemarten1400]

It was disgraceful that with all of the American industrial strength, they continued to go for quantity over quality, thus condemning many of their tank crews to a horrendous fiery death, when they had the capability to design and produce tougher and harder hitting tanks well able to compete with the superior German panzers.

[@CharlesvanDijk-ir6bl]

Liberty ships were the tool of logistics and geared up for the M 4. The Germans had twice as many anti-tank guns than tanks. The 75 mm was better with HE than the 76 mm. I don't think to be the crew of a German Tiger facing 5 M4's who is backed up by artillery and fighter-bombers was a pleasant experience either. The poor infantry were more often the victim of German armor.

[@Dragonblaster1]

The Matilda beat anything on the battlefield in 1941. The Germans didn't have an AT gun in service that could defeat its armour. It took the panicked conversion of 88mm AA guns into AT that they could defeat it. The Russian tank crews loved the Valentine. The Cromwell was great at getting up steep hills. and the Churchill was very adaptable for a number of roles (mine clearance, flamethrower, demolition howitzer, etc). The Sherman was OK, and there were lots of them. But it wasn't anything special, with its high profile and middling gun. The best Sherman of WWII was the Sherman Firefly.

[@cosmiccolonel]

Alastair, I think you will find that it was the Churchill that could out climb anything else on the battlefield.......

[@sandemike]

what about the Firefly or Challenger?

[@tzonkotzonkov100]

is this a tank or a joke

[@chrisduprey6053]

Come now not even a tip of the hat for the easy8 not good. Valentine should not have made the top 10.

[@nicholaspratt8473]

The video gives me the impression of a British preference. For the Valentine, without the tranny and Doctrine limiting it's speed, it was a powerful vehicle. (Depending on variant) 60mm on all sides with 65mm front and rear turret. A punchy QF 2 pdr. Then the other variants have a scary 65mm wedge turret though the hull sides were reduced to 50mm they got much more powerful guns! It has near Klimontnt Viroschilev level armor, yet it weighs as little as a Stuart! I can understand why they would put the Valentine on the list :) I'm sure you are you talking about the E8, little known to actually be an experimental Sherman variant. It's actually the M4A3 76 W HVSS. Which is included in the specifications for "depending on variant" as mentioned. I can imagine you're commenting this because the Firefly was mentioned? While it is technically a Sherman, it performs nothing like one. It has the most unreliably but potentially best armored hulls, has a lot of extra weight, is missing it's bow MG and the operator (replaced by ammo), and cannot perform the role the Sherman was designed and used for (poor HE and post-penetration damage). It was not a support vehicle, it was a Tank Destroyer with a high-pen, low versatility gun. I always prefer a filler. The extra pen on the Firefly helps with penetration at range, but doesn't (to my knowledge) increase the range at which you can identify and hit a target. So it is a fundamentally different vehicle from the Sherman, even with just a slight change.

[@khaleedmujib1]

I know all the tanks

[@Invading-Specious]

Notthing was better than a Russian I.S. 2.

[@samuel10125]

Wasko Maleducado Centurion

[@disceva6443]

yea.

[@sandemike]

did they ever meet in Korea

[@disceva6443]

@@sandemike no