This blog entry is to shed some light on many myths and common misconceptions about the German Military in the 2nd World War.

Myth: German tanks in general, and Tigers in particular, were impervious to Allied guns.

Fact: Tigers were vulnerable to even Shermans armed with 75 mm guns. The longer 76 mm gun (superior in AP performance to the Soviet 85 mm gun, which could handle Tigers just fine) had no problem with Tigers or Panthers. British "Firefly" Shermans equipped with 17 pounder guns could effectively combat any German armour, including Tiger II tanks.

Myth: German and crews were superior to anything the Allies had, and achieved an X:1 kill to death ratio (the number varies greatly).

Fact: The flaws of German kill counts are covered in detail here and here.

Myth: The King Tiger could not be penetrated by any tank gun.

Fact: The Tiger II was penetrated many times by various weapons in trials. Even the meek 85 mm gun on the T-34-85 was capable of dealing a fatal blow to it at 300 meters. The Wikipedia article for the Tiger II has a very nice photo of a Tiger II with a 17 pounder hole in the front.

Ironically, the only weapon in Soviet tests that was consistently incapable of penetrating the front of the Tiger II was the Panther's gun, even with APCR.

Myth: If the Germans could build the Maus, they would win the war for sure, as it would be invincible!

Fact: Even if the Germans managed to get a Maus into combat without it getting stuck, the Soviets had guns that were capable of fighting it by 1944: the BL-8/10 and BL-9 (and, if you want to go back further, various 107 mm guns).

Myth: Germans could knock out Allied tanks at great ranges, and routinely did so from distances as great as 2 kilometers or even greater.

Fact: Research indicates that the average engagement range was only several hundred meters. Shots from over 1 kilometer were either rarely taken, or rarely reached their target.

Myth: The Panther was flawless.

Fact: Panthers, even the latest models, were full of mechanical issues, such as final drives that lasted 150 kilometers. The_Chieftain goes over them here. Additionally, the armour was of exceptionally poor quality, cracking after non-penetrating hits.

Myth: The SS were an elite fighting force, especially their armoured divisions.

Fact: The success attributed to the SS is mostly based on their war diaries (Tigers in Combat). The diaries had little to do with reality (Tigers in Normandy). Even the Wehrmacht slashed the claims of the SS in half when estimating their performance, and Schneider's research shows that even that was an optimistic figure. For example, Wittmann's famous battle at Villers-Bocage where he is claims 20 kills only had 7 to his name. His victory was blown out of proportion by SS propaganda, since they were desperate for a tank ace among their own, routinely assigning an entire unit's accomplishments to one tank/crew.

Most people focus on the three SS divisions that were LAH, Reich, and Totenkopf, which were equivalent to a Wehrmacht division at the best of times. The remaining SS divisions were barely Volkssturm quality, assigned to rear line duties such as executing civilians and fighting partisans.

Myth: German tanks were superior to all of their contemporaries even in the early war.

Fact: While the PzIII and PzIV were solid vehicles, they were available in small numbers. The Germans gladly used captured Czech tanks, and even French tanks up to and including the Renault FT (Sotvoreniye Broni, Y. Reznik). Even old Soviet tanks were no exception.