T34
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Having watched all the videos from the Bovington Tank Museum on bad tanks, I'm trying to nail down what is the single worst tank of WWII. Let's keep in mind that all tanks are a compromise between 1) Firepower, 2) Mobility and 3) Protection. We can throw in some other features like a) crew friendliness, b) reliability and c) ease of production. There is certainly some room to argue about its role and context of the period in which it is being produced. (For example, I would say that while in most respects it is a decent design, the Jaegdtiger--a gas guzzling ton of steel the Germans really didn't have at the time that couldn't cross water obstacles except on railroad bridges--was the wrong tank at the wrong time.) I will try to concentrate on the tanks I would not like to have in an ASL scenario.
And the nominees are:
First and foremost, the Italian L3 series. Just like when Meryl Streep is nominated for an academy award, the L3 instantly becomes a favorite for worst tank of WWII and ASL. What happens when you take a vehicle that shows itself to be woefully inadequate in prior conflicts (Spanish Civil War, China) and do nothing to upgrade it and expect to use it as your main battle tank almost a decade later? The L3. The L3 trades off protection and firepower for speed--and doesn't get a whole lot in the trade off. The L3 has a top speed of around 25 MPH, but that's on a British copied bogey suspension. The top speed of a KV I is 22 MPH! To be fair, the L3 is used in the desert and on roads, so the bogey suspension isn't a huge disadvantage, but still. The L3 is armed with a MG or, in a few cases kitted out with a retrofitted ATR (is there an ASL counter for this?) Later, it got a flamethrower, but in order to hold sufficient fuel for the flamethrower they attached a trailer to let every single anti-tank weapon know exactly which tank to shoot at!
The L3 proved nearly worthless against the T26 in Spain, but that's OK, Italian doctrine didn't figure on tank vs. tank warfare. The L3 also operated in China where it couldn't stand up to any Japanese anti tank weapons and wasn't built for inadequate roads and viscous terrain. It's awfully bad when the PzKwI was preferred. The truth is, when the L3 was deployed, it was really only good for badgering and bullying pockets of communist resistance in Italian urban areas.
Not only was the L3 still on the battlefield in 1941, but it was the main Italian armored weapon, being the official tank filling Italian Armored Divisions. It didn't become obsolete so much as being wiped off the battlefield as so much scrap metal.
Now, Italy has to be forgiven for the L3 in that it was a poor country trying to build a powerful, modern army in a short period of time. The L3 was cheap and quick to produce, allowing the Italians to field a number of armored divisions rather early on in the war. Also, Italy's early opponents did not have an answer for the L3. But you definitely need to think that while Ethiopians and Albanians are terrified of your mechanization, the French and the British are not. Even by 1937, the Germans (potential rivals in Yugoslavia and Austria) are not at all afraid of your armor.
In ASL, the L3 appears simply as a way to cut rout paths and create smoke. In a desert scenario they are virtually useless and (as it says in Beowulf) "unloved by God." They don't have sufficient firepower to do any damage to anything other than infantry without any kind of cover. The flame version is a bit more interesting, but good luck getting anywhere near close enough to torch your opponent.
So my first nominee is the Italian L3 series.
And the nominees are:
First and foremost, the Italian L3 series. Just like when Meryl Streep is nominated for an academy award, the L3 instantly becomes a favorite for worst tank of WWII and ASL. What happens when you take a vehicle that shows itself to be woefully inadequate in prior conflicts (Spanish Civil War, China) and do nothing to upgrade it and expect to use it as your main battle tank almost a decade later? The L3. The L3 trades off protection and firepower for speed--and doesn't get a whole lot in the trade off. The L3 has a top speed of around 25 MPH, but that's on a British copied bogey suspension. The top speed of a KV I is 22 MPH! To be fair, the L3 is used in the desert and on roads, so the bogey suspension isn't a huge disadvantage, but still. The L3 is armed with a MG or, in a few cases kitted out with a retrofitted ATR (is there an ASL counter for this?) Later, it got a flamethrower, but in order to hold sufficient fuel for the flamethrower they attached a trailer to let every single anti-tank weapon know exactly which tank to shoot at!
The L3 proved nearly worthless against the T26 in Spain, but that's OK, Italian doctrine didn't figure on tank vs. tank warfare. The L3 also operated in China where it couldn't stand up to any Japanese anti tank weapons and wasn't built for inadequate roads and viscous terrain. It's awfully bad when the PzKwI was preferred. The truth is, when the L3 was deployed, it was really only good for badgering and bullying pockets of communist resistance in Italian urban areas.
Not only was the L3 still on the battlefield in 1941, but it was the main Italian armored weapon, being the official tank filling Italian Armored Divisions. It didn't become obsolete so much as being wiped off the battlefield as so much scrap metal.
Now, Italy has to be forgiven for the L3 in that it was a poor country trying to build a powerful, modern army in a short period of time. The L3 was cheap and quick to produce, allowing the Italians to field a number of armored divisions rather early on in the war. Also, Italy's early opponents did not have an answer for the L3. But you definitely need to think that while Ethiopians and Albanians are terrified of your mechanization, the French and the British are not. Even by 1937, the Germans (potential rivals in Yugoslavia and Austria) are not at all afraid of your armor.
In ASL, the L3 appears simply as a way to cut rout paths and create smoke. In a desert scenario they are virtually useless and (as it says in Beowulf) "unloved by God." They don't have sufficient firepower to do any damage to anything other than infantry without any kind of cover. The flame version is a bit more interesting, but good luck getting anywhere near close enough to torch your opponent.
So my first nominee is the Italian L3 series.