Callum Dickson compares two of World War Two’s most famous tanks while playing War Thunder
Having worked through every major nation in the online game War Thunder, I felt it was time to begin comparing some of history’s most famous or infamous tanks. I decided to give it an African campaign feel given how I’ve dealt with many of the early war vehicles in the past, pitting the Allied M3 Lee with the Axis Panzer IV Ausf G, evaluating their abilities with regard to the primary aspects important in armoured warfare: manoeuvrability, armour and firepower. At some point in World War Two, both of these tanks were the pinnacle of their respective powers’ arsenals, so exploring how they are depicted in War Thunder is a fun metric to compare to reality. The Panzer IV was a vast improvement on the earlier variants, with a long barrelled 75mm gun and thicker armour. Throughout the war more than 8,000 Panzer IVs of all variants were produced, making it the second most common German armoured vehicle.
On the other hand, the M3 Lee, named after Confederate general Robert E Lee, was the first American medium tank being produced as the country entered the war in 1941, with eventually around 6,500 being produced. It …
