> Consider tanks in WWII. The German Tigers were far superior to the Pattons
> and the T-34s, in every category. Yet the latter won the war.

WWII hat on ... :-).
The T34, the second most numerous tank ever made, was arguably (eg cf 
present context :-) ) the best tank of the war. At the time of its 
introduction it was better than anything the Germans had available. It's 
introduction caught them entirely by surprise and gave them a nasty shock. 
It had an Alumin[i]um engine, which the Germans couldn't match. It was 
diesel, which helped fuel issues. Importantly, it had enough armour to 
strongly resist its opposition while being able to penetrate the best tanks 
then available to the Germans. With time everything got better, including 
the T34 - the last ones were substantially better than the first ones. But 
the volume x capability product was in the T34's favour. Arguably the major 
problem for the Germans was limited resources as the war progressed - they 
couldn't make enough tanks to resist the Soviet Union's overwhelming 
production capability. That's another lesson too, but not the one under 
discussion here.

There are two T34's forever poised on the Tomb of the Unknown R..... in 
Berlin

        http://public.fotki.com/RussellMc/atw/atwrp/rpb204.html

*** WARNING***   After viewing, DO NOT click on the photo, photo, photo, ph 
...
Let alone this:

        http://public.fotki.com/RussellMc/atw/atwrp/?cmd=fs_slideshow

FWIW  (and still arguably) the best tank to have at the end of WW2 was a 
Sherman Firefly. A 'British' tank despite the name and even manufacturing 
locations. Their killer-app was a field gun that was too large to be fitted 
'normally' so was laid on its side to clear the turret ring. As D-Day they 
only has a limited number available so Shermans went hunting in packs - 
typically 4 x standard and 1 x Firefly. The standard Shermans would play 
games with the Tigers to keep them interested - but were generally unable to 
penetrate the Tigers' armour. I imagine that the noise and a degree of 
spalling would have made the environment inside the target Tiger 
'interesting'.  Meanwhile the Firefly would line itself up for a clear shot, 
and they'd then go looking for another Tiger.The top German tanker (Michael 
...?) was killed by a Firefly in Normandy the day after having carried out 
the most amazing single tank demolition derby on record. 20+ armoured and/or 
tracked or support vehicles destroyed in under 10 minutes (probably with 
minimal loss of life)(relatively).While at its work it was fired on at point 
blank range by a British tank with no effect.

In the context of the thread (what thread ... ? :-) ) the Tiger was a "Rolls 
Royce", but the Firefly was a Bentley. The minis tended to get forgotten 
very quickly.




        Russell






        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-34 

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