The Germans were lucky in WW2 in one regard when it came to facing the enemy armor. 95% + of the enemy tanks and armored vehicles were medium weight and medium armored vehicles, not heavy tanks like they themselves had produced. Therefore, it should've been fairly easy for them to destroy the enemy's armored vehicles, especially with guns like the 88mm originally used as a AA gun.
Now I understand that at the beginning of WW2, the Germans had produced the Panzer III as their primary anti armor tank with its 37mm gun, and the Panzer IV was to be used as an infantry support tank for destroying enemy emplacements, machines gun positions, bunkers, etc with its lower velocity, short barreled 75mm gun. Then, in 1941, the Germans decided to install a 50mm gun into the III, then later a higher velocity 75mm gun into the Panzer IV and a both to be used against tanks, as the tanks they were now facing had slightly thicker armor, and the T34 had sloped armor.
But then, they came out with the Panther, with a completely different 75mm anti tank gun, and the Tiger I with the 88mm gun. Then, the Tiger II came out with a different, more powerful 88mm gun, and the Jagdpanther was armed with the same gun. Then they designed the Jagdtiger with the 128mm gun from their largest AA mounts. In the mean time, the Panzer III was now relegated to a support tank with another, different short barreled 75mm gun.
There were also various different German towed anti armor cannons as well, with different guns mounted on them.
Plus, there were many different types of shells for each gun. This must have been a logistics nightmare for the Germans, and I just don't completely understand why they didn't just use a few guns that were proven, instead of manufacturing so many different guns. My theory is that they knew by mid-late 1943 that they were outnumbered in tanks by the enemy, and they needed to be able to destroy many enemy tanks with each one of their own tanks, therefore, they kept trying to come up with new guns that would give them better range and power, so they could start destroying them from afar, and hopefully pick off quite a few of them before they either were themselves destroyed, or before they retreated.
I've also probably left out a few guns, as I've read that they made lots of different guns of each caliber.
Whats your opinion on why they felt the need to do this, when they only really had a limited number of different tanks to fight against for the most part?
Now I understand that at the beginning of WW2, the Germans had produced the Panzer III as their primary anti armor tank with its 37mm gun, and the Panzer IV was to be used as an infantry support tank for destroying enemy emplacements, machines gun positions, bunkers, etc with its lower velocity, short barreled 75mm gun. Then, in 1941, the Germans decided to install a 50mm gun into the III, then later a higher velocity 75mm gun into the Panzer IV and a both to be used against tanks, as the tanks they were now facing had slightly thicker armor, and the T34 had sloped armor.
But then, they came out with the Panther, with a completely different 75mm anti tank gun, and the Tiger I with the 88mm gun. Then, the Tiger II came out with a different, more powerful 88mm gun, and the Jagdpanther was armed with the same gun. Then they designed the Jagdtiger with the 128mm gun from their largest AA mounts. In the mean time, the Panzer III was now relegated to a support tank with another, different short barreled 75mm gun.
There were also various different German towed anti armor cannons as well, with different guns mounted on them.
Plus, there were many different types of shells for each gun. This must have been a logistics nightmare for the Germans, and I just don't completely understand why they didn't just use a few guns that were proven, instead of manufacturing so many different guns. My theory is that they knew by mid-late 1943 that they were outnumbered in tanks by the enemy, and they needed to be able to destroy many enemy tanks with each one of their own tanks, therefore, they kept trying to come up with new guns that would give them better range and power, so they could start destroying them from afar, and hopefully pick off quite a few of them before they either were themselves destroyed, or before they retreated.
I've also probably left out a few guns, as I've read that they made lots of different guns of each caliber.
Whats your opinion on why they felt the need to do this, when they only really had a limited number of different tanks to fight against for the most part?