re: How were German armored divisions so much more elite than their US counterparts

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The Panzer IV H&J models came out the same year as Easy Eight and had more armor and a larger gun. It was less reliable though, supposedly.

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The Panzer IV, in all of it's models, had a 75mm main gun. The Sherman Easy Eight, which first saw combat in August 1944, had a 76mm main gun. Additionally, the Easy Eight was designed to have reasonably tough armor, and, it was probably a little better armored than any Pz IV model.

While the Pzkw IV H and J models may have had more armor than earlier Pz IV models, they did not have a larger gun.

In any event, the Easy Eight was in no way inferior to any model of the German Pz IV. Remember that the Pz IV was a design that was first fielded in 1936. By late 1944, the Pz IV was obsolete. Even though the Germans created new models of Pz IV by adding more applique armor plates and such, the basic tank design could only be updated so much.

Even the US 57mm anti-tank gun that was a towed gun could crack open the frontal armor of any Pz IV. The lowly US 37mm anti tank gun could take out a Pz IV's side armor.

So, it's not accurate to say that the Easy Eight was inferior to the later models of Pz IV.