Comparisons
The match-ups everyone argues about — settled against the record, not the legend.
Every comparison here is built from the same sourced technical records as the archive’s vehicle pages, and answers the question people actually ask: not which machine looks better on a spec sheet, but which one mattered, and why.
16 comparisons
Tiger I vs M4 Sherman
“It took five Shermans to kill one Tiger.” It is the most repeated line of the tank war — and it is not what t…
IS-2 vs Tiger II
One was built to dominate a long-range tank duel. The other was built to break an army’s way into cities. Judg…
T-34 vs Panther
This is the one comparison where the answer is written into the machine itself: the Panther exists because of …
Spitfire vs Bf 109
Two fighters so evenly matched that the duel usually came down to who saw whom first. The battle was decided b…
A6M Zero vs F6F Hellcat
The Hellcat is credited with 5,163 kills and a ratio near 19 to 1. It achieved that without ever winning the f…
Bismarck vs Hood
They were the two most powerful ships in the Atlantic, and their guns were all but identical. The difference b…
Re.2005 vs G.55
This is not a duel between enemies. It is a contest between two Italian fighters that shared an engine, an arm…
Fiat CR.32 vs Polikarpov I-16
Over Spain the older machine kept beating the newer one. Both air forces believed what they saw, and both were…
Marder III vs Hetzer
These two were built from the same parts, in the same plant, for the same job. What separates them is two year…
Il-2 Sturmovik vs Ju 87 Stuka
The Stuka was built to hit the target. The Sturmovik was built to come home. Both were right, and only one of …
Type VII U-boat vs Flower-class Corvette
A convoy escort that cannot catch a submarine, and a submarine that cannot attack a convoy it has been forced …
Matilda II vs Panzer III
For roughly eighteen months there was a British tank that German tank guns could not penetrate from the front.…
Sherman Firefly vs Tiger I
Every Allied tank crew in Normandy knew the arithmetic. One tank in four could kill a Tiger from the front. It…
Churchill vs Tiger I
The Churchill Mk VII carried more frontal armour than a Tiger. It is the only Western tank of which that is tr…
Semovente da 75/18 vs M4 Sherman
Italy never built a tank that could fight a Sherman. It built an assault gun that could, and the reason is a s…
Roma vs Bismarck
Two fast battleships laid down within a year of each other, built for two different seas. On the specification…