American military technology during World War II technologies. The M4 Sherman became the standard American military tank in World War II. Due to lack of development before the war leading to inexperience in tank design, the first large scale production of a medium tank was the M3 Lee, built for the US and the British, a compromise design with the main weapon mounted in the hull. It did have a stabilized 37mm gun in the turret, which was effective against antitank guns, able to fire, and hit, even when moving. By contrast, no German tanks had stabilized guns. The M6 series was the first of the heavy
German tanks in World War II keep pace with Soviet T-34 and KV tanks, which respectively, either had sloped armor or relatively thick armor and both shared 76 mm guns. By 1941, the Panzer III was the most numerous of German tank designs, however, during the later parts of 1943, it was largely replaced by later versions of the Panzer IV and Panzer V "Panther". Its assault gun chassis variant, the Sturmgeschütz III was, with just over 9,400 units built, the most widely produced German armored fighting vehicle of World War II. The Panzer IV was the workhorse of the German tank force during World War