[CCIP]

I don't really regard the Panzer IV and Sherman, at least as designed, to be 'true' medium tanks designed to take on other tanks - although both later acquired some of that capability. Both were initially designed as hard platforms support infantry, and neither initially had the 'teeth' for other tanks. While this gradually improved, the T-34, pound for pound, was still a much more ambitious design, with a lower profile and armament suited to true medium tank role. Its real initial flaw was the inefficient two-man turret, along with poor communication and under-developed tactics. Once that was corrected and the tank was employed in the numbers and tactics suited to its design, I don't think the other two were a match for it, although the superior German optics and excellent crew training kept the PzIV relevant long past its due. The Sherman meanwhile had very effective logistics backing it up, and in its Firefly variation with the long gun could hold its own, although I think its main contribution to the war was still as essentially an infantry tank.