“... give the Ukrainians a million Garands, 50,000 bazookas and 5000 Sherman tanks (split evenly between the “Easy-8” and “Jumbo” models ...”
Shermans (M4A3E8 and M4A3E2 are medium tanks)! What a turkey shoot! Garands? Bazookas? All WWII surplus junk, if you could even find the quantities needed. This is 2014 not 1945 - notice that over 65 years have past? That’s a eons of time in militarily tech. Quite possible that one Russian machine gunner firing depleted uranium armor piercing rounds could take out the entire lot of the Shermans - so much has ordinance improved in the past 65 plus years.
Now if you had offered AK-47s, TOWs, and M1A1s that would be at least moderately comparable and competitive against a modern military, you would not have the wholesale slaughter of Ukraine forces, if they were equipped with antiques you proposed.
Don’t forget that you would need to also offer ample quantities of ammo, and spare parts. Also, doubt that you could even find rounds for the Shermans, let alone all the spares need to keep them going.
FYI: Modernized T-72 (a heavy tank) variants are only slightly inferior to the US M1A1 (a heavy tank), while (according to the Russians) the T-90s (a heavy tank) are equal or comparable to M1A2s.
Well maybe so but there are no such thing as an obsolete weapon, you just have to change the tactics. You might not be able to go head to head (unless you “Zerg Rush” them perhaps) but you can attach from the sides and rear. A side note, I’ve seen many debates about the King Tiger vs. M1 tank.