Life inside a M4 Sherman (Cross Section)

“The tank was originally invented to clear the way for the infantry in the teeth of machine gun fire. Now it is the infantry who will have to clear a way for the tanks.” Winston Churchill

Allies: “Yo America, can we have some tanks?” America: “Sherman”

The M3 was not made in the hopes to be sufficient. It was made as a stop-gap. Made to be good enough until they could get the M4 out and going.

Reliable, survivable, plentiful, transportable, and mobile. It ended up a great fit for the US Army doctrine of the time.

I watched this in memory of my grandfather. He was a Sherman Tank driver in WW2. Battle of the Bulge veteran, 5 Bronze stars, and European/African/Middle Eastern service medals. He seldom told stories, but I do recall him talking about how lucky he was during Battle of the Bulge, to have refuge from the cold while in the tank. My parents have his Bronze Stars and his Sherman Tank field maintenance booklet displayed at their home. He passed away 5 years ago. Strong, gentle man. May he rest peacefully.

One of the best things about the Sherman is that it was extremely versatile. Need a more powerful gun? Sure (76mm). Need a howitzer? Done, (105mm). Flamethrower? Easy. Want wider tracks? No problem. This thing was designed so well it could be upgraded in almost every way.

So much freedom in one simple tank

Also worth noting are the Sherman’s extensive use of rubber track pads. These help prevent the Sherman from tearing up paved roads which would have made roads impassable after a few tanks equipped with all steel tracks went over them.

Sherman was good enough for most of the war, and the real best part was how often crews would survive.

They had a Sherman tank at a park in Nebraska back in the day. Someone forgot to weld shut the bottom hatch and someone had pried it open. As kids when we visited we found the hole and would go inside the tank to play it in it. It was a pretty cool experience.

M4 Sherman was one good tank, even Soviet tankers that operated it liked it better than the t34

The Sherman was literally the Swiss Army knife of tanks, just look at all the jobs it could do.

My paternal grandpa built Sherman tanks during WW2. I had a great uncle in the US Amy who was killed fighting Nazis at the Battle of the Bulge when he was only 18 years old. RIP to both of them. 🪦

The Sherman Fireflies and Easy 8s were the definition of "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

One of my favorite tactics when facing something with more firepower and armor is to fire smoke rounds at the enemy target and get closer/flank the target to get a more favorable shot. I think they actually did this in WW2.

It's most important job wasn't destroying other tanks. It was distributing high explosive shells and machine gun fire over the battlefield in support of the infantry. It did that job well, saved many allied lives

I think Chieftain looked up statistics-Sherman crews had a 97% survival rate. It was still high even after a direct hit thanks to the easy egress and hatches. He also stated the big thing people forget is that it had to be shipped across an ocean before even getting into combat and it's relative ease of shipping, simple design, ease of maintenance and reliability were the real war winning capabilities.

Makes me think of Fury and how the crew operated the Sherman’s, Such an iconic tank

The Sherman is my favorite piece of armor in history. She's not just a tank, she's a heavily armored utility vehicle with a gun. She wasn't just built for warfare, she was built for transport, rescue operations, vehicle recovery, reconnaissance, and if she was damaged enough, a few half-effort "repairs" make her a fantastic decoy. A very powerful and efficient tool at a very good price $45,000 - $64,000 (equivalent to $608,000 - $880,000 in 2017) per unit. Compared to the modern day M1 Abrams at over $10 Million ($588,000 in 1945)

The 75mm M3 gun wasn't low-velocity. It was a general-purpose, medium-velocity gun