M4 Sherman

The M4 Sherman was the backbone of the World War Two allied armor offensive.

So many Sherman variants were developed during the Second World War that it would be impossible to mention them all in any detail here. The M4 Sherman was, without a doubt, the most important Allied tank of the war. It was not, by any means, a perfect fighting machine. Relatively weak-armed and armored, the Sherman was no match in head-to-head fights with its German counterparts, but a well placed rear shot from the Sherman main gun was (usually) enough to knock the adversary out.

The M4 Sherman tank was based on the M3 Lee tank, which it shared many system components with. The Sherman would go on to experience a plethora of modifications (hull changes, removable headlamps, commander's gun station, etc...) as the war moved along. It is reported that between 40,000 and 60,000 Shermans were built during the war, though no one source has a definite production total.

The British received early production orders of the M4 Sherman and referred to it as the Sherman II (after the US General Sherman) or Ronson (after discovering the Sherman was prone to exploding after being hit). The British would use them in combat against Rommel's forces in El Alamein in North Africa.

Early Shermans featured cast and welded hulls with fixed 7.62mm machine guns operated (but later removed) by the driver. Later versions would see slew of armaments based on the M4 Sherman chassis including the Calliope rocket artillery tank.

Despite the misgivings, the Sherman was cheap and easy to produce and proved to be rugged and reliable on the battlefield. And in the Second World War, sheer numbers in production and manpower would win out over quality.

The M4 Sherman would see action in the Korean War in large numbers. Because of the extremely high production numbers, the Sherman would find new homes in the inventories of many export countries around the world.