![]() Early production tanks had an M2 75mm instead of the improved M3 gun. T his was the first version of the tank and used a riveted hull with the R975 radial engine powering it, the suspension and tracks were very similar to the M2 medium. Many of these Lee tanks ended up in Australia after the war. The Lee excelled at infantry support, since it had a 37mm canon that could fire canister rounds, along with the 75mm gun and a lot of machine guns. When the British got enough Shermans, the Lees and Grants were sent to the Far East and saw use until the end of the war fighting the Japanese. It was reliable, and well-liked by its users. W hen the Lee went into production, though it was far from an ideal design, it still outclassed the German and Italian armor it would face, and its dual purpose 75mm gun would allow it to engage AT guns with much more success than most British tanks it replaced. This is one of the reasons the Israelis had so much success updating the Sherman to the M50 and M51, these tanks used early small hatch hulls, that never had HVSS suspension installed, but the hulls took the updated suspension with few problems. Over the life of M3 Lee and M4 Sherman the designs were continually improved as well, so a final production, M3, or M4A1, bared little resemblance to an initial production M3 or M4A1, yet many parts would still interchange. One of the reasons for the reliability of the M4 design was the use of parts that started their design evolution in the M2 medium and were improved through the M3 production run. ![]() ![]() It had become clear to the US Army that the 75mm canon would be needed based on feedback from the British, and observations of how the war was developing in Europe. The US lacked the jigs to make a turret ring big enough to house a gun that large in a turret the Lee went into production while the turret ring problem was being solved, by mounting the gun in a sponson mount. It was based on M2 medium, the US Army’s only foray into modern medium tank design, and was the fastest way a tank could be designed with a 75 mm M3 canon fitted. T o really know why the Sherman was designed the way it was, you have to know about the M3 Lee. Some variants have heavily modified turrets, or replaced it with a new one. I’ll try and get civilian use in here as well. I will try and cover the many post war variants as well, but that could take months, there are a lot of variants of this venerable tank, including ones that involve putting the engine from one hull type into another hull type and or tanks modified by other countries with no feedback from the American designers. I will cover all the major changes made to the each Sherman model. I will not be reproducing the work of others, and will link to the places that already cover some information. T his post will cover why the Sherman was a better tank than anything Germany, Italy or Japan produced during the war, on both a tactical and strategic level. ![]() These two tanks are very comparable and would fight each other in later wars, staying very comparable through their service lives. The only other contender for the best tank award would be the Soviet T-34. The Sherman tank may be the most important, and arguably the best tank of the war. T he Sherman tank over the last several decades has had its reputation severely soiled by several documentaries, TV shows, and books, all hailing it as a death trap, engineering disaster, or just a bad tank. The Epic M4 Sherman Tank Information Post. If you have feedback or want to help with the content, this thread is the best place to do it. This is a work in progress, please feel free to comment, or help me with info and links.Ĭlick here to see the new The Sherman Tank Website!Īll content is still discussed and previewed in this thread. ![]()
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