The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most numerous battle tank used by the United States and some other Western Allies in World War II. It proved to be reliable and mobile. In spite of being outclassed by German medium and heavy tanks late in the war, the M4 Sherman was cheaper to produce and available in greater numbers.

M4 Sherman

In spite of being surpassed by German medium and heavy tanks late in the war, the M4 Sherman proved to be very reliable, cheaper to produce and available in greater numbers. Thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named after the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman by the British.

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World War II Images

A Sherman BARV and Sherman tanks of 13th/18th Royal Hussars during the regiment’s move from Petworth to Gosport. June 2, 1944.

U.S. Army soldiers on Bougainville (one of the Solomon Islands) in World War II. Japanese forces tried infiltrating the U.S. lines at night; at dawn, the U.S. soldiers would clear them out. In this picture, infantrymen are advancing in the cover of an M4 Sherman tank.

U.S. Army M4 “Sherman” tanks of Company A, 741st Tank Battalion and other equipment loaded in an LCT, ready for the invasion of France, circa late May or early June 1944. One tank has a welded hull. The other (marked “USA 3036947”) has a cast armor hull. Both have extended air intakes for operations in water. Note the markings “1A-741Δ” (“First Army – 741st Tank Bn”) on the trailer are consistent with what should be found on a 741st vehicle. USS LCT-213 is tied up alongside and several LSTs are anchored out in the harbor of this southern English port.

Crew from the tank Eternity check their vehicle after landing at Red Beach 2, Sicily.

Sherman DD (Duplex Drive) amphibious tank with waterproof float screens. When in the water the float screen was raised and the rear propellers came into operation.

M-4 tank crews of the United States, Ft. Knox, Ky in June 1942.

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German prisoners, up to their knees in the sea, wait for collection in the shadow of a disabled Sherman Crab flail tank.

Mired M4 “Sherman” tank on a Normandy invasion beach, 12 June 1944. This tank, which bears the name “Cannon Ball”, is fitted with raised air intakes for amphibious use.

Sherman and Cromwell tanks of the Royal Marines Armoured Support Group near Tilly-sur-Seulles on June 13, 1944.

Canadian crew of a Sherman-tank, south of Vaucelles near Caen (Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France), during the battle of Normandy in June 1944.

Sherman tanks and 6-pdr anti-tank gun in the centre of Caen, 10 July 1944.

The crew of a Sherman tank of 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry receive rations before the start of Operation ‘Totalise’, in August 1944.

This tank, named Ile-de-France, belongs to the 12e Régiment de Chasseurs d’Afrique who was previously fielding SOMUA S35 tanks lands on Utah beach from USS LST-517, 2 August 1944.

LST-66 (far right) and LST-67 disembark M4 Sherman tanks and other vehicles during the Western New Guinea operation, Invasion of Noemfoor Island in July 1944.

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Yanks of 60th Infantry Regiment advance into a Belgian town under the protection of a heavy M4 Sherman tank.

Squadron Sergeant Major William John Parkes of No. 3 Squadron, 2nd (Armoured) Irish Guards, killed when his Sherman tank was knocked out during the advance towards Eindhoven as part of Operation ‘Market-Garden’. Killed in action on 17 September 1944 aged 33, he was a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland and was later buried in Grave II.B.8 at Valkenswaard War Cemetery, situated approx 10kms south of Eindhoven and close to the Belgian border.

Battle of the bulge – Tankmen of the U.S. First Army gather around a fire on the snow-covered ground near Eupen, Belgium, opening their Christmas packages (12/30/44) -5th Armd. Regt

Battle of the bulge – Troops of the 82nd Airborne Division advance in a snowstorm behind the tank in a move to attack Herresbach, Belgium. 340th Tank Battalion, Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division. 28 Jan 1945.

Sherman DD tanks crossing the Rhine in March 1945.

This Sherman Tank was disabled by a land mine and five hits by Japanese artillery at Iwo Jima, but the crew escaped uninjured. Note heavy planking on side to protect against magnetic demolition charges.

M4 tank of Sgt. George K. Cuthbert, Jr., Company C, 741st Tank Battalion, burns at the intersection of Karl Heine Str. and Zschochersche Str., Leipzig, Germany, 18 April 1945. The entire crew, Sgt. George K. Cuthbert, Jr., Cpl. Kenneth W. Nickel, Pfc. Charles Lombardo, Pfc. George R. Wilson, and Pfc. William E. Glatt, perished in the battle. The company was attached to the 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.

Camouflaged with evergreen boughs, tanks of the 1st Infantry Division (745th Tank Battalion), U.S. First Army, rolls through former German block in Gladbach, Germany. Tank is moving into attack position. 3/1/45.

A Marine flame throwing tank, also known as a “Ronson”, scorches a Japanese strongpoint. The eight M4A3 Shermans equipped with the Navy Mark 1 flame-thrower proved to be the most valuable weapons systems on Iwo Jima.

Firing 4.5 inch rockets from M4-Sherman “Calliope” multiple rocket launcher, mounted on M-4, No. A-3 tank. 14th Armored, France.

British Sherman Firefly in Namur. 1944.

Post-World War II Images

M4A3E8 “Sherman” Tank of Company B, 72nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, fires its 76mm gun at enemy bunkers on “Napalm Ridge”, in support of the 8th ROK Division. Photograph is dated 11 May 1952. Note the prepared firing position, with ammunition cases piled at left, and sandbags piled on the tank hull’s rear upper surfaces.

L-R: Cpl John T. Clark (union, SC); Cpl James E. Kishbough (Nescopeck, PA); Sgt Frank C. Allen (Etiwanda, CA); Sgt Theodore R. Liberty (Bushton, MA); and Cpl William J. Bohmback (Boston, MA); prepare to advance along the Han River area, Korea, in their M-4 Tiger Tank, during offensive launched by the 5th Rct against the enemy forces in that area.

A left front view of a wrecked and stripped Israeli Sherman Firefly tank, as the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit redeploys back to ships of Amphibious Squadron 4, at the conclusion of a multinational peacekeeping operation.

A right rear view of a wrecked and stripped Israeli Sherman Firefly tank with its gun turret traversed to the rear.

References:

Wikipedia

Photographical credits: Imperial War Museum

Photographical credits: U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and U.S. Coast Guard)

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