History, technical details and pictures

History of the M4 Sherman tank

After the defeat of the French army in 1940 due to the "blitzkrieg" strategy of the German army, the United States highlighted the importance of the armored units on the battlefield.

That is why the U.S. military engineers were ordered to immediately design a new tank for the Second World War. The M3 General Grant tank was born. But in front of enemy units, the M3 seems obsolete.

Thus, a new tank is designed and produced by the Americans in 1942, called M4 Sherman. It is not only used by the U.S. forces, but also by the British, Canadian and Free French forces.

Different versions of the M4 are designed based on original vehicle and allowing the Americans to have a wide range of vehicles suited to different situations and tasks. The M4 is then transformed into a bulldozer tank, amphibious (Duplex Drive) tank, repair tank, anti-mines tank and many other variants.

But the Sherman tank is by far not the best tank of the Second World War. The M4 Sherman tank has only low fire power and a light shielding in front of German Tiger tanks. It took an average of 5 Sherman tanks to overcome a German Tiger tank.

However, the Allies have had a huge number of M4 tanks, alternating quality by quantity.

M4 Sherman tank sheet

Country creator/user: USA
Name: M4A4 Sherman

Rate of fire: 6,06 m
Width: 2,62 m
Height: 2,74 m
Weigth: 31600 kg
Maximum speed: 40 km/h
Range: 160 km

Main gun: 75 mm gun
Secondary armament: a 7,62 mm Browning machinegun for the co-pilote and a 7,62 mm Browning machinegun in turrel

Engine: Multibank Chrysler A57 - 425 hp

Crew: 5 (1 commander, 1 pilote, 1 co-pilote et gunner, 1 radio and 1 loader)

Vehicle shield: 50 mm front, 38 mm back, 38 mm flancs
Turret shield: 75 mm front, 50 mm back, 50 mm flancs