As an all-round, general purpose tank, the Sherman was one of the best tanks of the Second World War.
In 1940, the British established a Tank Mission in Washington, under the leadership of Michael Dewar, to persuade the Americans to build British tanks. It was later deemed wiser to stick to American designs. At first the tanks had to be paid for but in March 1941 President Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease Act came into force. Equipment was loaned to Britain in exchange for American use of British bases.
Design of the M4 Medium Tank dates back to April 1941. A pilot model was ready in September 1941 and production began in February 1942. The design mirrored the M3 Grant in terms of engine, transmission and suspension but the hull was quite different, being surmounted by a fully rotating turret carrying the main armament. The M4A1 featured a cast hull whereas other versions were welded.
By 1943 the Sherman was getting past its prime. The gun, a dual purpose 75mm, was outclassed by comparable German weapons and was not powerful enough for the thick armour in later vehicles. An officer at Lulworth Camp came up with the idea of fitting the British 76.2mm, known as the 17 pounder. The new design would be known as the Sherman Firefly.
The 17 pdr was much bigger than the 75mm so the turret had to be modified, with a bulge at the back to fit the radio and an extra hatch for the loader. The new ammunition was bigger so there were changes inside too. Indeed the demand for space was so great that hull machine-gunner, sitting to the right of the driver was disposed of and the weapon aperture sealed.
In action the Firefly was a success. The gun proved capable of dealing with the heavier German tanks but, since the armour had not been thickened to match it was still very vulnerable. The long gun was often disguised to look like a regular Sherman.
The Tank Museum’s M4A1
The Tank Museum owns the oldest surviving example of a Sherman.
It has two significant features not seen on later production Shermans. One is the main armament sight, set in the top of the turret; the other is the extra pair of machine-guns, operated by the driver, at the front.
The tank was named MICHAEL in honour of Michael Dewar and when it arrived in London it was displayed on Horse Guards Parade as the first Sherman tank to be delivered under the Lend-Lease scheme.
The Tank Museum’s Firefly
The Sherman Firefly in the Museum’s collection was built in 1944 in the Chrysler Factory in America, and converted in a Royal Ordinance Factory in the UK.
It is painted to represent a tank of Guards Armoured Division around the time of Arnhem.
The Tank Museum’s M4A4
The M4A4 was the most common variant supplied to the British. The named it the Sherman V and used all but 200 of the 7,499 built.
This tank was built by Chrysler in Detroit in June 1943 and has serial number 20767.
This tank’s service history is unknown. In recent years it has been in the Imperial War Museum collection, on display at Duxford. After this it served as a gate guard at the British Army’s 3rd (UK) Division Headquarters in Bulford. It came to The Tank Museum in 2019.
The Tank Museum’s M4A4 Sherman V Flail
Our Crab is a Mark I, meaning that it has hydraulic lifting gear attached to the flail arm to keep it at a constant height. From mid- 1944 the Crab II entered production, allowing us to narrow when the tank was converted.
As with so many of The Tank Museum’s Shermans, this Crab’s wartime service is unknown and it came to the Museum in 1949.
The Tank Museum’s M4A2 Tank Medium Duplex Drive
This DD was built as an M4A2 in December 1942 by the Pullman Standard Car Company in Hammond, Indiana (Car in this context meaning railway car). Its serial number is 9992. Pullman built a total of 3,426 M4 and M4A2s. This is one of the 293 Sherman IIIs converted to DDs in the UK during 1944. There were also 350 M4A1 DD conversions and 400 based on the M4A4. Only these latter two models were used on D-Day, Sherman IIIs did not see service until 1945.
The DD, or Duplex Drive, was an amphibious tank. At 2.1m (7ft), the canvas screen was tall enough to allow the 30 tonne tank to displace enough water to float, and two steerable propellers were fitted to the rear to drive it through the water. This second means of propulsion was what gave the tank its name.
The propellors were powered by a sprocket and driveshaft attached to the rear idler, and so functioned as a simple and effective extension of the tank’s standard powertrain.
The commander could stand on a platform behind his cupola and steer the propellors with a tiller.
The tank could swim at around 5mph. The longest recorded swim is 7 miles, down the Scheldt Estuary on 26 October 1944.
The screen was held upright by rubber pipes inflated with compressed air and by folding metal struts. It could be quickly collapsed when the tank left the water, revealing a fully combat-ready Sherman.
This DD was either built as, or converted to, an improved standard known as the Mark II. This introduced a self- locking mechanism for the support struts, and more of them, attached to the turret. Its history is unknown, but it came to The Tank Museum in 1949. It is the only surviving DD to still have its original canvas screen.
The Tank Museum’s M4A1 Tank Medium
Pressed Steel Car Company of Pittsburgh built roughly 2,171 M4A1 (76) with Vertical Volute Suspension between January and December 1944, before transitioning to the Horizontal Volute System.
The serial number of this tank has unfortunately not been found, therefore a date of manufacture cannot be determined. It has the D7054366 pattern turret, which did not enter production until August 1944, although this may not be original.
The turret serial number is obscured by the tracklinks on the side. The number 3920 on the left rear hull is not the tank’s serial number – its significance is unclear.
This tank’s service, both during and after the Second World War, is unknown. In the early 1950s it was one of a number upgraded by the Bowen-McLaughlin-York Company of York, Pennsylvania for delivery to allied NATO nations under the Mutual Defense Assistance Programme. Of the roughly 1,950 M4A1 (76) available, around 1,250 were gifted to France.
Tanks that went through this programme have a number of distinctive features. Some of the most prominent are the tracklinks on the turret sides and the infantry telephone box on the right rear of the hull. The gun travel lock on the glacis was modified from a ‘two finger’ locking arm to a more secure single piece component, and there are metal rods on the corners of the mantlet that were used to hold a canvas cover in place. The muzzle brake predates the MDAP upgrade, but it was added to tanks that didn’t already have it.
This M4A1 (76) was donated to the Museum in 1989 via the British Army of the Rhine, based in West Germany.
