The four-man American M4 Sherman medium tank armed with the 75mm gun was to become the main and most numerous American produced tank of the war. The DAK first encountered British-operated Shermans in October 1942, and then American operated Shermans in Tunisia. A small number of Shermans were captured by the Afrika Korps and designated as Panzerkampfwagen M4 748(a). One particular machine nicknamed ‘War Daddy’ from the 3rd Battalion of the 5th American Armoured Division, captured by Corporal Thull of the 501st Schwere Panzer Abteilung, a heavy tank unit equipped with Tiger tanks. It was taken on 22nd February 1943, near Sbeitla in Tunisia, and shortly after was sent over to the Army Weapons Office in Germany for evaluation and tests. Later on, in mid- 1943, ‘War Daddy’ took part in the tests with early model Panther Ausf D to ‘prove’ the Panther’s superiority, which were staged for propaganda purposes. In the resulting newsreel the enthusiastic commentator shrieked with delight as the American-made machine failed to live up to the performance of the Panther. ‘General Sherman fell back. His German opponent, our new heavy tank, succeeds where the Yankee failed’. Although the entire comparison was made to boost the German morale, it is well worth searching out a copy of the film for the tank enthusiast.
A Bersaglieri despatch rider from the Italian Ariete division arriving with a message at an Sd. Kfz. 263 eight-wheeled radio car.