Chapter Nine
The M4 Sherman first experienced combat with American forces in Tunisia shortly after it went into action with the British. A platoon of 2nd Armoured Division which was attached to 2nd Battalion, 13th Armoured regiment of five tanks which were all knocked out clashed with the enemy south-west of Tebourba on 6 December – a disastrous beginning to the long combat career of the tank with US Forces. All five losses did occur against well concealed anti-tank guns and professionally deployed enemy tanks. The harsh early lessons were learnt and absorbed quickly. A week later and 26 M4A1’s supported the British 1st Guards Brigade in the fierce fighting on Longstop Hill and with these two actions the American crews had been blooded and initiated with combat inside the Sherman Tank.
At the close of action in North Africa the M4 and M4A1 had become the standard tanks for US Armoured forces, supplemented by a number of M4A3’s which arrived in Italy after the fall of Rome on 5 June 1944. Other models followed and as reports of the first engagements filtered back to the United States a race was begun to test and incorporate improvements in newer models of the successful tank. Every area of the Sherman was considered including attempting to increase mobility, finding big more powerful armament, more explosive ammunition and better protection for the crew and stowed ammunition. A variety of new track blocks and suspension systems were also tried out. Shermans were able to incorporate many of these changes on the production line and improved versions began rolling out of the factories in preparation for the invasion of Europe. Tanks equipped with larger 76mm guns and 105mm howitzers were sent straight to Britain. The crews awaiting their new equipment were not all impressed by the improvements. While the 105mm was instantly accepted the 76mm versions caused some consternation which is easy to understand when one considers the crews had all trained with 75mm versions throughout their time in armour and confidence in the new 76 was going to be difficult to achieve in the short period of time before the invasion was to commence. All of the units that landed on D-Day in fact went ashore with 75mm versions but it is interesting to note that by the end of the European campaign over half of all Shermans serving with US units were then equipped with the 76mm main gun.
Once the landings had taken place US armoured columns spread westward to Brittany and then swung south-east into the French heartland supported from the air by P47 Thunderbolts in a similar role to the Typhoons above the British advance. Tank-infantry teams worked in harmony village by village and the terrain was one that suited the Sherman exactly. Its speed and reliability helped it motor on rapidly through the lanes and fields into the German rear areas. Just the type of speedy motorized advance America favoured, to the point the crews began collecting anything that would help them cross obstacles in their path. Later photos in this chapter demonstrate the collection of telegraph pole straight pine trunks, affixed to the side of many Shermans entering Germany. These were not only there to provide protection against rocket attack, but as the photographs demonstrate, facilitated the easy traversing of rail track without damaging the rails of the tank tracks. Other forms of protection for the hull show frameworks of chicken wire holding in a hundred sand bags as an additional outer layer deterrent to the Panzerfaust.
The Sherman tank in American service was deployed all over the world but the heaviest concentration was in Europe hence I have only chosen examples from the European campaign in this chapter. By the war’s end, every variant and every production type was in service with the US Army’s fifteen divisions and thirty-seven tank battalions. Here are a few of them captured on film.
Ike and Air Chief Marshal Tedder watching M4A1 tank firing at Warminster Barracks miniature range. During their tour they visited the US XIX Corps, 3rd Armoured Division and heard a pipe band of 51st Highland Division. In H36304 Monty and Ike watch US 33rd Armoured Division troops demonstrate the 75mm Sherman Gun’s accuracy on the West Down Range, Warminster. IWM H 36298. IWM H 36304 features ‘Hopalong’ fitted with additional cheek armour applied to the turret and hull sides.
Fresh replacement M4A1 being craned ashore in the South of France which will be made ready for the advance. IWM OWIL 677659
Infantry and M4 tank team in Angers, Brittany. No details of date are provided. The Infantry have tucked field jackets into webbing, wear HBT trousers so was probably taken in mid summer 1944. The original caption is marked ‘SHAEF Approved’. IWM EA 33049
Shermans leave track indentations across the battlefield as troops in foxholes watch. One is struck by what an easy method this must have been to pinpoint armoured movement from the air. IWM EA 45772
Sinking in the mud, urgent efforts being made to free this Sherman ‘Mr Gooch’, either an M4 or M4A4 variant of 7th Armoured. Note US M1936 Musette bags hung over the blade sight, headlamps fitted and appliqué armour shields welded in front of driver’s hoods. IWM IA 40837
Blacked out stars on this travelling M4 as infantry pass in opposite direction. IWM OWIL 32078
Tank infantry co-operation in very close proximity. A sharp nosed M4A3 operates under the direction of a house clearing squad inside a French village. IWM KY 28044
Infantry ride up to the front on an M4A1 (76) (W) Sherman. Infantry carry extra clips of 30.06 ammunition in cotton bandoliers slung across their shirts and jackets. IWM EA 33431
An M4 Sherman of 7th US Army in French town razed to the ground by retreating Germans and aerial bombardment. IWM EA 45001
M4A3 Shermans, with turret and all hatch apertures sealed with bitumen ready for transportation from Calais to the Pacific Theatre are checked by Quartermaster staff. IWM FRA 204514
Infantry crouch in cover across the street as a heavily camouflaged Sherman engages a target between houses. The commander utilises the .50 HMG as well. IWM EA 36533
The photographer’s shadow caught on the recently ploughed field as the M4A1 Sherman in the foreground begins to heat up seconds after taking a direct hit. Other heavily camouflaged M4 Shermans trundle past in the background. IWM EA 38142
Emerging from a hedgerow onto a country lane one crewman makes certain a downed telegraph pole and line don’t infringe upon the late model M4 with combination rolled and cast hull (note rounded front end) as other infantrymen keep watch on the road. IWM EA 29531
Blacked out stars also feature on these US M4 Shermans as do orange allied aerial recognition sheets spread across the engine decking. IWM HU 82154
Recovery onto an M25 Rogers Heavy Trailer. Note double wading funnels which facilitated inlet and exhaust access in heavy surf. IWM EA 14674
Collected armoured right-offs from the battlefield ready for rebuild and repair. Fire damage is apparent on both the Shermans nearest camera. IWM EA 200157
Wreck recovery and rebuilding Shermans – salvaged live ammunition is piled on the floor. M10 tank destroyers receive the same treatment as the M4A2 and A3 variants in the foreground. Note impact points and destroyed field boots hanging near the headlight guards. IWM EA 44273
New crated radial engines arrive from the US. IWM EA 33146
Repair depot interior. Pacific Dragon wagons are serviced along with M4A1 and M4 Shermans. Note the solid white stripe painted around the turrets. IWM NYF 37225
Repairing a direct hit. Here an armoured plug is welded into the hole and only a small amount of damage along the edge of where the sandshields attach remains visible. The Sherman M4A4 exhibited at Lambeth’s Imperial War Museum contains just such a repair to it’s turret. IWM EA 43240
M4 – Fording a French river, note the abundance of Allied ID stars covering the rear of the tank. IWM EA 37649
HM The King inspects US Armoured troops and M4/M4A3 tanks from the comfort of a Dodge Command car at the close of the North African campaign. The King was escorted by Lieutenant Eddy, General Omar N Bradley, General Mark Clark, Lieutenant General George S Patton and Major General Geoffrey Keyes. IWM NA 3610
Actual battlefield patrol photography is very rare. Here US Infantry partnered with Sherman M4A1 (W) 76 advance across some open ground to the rise of the next hill in the Bocage. Cameraman peers through a hedgerow to snap away then follows in the muddy tracks of the troop laden tanks. IWM EA 30973
Staff Sergeant Cullin and his Hedgerow Device
Actual photo of Staff Sergeant Cullin of the 102nd Cavalry Recconaissance Squadron & Cullin’s invention being produced as the beach obstacles from Omaha Beach are cut by Engineers and remanufactured into the anti-hedgerow teeth welded to the transmission covers of so many tanks in Normandy. They have become known as THE CULLIN HEDGEROW DEVICE. Often thought to be an American adaptation only, there are plenty of photographs in the Normandy section of this book showing them fitted to British tanks too. Driven at speed toward the thick growing Bocage hedgerows a Sherman fitted with a Cullin hedgerow device could literally uproot the centuries old growth and cut a neat Sherman-wide channel through the foliage into the next field. Tactics employed a three tank manoeuvre where the cutter tank ripped open the hole, and following tanks would break left and right covering all angles for advance. Field by field they could then push through the Bocage. Cullin won the Legion of Merit award for his innovative device. IWM EA36302 & IWM PL 32441
M4A1 Sherman with field modified appliqué armour plating on the hull sides. Field modified appliqué fittings had much rougher edges than that fitted by the factories. It is towed by a Lee ARV IWM PL 26066
Infantry advance in support of the Shermans which exhibit blacked out stars, note the remains of Allied Star on the turret of tank nearest the camera. This is a 47 degree sloped hull front M4A3. IWM EA 38102
Passing battered anti-tank weapons and abandoned jeeps this Sherman accelerates at speed up the road toward the smoke and fighting. IWM EA 34014
Sharp nosed late production M4A2 Sherman fitted with M3 75mm main gun. Glacis plate is loaded with loose track extenders as it motors down a cobbled street and the siren is centrally located rather than on front wing. Note the T48 rubber track blocks fitted have flattened out with wear, whereas the track spares mounted on the Sherman hull have new recently moulded cuff definition. Odd track extenders are fitted here and there on the tracks. Perhaps this tank was ordered to move on mid fitting, and the job is to be completed at a later stage. M34A1 gun mount and rotor shield are fitted to carry the 75mm gun. Appliqué armour has been added to the left cheek of the turret and to protect the ammo stored within the tank hull. Crew wear M1 infantry steel helmets. Note additional attachments welded to front diff cover towing eyes. IWM EA 58373
Late production M4A3 (76) W HVSS provides a view of the distinctive 76mm main gun muzzle brake and barrel length. Here it uses logs to cross a railway track without damaging the valuable rails. Logs were not only attached to the side of the hull for increased armour protection. This tank exhibits the redesigned turret, and also mounts both a .50 AA HMG by the loaders hatch but a .30 MG for the commander to use. The horizontal volute spring suspension (HVSS) is also illustrated well. IWM EA 63462
US M32B2 Recovery Shermans – American ARV
An M32B2 Recovery Vehicle based on the Sherman chassis of 4th Armoured Division in the Nancy sector on 11 November 1944. Note the 81mm Mortar for which thirty rounds of smoke ammunition were carried. This was to be deployed as the giant 60,000 pound Garwood winch seen stowed along the hull was utilised to recover knocked out and disabled armour. The crew entertain local children in the freezing slush by cooking over an impromptu BBQ built up on the mounting for the front towing eye. IWM EA 43979
M32B2 Recovery Shermans, amongst others unloaded on the French coast at Cherbourg are serviced by ordnance crews in Spring 1945 as part of priority order to help strengthen the final advance into the Reich. The tanks were then put on rail cars and shipped up to the front. IWM EA 44263
Spotted in convoy through the Austrian Alps the centre tank is an M4A3 (76) W HVSS. Note the loaders head protruding through additional turret hatch, larger tracks and turret and barrel length confirming the larger 76mm gun fitted with muzzle brake. IWM AP 66220
M4A1 heavily camouflaged crossing Pont Aristide Briand bridge where US Army Engineers have already thrown a span across the breaks dynamited into the bridge by the Germans as they retreated from Laval. IWM FRA 100189
Unusually camouflaged M4A3’s roll between Bocage hedgerows, with this American camouflage more reminiscent of British schemes. IWM EA 30986
Unusual snow camouflage on this distant M4A3 (76) W. Often white wash or even local fence paint was acquired after a heavy snow fall by the crew! Even at this distance the turret shape and barrel length are easily identifiable. IWM EA 51287
Rolling through the cobbled streets of Mannheim, a similar M4A3 (76) W HVSS Sherman exhibits the M4A3 unique exhaust vents in this poor quality shot. A British pattern jerry can is mounted on the front hull step along with individual sections of spare track. Large amounts of kit are still being stowed on the rear engine deck to maximise room in the fighting compartment of the tank. The crew wear the infantry style M1 steel helmet and not the specifically styled fibre tank crewman’s helmet. IWM KY 60968
Stuart Light Tank with Howitzer and Sherman M4A1 (76)W HVSS alike all contribute to this line up of mobile artillery somewhere in Germany. IWM EA 32827
Alternative camouflage in the form of heavily wrapped strapping secures kit to the hull but also acts to totally break the outline shape of the tank up. The censor has obliterated Unit identification markings on the diff cover but large driver’s and co-driver’s hatch lids, sharp nosed diff cover plus commander’s cuppola indicate this is an M4A1 (76) W Sherman. A .50 HMG is mounted on the loader’s hatch ring on top the turret. An M8 Staghound armoured recce car is parked at the side of the road as civilians gather to watch the advance. A mix of infantry steel and tanker’s fibre crew helmets are worn. IWM KY 55590
Devastation in Germany as a M4A3 (76) W HVSS Sherman slowly claws it’s way across the rubble guided by an infantry scout who has climbed onto the engine deck to converse with the tank commander. Armour such as this faced increasing threat from the handheld Panzer Faust and Schrek as weaponry of an increasingly desperate enemy. Pre-war reserves of Whermacht armour had long been expended. One can imagine the clear target armour presented from the shadows of destroyed housing! IWM EA 61747
Directed by an MP and kicking up dust down a French road this Sherman M4 wears bright orange aerial recognition panel across the engine deck to warn off allied fighter bombers from friendly fire. An experience military planners are still wrestling to combat in 2005. IWM EA 30917
Stunned civilians look on as a Sherman M4A3 rolls into the centre of a German town. The war has clearly only weeks left to run its course although the tank still wears it’s name ‘DESTINATION?’ proudly. IWM S&G 72847A
Snow begins to lay on this abandoned Sherman during the Ardennes offensive. No visible damage leads to the conclusion that mechanical failure had stopped the vehicle. It is either an M4 or M4A4. IWM EA 44023
The icy conditions prove too much for this Sherman based M10 Tank Destroyer which has slid sideways down the bank and turned over spilling the contents of the open topped turret. This predicament does provide a good view of the front crew escape hatch in the floor which could be knocked through with hammer or heavy wrench to provide an escape route for the crew in emergency under the vehicle. IWM EA 49114
Passing a knocked out German anti-tank gun the frontal protection piled upon this Sherman clearly demonstrates the fear of attack by Panzerfaust or Panzer Shrek Rocket in the closing stages of the Second World War. With diminishing supplies of both A/T ammunition and guns, Volksturm and remnants of the Army resorted to the hand held throwaway rocket launchers in large numbers. IWM EA 59330
Infantry ride the decks of these Shermans moving in column through a devastated village. It was the infantry tank partnership eventually adopted by the Allies that helped stem the horrific tank losses in the Italian and early Normandy campaigns. Mutual protection and heavier firepower than small arms when required. IWM EA 60052