Today, many "experts" (primarily foreign), and some real experts, call the medium tank "Sherman" the best combat vehicle of the Second World War, putting it ahead of the Soviet "thirty-four".
This is, of course, a matter of taste, that is, absolutely controversial. We will argue which tank was better next time, but now I will say that these two tanks were definitely worth each other and are comparable in terms of combat power and armor protection. But there is reason to think.
Just like the T-34 sibling, the M4 was the main medium tank of the American army during World War II. The tank received its name (like all of its compatriots) in honor of the American General William Sherman.
This is one of the three most massive tanks in history. In just three years (from 1942 to 1945), the Americans produced almost 50,000 (49,234) tanks. An honorable third place after the T-34 and T-55.
It is clear that the Americans used such a number of tanks as they should - they shared with the allies. Especially after World War II. M4s were in service with the Israeli army during the War of Independence and the Six Day War. During the Indo-Pakistani conflict of 1965, these combat vehicles were used by both India and Pakistan.
But back to the Great Patriotic War.
Within the framework of Lend-Lease, the USSR received more than 4 thousand M4 Sherman tanks.
Our tankers' vehicle "entered". The tank received the nickname "emcha" (from the designation M4) and loved her. The main advantage of the M4 was considered to be the comfort of work for the crew. The convenience of the crews favorably distinguished the M4 from the T-34; the author was able to appreciate this himself, having visited both vehicles, albeit at different times. It is very difficult to navigate in the T-34 even when the tank is just standing still. On the move, in combat conditions, this is something simply transcendent.
The M4 had a very large fighting compartment. Yes, due to the height, but even if we compare it with the T-34 (2743 mm for the M4 versus 2405 mm for the T-34), it is not very critical.
Naturally, the Sherman had a very high level of workmanship. What can I say, the tanks were made by quite qualified men in Detroit. Like all American technology, the M4 had excellent instrumentation and an excellent radio station.
In general, the car was competitive in relation to the conditions of the Eastern Front. Therefore, she won the respect of Soviet tankers.
But the Sherman began its combat path in North Africa, finishing off Rommel's parts, only after being tested in battle in Africa, the M4 got to the Eastern Front, then the Allies landed in Normandy and hostilities throughout Europe. Naturally, I had to fight on the islands in the Pacific Ocean.
On the history of creation. The very history of the creation of the M4 is at the same time the history of the creation of the American tank forces. Here I must say that the Americans approached the beginning of the Second World War not only without having tank troops, they even, in principle, did not consider the issue of building tanks!
And this is in the presence of a simply amazing (see articles on cars) automotive industry. But the tanks were not needed. It was believed that during the conduct of hostilities, enemy tanks would be destroyed by self-propelled guns and field artillery fire.
Self-propelled installations (stories about them are ahead) among the Americans went out to fame.
But tanks were not considered in the USA. The work was carried out, moreover, the tanks of the American designer Christie became the platform for the creation of the English "Crusader" and the Soviet BT.
But the Second World War began and then the Americans realized what the Germans were doing with their tank formations. Indeed, what the Wehrmacht demonstrated in the 1939-1941 campaigns would have impressed anyone.
At the beginning of the war, the US Army was armed with only a few hundred light tanks of the M2 type, which, to put it mildly, were still monsters. And they could not be compared with the tanks of the European powers.
What the Americans did when they jumped into the arms race in 1939 is a technological feat. Yes, the path from M2 to M4 was not easy, full of trial and error, the main one of which was the terrible freak M3 "Lee". We will also tell you about this tank, which we have rightly called "mass grave".
And so, in 1942, the M4 went into series. The modification of the tank with a welded hull received the designation M4, and with a cast one - M4A1.
Initially, it was planned to equip the tank with the new 76-mm M3 gun, but the gun did not have time for the war, so the 75-mm gun from the M3 "Li" had to be supplied.
But there were also options.
For example, "clean" M4. The vehicle had a welded body, a carburetor engine and two weapon options. The total number of tanks of this modification is 8389, 6748 of which were armed with M3, and another 1641 with a 105-mm howitzer.
M4A1. It had a die-cast body and a Continental R-975 engine. The total number of vehicles manufactured was 9677, 6281 of which were armed with an M3 cannon, and 3396 tanks received a new 76mm M1 gun.
M4A2. An interesting modification, where a power plant of two General Motors 6046 diesel engines was stuck into the welded body. The total number of manufactured vehicles of this modification is 11,283 pieces, of which 8,053 were armed with an M3 cannon, 3,230 vehicles received an M1 cannon. Basically, by the way, these tanks went to us.
M4A3. Welded body and Ford GAA gasoline engine. A total of 11 424 units, 5 015 of which had an M3 gun, 3 039 units (M4A3 (105)) were armed with a 105 mm howitzer, and 3 370 units (M4A3 (76) W) with an M1 gun.
M4A4. Welded elongated body and power plant, consisting of five (!!!) automobile gasoline engines. A total of 7,499 vehicles of this modification were produced. All of them were armed with the M3 gun and differed in a slightly different turret shape, a radio station was located in the aft niche, and on the left side of the turret there was a hatch for firing personal weapons.
In addition to the usual M4 medium tanks, there were also special tanks based on this vehicle. For example, the Sherman Firefly - tanks of the M4A1 and M4A4 modifications, armed with an English 17-pound (76, 2 mm) anti-tank gun, or the Sherman Jumbo - an assault tank with reinforced armor and a 75-mm M3 cannon.
Very interesting vehicles were the so-called missile tanks: the Sherman Calliope and the T40 Whizbang, equipped with rockets launchers.
Mine-clearing vehicles (Sherman Crab), engineering (M4 Dozer) and flamethrower tanks were created on the basis of the Sherman.
Structurally, the Sherman tank is made according to a scheme more typical for the German tank building of those years: its transmission and control compartment are located in the front of the hull, and the engine compartment is in the rear. The fighting compartment is located between them.
The designers had to do a lot of brain work, placing a propeller shaft in the housing, which went from the engine in the stern to the gearbox in the front of the tank. Because of this, the engine had to be placed at an angle, almost vertically, which slightly increased the height of the tank.
In the front of the hull there was a control compartment, in which the seats of the driver and his assistant / machine gunner were located behind the transmission.
The fighting compartment was located behind the control compartment. It housed the vehicle commander, gunner and loader. The ammunition load of the gun, fire extinguishers and accumulators were also located there. The turret housed a gun, sighting devices, a coaxial machine gun and a radio station.
The engine compartment was located in the rear of the tank, which was separated from the combat by a special partition.
"Sherman" had a cast turret with a small aft niche, the thickness of its frontal armor was 76 mm, the sides and stern had armor of 51 mm, and the gun mantlet had a reservation of 89 mm.
On the roof of the tower there was a double-wing commander's hatch, which was used to evacuate all crew members in the fighting compartment. The hatch is large enough and, if necessary, indeed, three people could very quickly leave the car.
On later series of the car, another hatch for the loader was added to it.
Initially, the main ammunition of the tank was in the fenders, which had additional armor on the outside. However, 88-mm German anti-aircraft guns pierced the shelves and detonated the ammunition load. And since 1944, it was moved to the floor of the fighting compartment, and the so-called "wet ammo rack" was used: the shells were filled with water with the addition of ethylene glycol.
The undercarriage of the tank consisted of six single road wheels on each of the sides, they were combined in pairs into three bogies, each of which was suspended on two springs. In addition, there were three carrier rollers on each side, a front drive wheel and idler wheels.
How the Shermans fought.
The first tanks began to enter the troops in the middle of 1942, but the American tank crews did not manage to master the new technology. Churchill howled, because in Africa Rommel regularly bought goods for the British. Therefore, the first batch of "Shermans" went exactly to the British in Africa.
So the "Shermans" received their baptism of fire in Egypt, where they were transferred by a formidable force of as many as 318 pieces and almost immediately went into battle.
Rommel did not appreciate it, since the M4 was too tough for the bulk of German tanks. And "Akht-komma-aht" could not be present at all sites. And, in reality, we can say that the Shermans made a very big contribution to the victory at El Alamein.
American tank crews in "Shermans" first entered the battle during the landing in Tunisia. Due to the lack of combat experience in the first battles, many vehicles were lost, however, having learned, the Americans were able to use their M4 very effectively. Historians note the excellent adaptability of "Shermans" precisely for use in the desert.
The euphoria ended in February 1943 when the Sherman met the Tiger for the first time. It immediately became clear that the "Sherman" "Tiger" is one fang.
But there was absolutely nowhere to go, so the M4 took part in the war as the main tank of the US army.
But in Normandy "Shermans" were even worse. The Germans actively used the Panthers against the Shermans, against which the M4 had even less chances. The rugged terrain of Western Europe did not allow the Shermans to demonstrate their best qualities: speed and maneuverability.
The Shermans were on fire, but they continued to do their job. There were no options. In the nine months of fighting after the landing, only the US 3rd Panzer Division lost 1,348 vehicles. For the sake of fairness, we note that very large losses were from the "faustpatrons".
As was the case on the Eastern Front.
The first M4s arrived in the Soviet Union in November 1942, strategically very timely. We were mainly supplied with the diesel modification M4A2. Why diesel is simple. American engines did not digest our domestic gasoline very well, and the supply of American fuel was barely enough for airplanes.
The Shermans fought everywhere, from the north to the Caucasus. But, since the peak of supplies fell in 1944, the main use of the M4 fell on the battles of the second half of the war. The most massively "Shermans" were used during the operation "Bagration".
Our tankers loved the Sherman. It was strikingly different from its predecessor, the M3 "Li" so much that it seemed just a masterpiece.
The undoubted advantage of the "Shermans" were good sights and a powerful radio station. Armor and armament levels were high enough for a WWII medium tank.
Separately, it should be noted that the gun of the American tank had stabilization, which significantly increased the firing accuracy while driving.
But there were also downsides. The tank, which proved itself well in Africa, was not very good in the conditions of Russian mud and the winter that followed. Such was the design of the tracks, which were not designed for use in such conditions.
Weak traction plus a very powerful engine resulted in frequent slippage. The disadvantages of "Sherman", I would attribute not a high silhouette, which many experts point out, 30 centimeters - not God knows what. But what can be seen even in the photo, the "Sherman" was tall and narrow. If we add to this the not very successful tracks, all in the aggregate often led to a rollover of the machine.
Another major advantage of the M4 was its reliability, due to its high build quality. Considering that until 1939 the US industry did not think about tanks at all, it is worth recognizing that the creation of such a tank as the M4 "Sherman" in such a short time is a huge achievement of the Americans, worthy of respect.
TTX M4A2 "Sherman"
Combat weight, t: 30, 3
Crew, people: 5
The number of issued, pcs: 49 234
Dimensions:
Body length, mm: 5893
Width, mm: 2616
Height, mm: 2743
Clearance, mm: 432
Reservation
Armor type: steel homogeneous
Body forehead, mm: 51
Body board, mm: 38
Housing feed, mm: 38
Bottom, mm: 13-25
Tower forehead, mm: 76
Gun mask, mm: 89
Tower, mm: 51
Armament
Gun type: rifled, 75 mm M3 (for M4), 76 mm M1 (for M4 (76)), 105 mm M4 (for M4 (105)
Ammunition: 97
Machine guns: 1 × 12, 7 mm M2HB, 2 × 7, 62 mm M1919A4
Mobility
Engine type radial nine-cylinder air-cooled carburetor
Engine power, hp from: 400 (395 European hp)
Speed on the highway, km / h: 48
Speed over rough terrain, km / h: 40
Cruising on the highway, km: 190
Overcoming wall, m: 0, 6
Overcome moat, m: 2, 25
Overcome ford, m: 1, 0
