History Tidbit

Find this interesting.

The US Medium Tank, the M4, known better by its later nickname, "the Sherman Tank," had state-of-the-art optics, perfected by the advent of the M4A4 in 1943. So superior to other nation's optics technology that the rest of the world did not catch up to our 1943 optics until the late 1950's.

In a nutshell, most of the geeky details aside, it was a dual optics system tied straight to the targeting/stabilizing mechanism of the main 75mm gun. In a real, practical sense, you could call it a "computerized" system. Simply put, the gunner could use a periscope for long range spotting/identifying targets, switch to the actual gun sight, also optics, and zero in on a specific target. The whole while the gun "floated" with the gunner's vision using a stabilizing gyro system. How would it work in practice?

You're in a "Sherman" tank and the Germans are approaching in a column of heavy armor, Panthers and oh crap! Tigers too. Either the Panther and especially the Tiger was superior to "the Sherman" and no way would you want to confront one head to head out in the open. So! the Americans in the M4s would lay in wait in ambush, hoping to catch a German tank in flank, or better yet, in the rear. The dual optics allowed the M4s to hide behind a hill, a berm, on the reverse slope, pick out a target, lock on, and then, quickly motor up on top of the ridge and usually get off two shots in rapid succession before the Germans even knew where the shots were coming from. By 1943 American armor-piercing technology had become quite good and often a Panther, and sometimes, even a Tiger, could be knocked out without even a return shot.

Also, we built 33,000 "Shermans" the Germans built fewer than 5,000 Panthers and less than 1,000 Tigers. So, 3 or 4 "Shermans" could team up and pick on one larger German tank.

There is a popular myth that "Shermans" were death traps. But the stats of WWII debunk this. We lost on average .6 crewman per "Sherman" hit and disabled. This represents BY FAR the highest survivor rate of any tank, of any nation, in WWII. The Japs had the worst rate. They were not known for building good tanks and a Jap crew rarely survived the fireball their tank became if hit even with light anti-tank weapons, like the hand-held bazooka.

So, once again, despite all the arrogant BS smugness of then, and even today's German and British historians, the US led the way in military equipment development.

BTW, why do I put "Sherman" tank in quotes? Because, the US tankers of WWII rarely, if ever, referred to their tank as a "Sherman." Even during the Korean War when the M4 was still the primary US tank, it was not called "Sherman" by its crew. That designation, nickname, was popularized later, usually in Hollywood movies.

Yes, it is true, the "Sherman" tag was toyed with by US weapons' developers, the US Army and the Marines were kind of okay with the name, but it never caught on with the men who actually fought in one. To them, it was the good ole "M4."

The "Sherman" Tank was the banner carrier for our troops as it marched across Europe and liberated a continent from Nazi and Fascist Hands. My hats off to the boys who rode in them. Also there was a gentleman from Crowville, LA that helped design the transmission for the M4 "Sherman" Tank. I need to find out from my dad what his whole name was. I know his last name was Baker.

...the Sherman was a workhorse, but it was a death trap. Ask the vets that fought in them and lost buddies in them...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CARTEK

...the Sherman was a workhorse, but it was a death trap. Ask the vets that fought in them and lost buddies in them...

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Yet the data says otherwise. In raw numbers probably more men lost their lives in a Sherman than any other specific tank, but then BY FAR there were a lot more M4s in service. The US built 33,000 M4s, but also Canada built there own model, as did the UK and Australia. Nearing the end of WWII there had to have been more than 40,000 Shermans in service.

Now, have to add that the original M4s, in service from 1941 into early 1943, had some flaws. For one the loader did not have his own escape hatch, and had to follow the gunner out of his hatch. That was rectified on the M4A4 version. Also, the very first M4s had "small" hatches for the driver and radio operator adding some valuable seconds to their escapability. That was rectified by 1942 with the second version of the M4.

I posted before about wife's uncle who was a tank commander, an M4, in WWII and Korea and earned a Bronze Star, should have received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Iwo Jima and again in Korea. He had two "Shermans" shot from under him. At Iwo Jima a hidden Jap anti-tank gun hit them point blank, the projectile penetrated and killed one fellow instantly, and the Japs fired again knocking the tracks off the tank. "Big Bat" as everyone called him, returned fire and knocked out that Jap gun, then he and one other man stayed behind to man the gun and proceeded to eliminate several more Jap guns that were popping up from the ground firing on our tanks. In Korea his M4 received a direct hit from a anti-tank round, and while two of the crew were wounded, they all survived. The tank, however, was ruined and "Big Bat" took the .50-cal off the tank and established a machine gun post and he, and couple of others, held off an entire Chinese infantry battalion for more than an hour, allowing reinforcements to come up. And allowing dozens of wounded Marines to be evacuated.

When "Big Bat" passed away a few years ago, he was 80-something, I met two Vets who had traveled across country to come pay their respects. They told me they would not be alive today, would not have survived that fight in Korea, if not for the heroic actions of "Big Bat."

Back to the point, the loss rate of M4s crews = .6 fatality per tank being lost. That is the best rate of any WWII tank. That means there was one fatality for every 15 M4s lost. Out of the 40,000 M4s that saw combat, how many were lost? I'll have to look that up, but for now, let's say 1/4 of them, 10,000, which is probably too high. But using that number and that rate = 667 crew deaths in M4s. Yes, there were some serious wounds, some brave men badly burned, or who lost a limb, but survived.

One more thing, most of the M4 losses occurred prior to 1943, in Northern Africa, although the primary tank used there was the M3, the "Grant." A few early M4s were introduced. In Sicily and then again in Italy, the early versions of the M4 were in use. After D-Day, 1944, the later models were used and the tactics improved. That's not to say there weren't some bad days, such as Patton's stupid, ill-fated dash into Germany on some rescue mission that got the whole column shot to pieces. Those losses had more to do with the mission, than with the tank itself.

Depends on who you ask, it turns out.

One source says 6,000 M4s were destroyed, but another source cites that one and says that is not right, that a portion of that "6,000" was actually the same tanks counted twice or even more times. Kind of like casualties in general.

From what appears to be the most accurate source:

50,000 M4s were built in total, about 33,000 by the US, the rest by allied countries. Of those some served in different capacities, such as construction vehicles, fitted with a dozer blade, and scores serving as "tow trucks" made to dash into a battle and hook on to damaged tank and retrieve it. Many of those suffered catastrophic losses. According to this site, the US lost 3,200 M4s in combat suffering a fatality rate of .98, that is practically one death per lost tank. Actual numbers are: 3,217 M4s lost, 3,153 crewmen killed. (20% casualty rate, there were 5 crewmen). In just about every case, over 93%, the loss was the man at the spot the projectile hit. Just like the one death in "Big Bat's" tank. So, it was usually an instant death from the shell, not a crewman burning up in a hit tank.

Other sources place the numbers lower per tank, but that includes all 50,000 Shermans deployed. I will say, no two sources agree on any stat. It's like, take your pick.

Also, and I knew my numbers were off some, the Germans deployed 6,000 Panthers, 1,300 Tigers (Tiger 1) and 500 King Tigers (Tiger 2).

Interesting read, thanks!