![]() ![]() The commander was stationed in the rear of the turret, and would open the hatch to spend most of his time looking out when the tank was not under fire. The gunner was seated below and in front of the commander, and had the use of telescopic sights. An incredible 48,000 were built, more than double the number of every type of German tank produced during the war. The armies of the Americans, British, French, and Poles, as well as the Australians and the Chinese, all used Sherman tanks. They soon made most other Allied tanks obsolete. Sherman tanks took part in every European campaign from that point on. The first Sherman tanks arrived in North Africa in time for the Battle of El Alamein (October 1942). The main gun was a 75mm high-velocity weapon, although there were later modifications, and the British preferred to equip the tank with a 17-pounder gun. Early versions had different engines, but this was standardised to the rugged and reliable Ford V-8 cylinder petrol engine, giving the 32-tonne tank a maximum speed of 26mph. The tank had 60mm armour-plating that was sloped at the front. It had a turret with a 360º traverse on a gyro stabiliser built by Westinghouse. But production soon moved up to the M4 Sherman tank. First came the M2 Light Tank, soon modified into the M3 Medium Tank these were known as the Grant and the Lee. Rather than adapting existing engineering plants, the President of Chrysler suggested constructing a brand new Tank Arsenal just outside Detroit, the home of the US car industry.Īdopting the mass-production techniques used for making cars, this huge new factory was, by 1942, turning out 750 tanks per month on three massive assembly lines. In 1940, in the light of the successful use of panzers in the European war, the US Army decided to start a rapid tank-building programme. A Sherman tank in action in North Africa, 1943. ![]()
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