Six prototypes were built as the T70 GMC, which was modified with a new hull face and an open, full-traversing turret. At that time the Tank Destroyer Command decided on a highvelocity 76 mm gun. The constant was a Continental R975 400 hp radial engine retained in the T67 vehicle, approved by the army in 1943. The M18 tank destroyer sustained a three-year development period, beginning with the dead-end T49 gun motor carriage (or GMC) with, progressively, 37, 57, and 75 mm weapons. Curtis Culin of the Second Armored Division, using scrap steel from destroyed German obstacles. “Funny” devices were added for the D-Day campaign, especially bulldozer blades and field-designed plows capable of penetrating the exceptionally thick foliage of Normandy’s bocage. Conventional Shermans were fitted with the duplex drive kit and inflatable ‘‘skirts’’ for amphibious operations but proved largely unworkable on 6 June. Shermans lent themselves to other uses as well, including the chassis and hull for the M10 tank destroyer and a variety of engineering vehicles. With greater experience, the British recognized the armament problem and upgraded to a seventeen-pounder (76 mm) in the Firefly version. Though the M4’s 75 mm gun was adequate for originally envisioned purposes, the requirement set for a ten-thousand-round tube life dictated a low muzzle velocity, leading to poor penetration, and it is doubtful that many Shermans fired much over five hundred rounds. In fact, Wehrmacht gunners described Shermans as ‘‘Ronsons’’ for the ease with which they could be made to burn. The Sherman, weighing between thirty-three and thirty-five tons, had armor 1.5 to 2.5 inches thick, easily defeated by many German weapons. Army but partly those of the British and Soviets as well. More than forty thousand Shermans were built from 1941 to 1946, meeting the needs of not only the U.S. However, it also had significant advantages, not least of which was availability. It was tall and top-heavy, making it a better target than the panzers or T-34, and it was outgunned by enemy tanks. Consequently, diesels were used in M4A2s and A6s. Its gasoline engine (variously 425 to 500 horsepower) was prone to ‘‘brewing up’’ and burning its five-man crew to death. The Sherman had many failings as a battle tank. The M5 was primarily distinguished from the M3 by sloping glacis armor and a larger engine compartment to accommodate two Cadillac V-8s. Owing to a need for more tanks of already existing models, the first of some 6,800 M5s were not delivered until November 1942. The M5 was an upgraded version of the M3, weighing 16.5 tons. British tankers were so fond of the type that they nicknamed it ‘‘Honey,’’ and not without reason-it was fast, reliable, seldom threw treads, and proved reasonably easy to maintain. Total M3 production was some 13,600 tanks, of which 5,400 were provided to Britain and 1,600 to Russia. In Normandy, the M3 had no chance against German armor but was useful as an infantry support and reconnaissance vehicle.įrom 1941 to 1943 Stuarts were built in three main variants and several lesser models.
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Powered by either gas or diesel engines, Stuarts could reach thirty-seven miles per hour on roads.
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Armed with only a 37 mm gun and protected by no more than two inches of armor, it was nevertheless fast and agile with a four-man crew.
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However, the M3 was available in numbers sufficient for export and used by the British, who dubbed it the ‘‘Stuart’’ after the Confederate cavalry hero of the American Civil War. Certainly it could not compare to the German Mark IV or the British Crusader, let alone the Soviet T-34. When the M3, an evolutionary design based on the M2A4, was introduced in March 1941 it was in no way competitive as a battle tank. Though America produced enormous numbers of armored vehicles (forty-seven thousand tanks alone in 1943–44), only two main types were used by the U.S. To focus on a particular instance in which WW2 tanks came into direct conflict, this article will focus on the Invasion of Normandy.