The M4 Sherman Tank: America’s WWII Workhorse

Named after American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, the M4 Sherman tank was an iconic symbol of American military power during World War II. Renowned for its reliability, versatility, and mass production, the US M4 tank was used by the armed forces of Britain, Canada, the Soviet Union, the Free Poles and the Free French. It became the backbone of Allied armoured forces, and played a pivotal role in the defeat of Axis powers.

Its recognisable silhouette and the sheer number of units produced – just shy of 50,000 – has cemented its place in both military history and popular culture. The Sherman tank was more than just an armoured vehicle. It was a testament to American industrial strength, though it’s journey to such impact wasn’t always smooth.

Let’s take a trip back to the battlefields of World War II to discover the fascinating story of one of the most famous military vehicles of them all, the M4 Sherman tank.

At the start of World War II, America found itself lagging behind European powers in the development of tank technology, particularly when compared to the German Panzer divisions.

The brutal realisation of this gap came in May 1940 with the swift and devastating fall of France, which succumbed to the German blitzkrieg – a doctrine of fast-moving, massed armoured formations supported by air power. This was a stark wake-up call for the Americans, and highlighted the urgent need to develop a robust main battle tank that could match and counteract the German threat.

Officially known as the Medium Tank, M4, it was an evolution of the M3 Lee (named after General Robert E. Lee). The new Sherman tank kept much of the mechanics of its predecessor intact – engine, suspension and transmission – but the hull was new. The main armaments of the M3 were side-mounted, but the 75mm main gun in the M4 was mounted in a central rotating turret, similar in style to today’s huge state-of-the-art tanks.

Working prototypes of the M4 tank were ready by October 1941 and went into production the following February. The American M4 tank was built by the likes of Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors, as well as train manufacturers including Pullman and the American Locomotive Company, all of whom ceased civilian production to focus their attention and considerable resources on the war effort. By July 1945, almost 50,000 had been built.

Churchill & Roosevelt

On June 21, 1942, Axis forces captured the Libyan city of Tobruk, threatening the Allied supply line through the Suez Canal. Churchill was in the US at the time and President Roosevelt asked him what he could to do help, to which the British Prime Minister famously replied –

‘Give us as many Sherman tanks as you can spare and ship them to the Middle East as quickly as possible.’

Over 300 arrived by September 1942.

The British 8th Army were the first to use the M4 Sherman tank in combat during the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt in October 1942, and it’s believed the American first used it in November of the same year in Operation Torch in Tunisia. The M4 tank also saw action on D-Day, during the Battle of the Bulge, and in the liberation of France.

As well as Europe and North Africa, the Sherman tank saw extensive combat in the Pacific Theatre. The tank proved to be effective for the US Army and Marine Corps in the dense jungles and island landscapes of the Pacific, especially in the battles across the Solomon Islands, the Philippines, and the campaign in Okinawa.

The M4 Sherman was also deployed in the Burma Campaign, helping British and Commonwealth forces to push back Japanese advances through the challenging terrain of Southeast Asia.

As well as World War II, the M4 also saw action during the Greek Civil War, the First Indochina War, the Korean War, the Cuban Revolution, the Suez Crisis and the Iran-Iraq War.

There were many variants of the M4 Sherman tank, including tank destroyers, self-propelled artillery, engineer tanks, mine clearers, and recovery vehicles, and it’s thought the last three operational models were retired from Paraguay’s Presidential Escort Regiment as recently as 2018.

Indeed they were used by dozens of the world’s armies for decades, each with their own specification requirements, including the armed forces of Denmark, Ethiopia, Portugal, Uganda, Greece, New Zealand and Belgium, mostly for training and auxiliary roles. The US retired them from operational duty in 1957.

Most of the figures below are given in ranges dependent on the specific variant, and the armaments are also dependent on the type of tank and what it was used for.

Weight | Between 30.3 and 38.1 tonnes

Length | Between 5.84 and 6.27 metres

Width | Between 2.62 and 3.0 metres

Height | 2.74 – 2.97 metres

Crew | 5 – commander, gunner, loader, driver, assistant driver/bow gunner

Main Armament | 75mm or 76mm gun, or 105mm howitzer

Secondary Armament | .50 calibre Browning M2HB, or 2-4 .30 calibre Browning M1919A4 machine guns

Engine | The original M4 used a Continental R975 air-cooled radial aircraft engine generating between 350 and 400 hp. Later models used engines from Ford, Chrysler and Curtiss-Wright

Operational Range | 100 – 150 miles on the road, and 60 – 100 miles cross-country

Maximum Speed | 22 – 30 mph on road, 15 – 20 mph off-road

The Sherman tank played a pivotal role in the Allied victory during World War II. Its widespread deployment across multiple theatres of war all over the world is testament to its versatility and reliability. Indeed the legacy of the M4 Sherman is as much about strategic importance as it is about technological achievement. It became a symbol of American military effectiveness during one of the most challenging periods in history.