The medium Sherman tank is one of the many models built by the US arms Industry during WWII. The M4s of which 49,000 were built from 1942-1945, were the tanks that finally managed to defeat the Nazi armor in combat in Europe and North Africa, and also against the Japanese Army in the Far East.
30 M4A1 tanks fitted with a 105mm Howitzer were purchased by the IDF from surplus military stores of the Allied Forces in Italy. The Americans had drilled a hole in the barrel in order to damage their ability to be used in combat. The tanks main guns were repaired by the IDF in enough time to take part in the
War of Independence (1948).
By the end of the war, only three M4a1 tanks were still in active service.
This tank participated in battles in the Negev and the Northern Sinai Peninsula. After the war in the 1950s there were around two companies of these tanks. Israel purchase 40 M4A4 tanks with M4A1 engine from the French.
When the Sinai Campaign (1956) war broke out, Israel had 180 Sherman’s ready for battle out of total 205 Sherman’s, during the Sinai Campaign (1956) war Israel captured M4A3 tanks from Egyptians.
The M4A1's cast upper hull gave it distinctive rounded edges. This makes it the easiest to identify of all Sherman tanks. Other identifying features of M4A1, which it shares with M4, are the rear of the tank and engine access panels. There are twin engine access doors in the rear hull and air cleaners at the top corners of these doors. M4A1 had twin square muffler tailpipes at the top of the rear hull above the air cleaners, a steel-covered air intake behind the turret, and solid engine access doors in the rear deck behind the turret. The main gun in the first M4A1s built was the 75mm M2, which was shorter than the M3.
The M4A3s were fitted with the heavy-duty suspension bogies and single-piece final drive and differential housing. The rear armor of the M4A3 reached below the sponson line, as on M4A2, but M4A3's rear deck engine grill doors ran from sponson to sponson. M4A3 also lacked the row of bolts that were embedded into M4A2's rear plate.
|
M4A1 Sherman tank.
M4A3 Sherman tank.
M4A4 Sherman tank.
