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Richard Desjardins
Professor David Speicher
History of WWII
5 November 2015
The M4 Sherman Tank in WWII
How Ingenuity and Brilliance of Americans Overpowered the Strength of the Axis
The tank was introduced in the middle of World War One during the Battle of Somme
(1916). The British designed the Mark I as a bulletproof weapon for crossing the battlefield
between trench lines in order to break through enemy lines. The debut of this terrifying piece of
machinery caused nations to start innovating, improving, and producing tanks in large numbers.
When World War One came to a conclusion, tank production slowed down since there was no
need for them. When Germany started rearming leading into World War Two, allies started
refining and producing tanks more in order prepare for the inevitable war looming. The United
States of America started producing armored troop transports and light tanks as early as 1940.
These machines were mostly used for infantry support. It wasnt until after the United States
joined the war in 1942 that they started producing the M4 Sherman. This tank became not only
the United States go to tank, but most of the allies as well. There were around 50,000 produced
in the United States in Ford Motor Company factories from 1942 to 1945. This specific tank had
many versions of it and outclassed Japanese tanks. However, German tanks such as the Tiger and
Panther outclassed the M4 Sherman. This was an unfortunate predicament especially since the
M4 was easy to stop in its tracks and easily lit on fire from within the tank, hence the nick name
ronsons. Even though the M4 Sherman was a tank that the Germans could easily decimate
mechanically, American tank strategy, ingenuity, and structure made the M4 Sherman the most
diabolical tank on the battlefield.

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The M4 Sherman was clearly outclassed by its German counterparts, especially its
adversary the Panzer IV, but it could easily stand and fight. Early versions of the M4 Sherman
had only a 75mm main gun, which could barely penetrate the Germans thick armored tanks. This
small gun would not make up for the issues of the commander having to look through a
periscope and tell the gunner where and when to shoot. This was a major weakness of the
American tank because a single 75mm shot in the right place could easily destroy it, such as the
rear or the main gun. This disadvantage existed because its armor was very thin in order to
increase its speed for a tactical advantage. One of the ways the Sherman tank overrode the issues
with the thin armor and how long it took to hit a target was its speed (26-30 mph) and range (100
miles). The fastest medium German tank speed were the Panzers, which were around 24 miles
per hour, and the fastest tank the Tiger I only reached up to 28 miles per hour. The speed of the
Shermans gave the United States a strategic advantage over the Panzer divisions of the Nazi
regime. This allowed American tank divisions to make quick and longer spearheaded attacks to
surprise the Germans and knock them onto their heels. General George S. Pattons, the leading
expert in tank warfare at the time, philosophy on warfare was, Attack rapidly, ruthlessly,
viciously, without rest, however tired and hungry you may be, the enemy will be more tired,
more hungry. Keep punching (CMG Worldwide). Germanys blitzkrieg attacks were similar
since the term means lightning war. The objectives of these speedy and lengthy attacks were to
simply surprise the enemy and tire them out, hoping for them to become weaker and easier to
defeat.
Throughout World War II there were about 50,000 M4 Sherman tanks produced in the
United States where as in Germany there were fewer than 24,000 tanks produced. There were
about two M4 Shermans per one Nazi tank, therefore easily outnumbering the stronger German

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tanks. The ability to out maneuvers the Panzers and Tigers was one advantage, but having the
numbers to back up the speed was a major asset in winning the war. If a M4 Sherman took on a
Tiger tank by itself it would easily lose even though it was faster. The Tiger outclassed it in
weaponry and armor. However, one tank cannot generally take on two at once with continued
success. Even after sacrificing one United States tank for every Nazi tank they still outnumbered
them.
The M4 Shermans were inexpensive to build and maintain, hence the astonishing
number of them in the war. This also came at a price; the quality was not the best. The tanks
engines would explode now and again, sometimes ripping the turret clean off the hull, and in
some cases the rounds for the guns would blow up inside the tank if a Nazi round punctured the
hull well enough to create a spark. Since the M4 Sherman was so easily destroyed, American
tank crews had to come up with ways to reinforce the tank. American ingenuity saved many
United States tanks from destruction. Ford motor company made it extremely easy for tank
crews to repair the tanks in the battlefield. If just a tread was blown off they could replace it with
inexpensive parts. In some cases tank crews attached and drove around with spare treads since it
was such a common issue. The ability to fix the M4 Sherman on the battlefield made it extremely
reliable in the eyes of many America soldiers. Also since the tank had thin armor, to save money
in order to produce more, it became a large problem. In response to this, soldiers started
reinforcing the tank with sandbags on the front a rear hull and sometimes welding sheets of steel
onto the hull to stop 76 mm rounds from piercing the tank. Dan Alex, a military historian writing
for Military Factory said, If the Sherman had an advantage over her contemporaries, it was in
her speed, battlefield reliability and her simple quantitative presence regarding in any given

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engagement of the day (Alex 1). Shermans were not the strongest tanks on the battlefield but
they were strategically superior over their Nazi counterparts.
United States tank strategies were not always the best tactics on the battlefield but some
worked surprisingly well. One of the tactics Sherman divisions liked to use was flanking as a
result of their inherent inferior main armament, Sherman crews were also encouraged to engage
their Panzer brethren at closer ranges and from the rear or flanks. In practice, this proved suicidal
on many levels (Alex 21). Getting closer to a Panzer tank was not the smartest of moves
especially since its 76mm main gun could easily annihilate the Sherman from any distance. The
M4 Sherman was normally used for infantry support. However, its speed and numbers allowed it
to be crucial in spearheaded attacks. Spearheaded attacks are when a division pushed through
enemy lines quickly and with force. This strategy was mainly used to knock an enemy onto their
heels and push them back or decimate them. These attacks seemed to work extremely well for
the United States especially when the Germans were weak and being pushed back to Germany
after D-Day.
General George S. Patton was the Commander of the 3rd US Army during World War
Two, which was made up of infantry, artillery, air support, and the 4th Armor Division. Within
this division there were M4 Sherman tanks. He advised his men to use armor piercing rounds for
the first shot at a German tank, then hit or miss they would switch back to their normal rounds.
This would allow his divisions M4 Shermans the ability to penetrate the thick German armor on
their first shot and possibly disable the tanks to allow for a speedy attack. This tactic was proven
to be both effective and ineffective depending on the situation. In some cases the Sherman
gunner would completely miss since the commander had to relay the coordinates to the gunner.
Other times the Shermans crew would have a direct hit, giving Pattons strategy credibility.

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General Patton believed in speed and execution were the best tactics in modern day
warfare. He said, A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week
(CMG Worldwide) When he was first made general he was given plans to execute from higher
ups in the military. This did not displease him. General Patton would only agree to this as long as
he had the freedom to execute the orders the way he wanted. General Pattons ideal was to
create warfare that combined speed and destructiveness so that a battle could be won with a
minimum loss to ones own personnel and equipment. Conservative war fighting, Patton
preached, gave the illusion of safety but ultimately cost more lives (Axelrod 55). His
spearheaded attacks were based off of German blitzkrieg tactics and the M4 Sherman allowed
these tactics to be extremely effective. Pattons tactics were abnormally effective for the number
of casualties, but led him to become a even more brilliant tank expert because his tactics
became strategy, transforming a vast portion of the European theater by suddenly reclaiming all
of France north of the Loire (Axelrod 38). Initially the generals above Patton were not too fond
of his tactics because of the number of lives lost. However, when they realized how quickly the
Allies were advancing they preached spearheaded attacks to all of the generals.
The Battle of the Bulge is the best example of American strategy and ingenuity in action.
The Battle of the Bulge was the Germans last offensive attack of the war. Adolf Hitlers troops
were ordered to break through a weak section of the Allied lines to recapture the port city of
Antwerp. Hitler wanted to recapture this city to slow down the resupply rate of the Allies. He
was advised not to attack because Germany was far too weak to hold up defenses if it was
conquered. Avoiding this piece of advice, he pushed foreword with the plan and was able to
create a bulge in the Allied lines and seize the city of Bastogne with the 101st Airborne and the
10th Armored divisions inside fighting for their lives. This bulge separated General Montgomery

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and his men from General Patton and his 3rd Army. The United States was clearly outnumbered
in this battle. The Germans had 200,000 troops, and 600 tanks while the United States only had
80,000 troops and 240 tanks. Even though the General Patton was outnumbered, the German
tanks and troops were spread out between towns on the way to Bastogne.
General Patton and his 3rd Army came to their finest hour recapturing Bastogne and
rescuing the United States divisions inside. While fighting for Bastogne the weather was very
cold (below negative 20 at times), the coldest winter in Europes history at the time, and snowy.
The ground was awful to drive cars on let alone tanks. This caused some of the tanks guns to
freeze up mid-battle since they were not designed to function in such cold temperatures. Soldiers
came up with the idea of peeing onto their weapons to warm them up. In some cases they pissed
onto their 50 caliber machine guns to make them function or else they were going to die or their
tank would be destroyed. General Pattons tanks used spearheaded attacks with all of his
divisions at once going through town by town to plow through German defenses, which worked
until King Tiger tanks stopped them. When this happened the United States had to result back to
flanking, which was a dangerous move. The United States outnumbered these tanks and set up
three companies to flank the town of Chaumont. Flanking with three companies made it seem
impossible for the Germans to even have a chance in this town since they were converged on
three sides. Then on Christmas Eve of 1944 the United States used the range of the M4
Shermans to their advantage by traveling under the cover of nightfall to switch sides of a ridge
in order to confuse the enemy the next day. General Abrams in the upcoming days was ordered
to attack the town of Sibret but instead attacked Assemois because he believed it was less
fortified and would be easier to get to Bastogne, which was proven correct. The M4 Sherman
was clearly outclassed every day and in every battle of World War Two, but its simplicity and

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the intellect of the Americans combined kept it from being yet another piece in the scrap-yard.