Sherman Tank’s Participation

During World War II there is no denying that the USA’s participation saved the day and contributed to winning the battle of the century. One tool readily available at their disposal was the legendary Sherman tank.

My friend and his mate on a motorcycle trip to Belgium, visit a Sherman Tank war relic.

The most feared tank in World War II was the German Tiger. A standard 75mm Sherman tank gun typically could not penetrate the front armor of a Tiger I tank at normal combat ranges. While it might have been able to penetrate the sides or rear of a Tiger I under specific circumstances, the Tiger I's thick frontal armour made it largely invulnerable to the 75mm Sherman gun. 

The 75mm M3 gun on the Sherman had a muzzle velocity of around 2030 feet per second and could penetrate about 69mm of armor at 500 yards, which was not enough to consistently penetrate the Tiger's front armor. 

The Sherman was arguably the best tank of the war. It was built with extremely high reliability, and once it had its 76mm gun it could handle pretty much any German armour that was thrown at it, and every crew member had a spring-loaded hatch directly above them, making escaping the tank extremely easy.

The Sherman tank was the most commonly used American tank in World War II. More than 50,000 Shermans were produced between 1942 and 1945. They were used in all combat theaters—not only by the United States, but also by Great Britain, the Free French, China, and even the Soviet Union.

Take care!

Prof. Carl Boniface

Vocabulary builder:

Muzzle (n) = beak, snout. Muzzle velocity refers to the speed of a projectile, like a bullet, at the precise moment it leaves the barrel of a gun. It's essentially the projectile's speed as it exits the muzzle, measured in units like feet per second (fps) or meters per second (m/s).