The United States officially joined the Allies in World War II in December of 1940. When it did so, it brought a completely new level of military might into play. Then, 1942 saw the nation develop the M4 Sherman tank. It was a medium tank, a step above the M3 Lee (and its British-made variant, the Grant), which was used earlier in the conflict. However, as historian David Fletcher puts it in an episode of The Tank Museum’s Tank Chats: “… once the Sherman came along, it eclipsed them completely … they were pretty well abandoned at that time.”
The U.S. military at the time intended the tanks to focus on infantry support, rather than providing the defenses and offenses that would be required for the rigors of protracted armored combat, however. As a result, it wasn’t always an effective match for the likes of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced. Its key advantage, though, was the fact that it boasted a low-maintenance and relatively easy-to-fix design like its predecessor (Fletcher went on to say of the M3 Grant, “… it would always start in the morning, it would go all day”).
The ability to keep a massive fleet in the field, so often key during WWII, allowed the model to distinguish itself. Around 50,000 Shermans were built up to 1945, making it America’s most-used tank model.
