[BroJoeK]

NWFree: "Sherman tank = tommy cooker"

pfflier: "Another name was the rolling Ronson...Lights the first time every time."

In all fairness to the M4, it was first designed in 1940 as an infantry support tank whose major opponent was the German Panzers Mark 3s & 4s.
Sherman was intended for mass production, ease of transport across oceans & beaches, plus ease of operation & maintenance.
When the Sherman was attacked in the press, in 1945, Gen. Patton defended it as an offensive weapon, whereas the German Tiger was so heavy & immobile it was, for practical purposes, merely a defensive gun.

M4s remained in production to the end of WWII and in service for many years after, and long after many countries (including the USA) had developed heavier tanks which could blow a Sherman to pieces.

See also Rockingham's post #31.

[Reily]

Significant numbers of the Pershing (equaivalent to the German Panther) could have been put into production earlier. If that would have happend a lot of Amreican lives could have been saved. Expending 2 or 3 Shermans to take out one Panther would not have been the tactic of choice with the Pershing. Some historians blame Patton for interfering with speeding up Pershing production.

[Western Phil]

According to my brother, tanks used up lots of tracks in the action in North Africa. In preparation for the war on the continent, we manufactured buco tank tracks. Europe had roads and soil which did not use up tank tracks to a large extent. Sometime late in the last century he told me that there were still warehouses full of tank tracks in Europe.