Just go to the image source and drop them a line.
Posted on 02/18/2005 12:29:49 PM PST by SwinneySwitch
Most definitely they were used. The most effective being the Shermans with the flamethrower built in. The tanks helped provide cover for the Marines and soldiers while they were stuck along the beaches trying to move inland.
I told a history teacher friend of mind this week I would have gone over if they would have let me dress like the Japanese and shoot at marines! ;-)
I read Flyboys. Highly recommended !
*!*
Restored tank?
And I missed it?!
A great person gave me "Fly Boys" on tape just before a long drive last year. It is an amazing work, and parts of it made me want to weep. I have shared that work with a few persons. I have also since heard the author speak of the subject in interviews.
I have been to the Iwo Jima Monument in Arlington a few times and I was quite impressed each time. Still, I have not researched the subject of the actual event.
I simply never thought about tanks being used on South Pacific islands. The logistics of getting such equipment there in those days seem quite formidable to me.
Incidently, I saw recently that Clint Eastwood is preparing to make a new movie on the Battle of Iwo Jima!
BTW, Ping!
Flags of our fathers is a good read too. Great premise: what the five guys were like before, during and after the war. Young puppies like me (age 54 and younger) need to learn what the country was like in the 30's and what our fighters were like in WW2. It is very humbling.
.
(except from Mrs. Curmudgeon)
Just go to the image source and drop them a line.
I think it depends on the variant. The M4A1 had a Continental R974 C4 9 cylinder 4 cycle radial gasoline motor. The M4A2, a GMC 6046 12 cylinder (6/engine) 2 cycle twin in-line diesel. The M4A3 a Ford GAA 8 cylinder 4 cycle 60° V gasoline. The M4A4, a Chrysler A57 30 cylinder 4 cycle multibank gasoline motor. The M4A6 an Ordnance Engine RD-1820 9 cylinder 4 cycle radial diesel.
The Marine Corps variants had some interesting features, some of which you can see in the photo, like the thick wooden boards on the sides to deter magnetic mines, and engine snorkels.
I have part of a T-72. Does that count?
All I can add to this discussion is my husband's childhood memory of watching the manufacturer testing the Sherman tanks as they came off the assembly line at Chrysler.
My husband grew up in Detroit. During WWII all the auto manufacturers were converted to military production. Chrysler had a "proving ground" in his neighborhood with bleacher seats and the neighbors would bring the kids over on Saturday mornings to watch men test the tanks. The earliest models didn't work very well, according to my husband.
Can you imagine a show like that with military hardware production today?
My father in law worked for GE during the day, but at night he had his own machine shop in the basement where he and a couple of his friends milled precision airplane parts for the Army Air Corps on a sub-contract basis. I think they were for the P-38.
My husband's first job was sweeping the shop for his dad at about age 7. My husband is now 67 and we own our own manufacturing company -- but he still sweeps the shop from time to time.
Geez, looks like the tank the cooks used to drive over the meat to tenderize it. Leftovers we used for armor plating.
The Shermans in Europe were extremely vulnerable. German tanks were generally much better armored and better-armed; the long-barrelled 75mm gun on the later Panzer IVs and the excellent Panther, the 88mm gun on the Tiger, and especially the infamous Flak 36 88mm antitank/antiaircraft gun, could all shred Shermans at fairly long range. Plus they caught fire easily.
But the Shermans were much more mechanically reliable, and most importantly, there were a lot more of them. It was said that a Tiger could kill four Shermans...but there was always a fifth one there to finish off the Tiger!
}:-)4
There were God knows how many engine variants.
If the Germans hadn't been so obsessed with technology (read:constant upgrades and "improvements", and constant introduction of "newer" models of all their major systems), they might have been a little more of a problem.
Treadhead Ping
Marine Sherman bump!
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