Posters Artwork Documents

Shortcomings of US tanks.

The shortcomings of US-built tanks, principally the M4/Sherman, had not failed to make public notice, even during the war. This is an American cartoonist's take on the issue from 1945. The comment attributed to Patton in many ways sums it up. In 1944/'45, the "standard" Sherman was inferior to pretty well any German tank or (even) tank destroyer that it might meet on the European battlefied (although this position was reversed in the Pacific, against the Japanese). That, of course, is a "tank for tank" comparison. The vast numerical superiority of Shermans eventually simply swamped German opponents which were superior at least in terms of firepower and protection (though not in manoeverability and deployability). Mind you, this was a limited consolation to the American, British, Canadian and French tankers rerquired to crew the Sherman in the Western European theatre. I have seen interviews with surviving Allied tankers that suggest that their morale was not really helped by the assurance that a lost Sherman could be replaced a lot faster than a lost Tiger. They could see the grim arithmetic as clearly as their commanders - who took the view that the loss of four or five Shermans (with crews if necessary) could be borne as long as one Tiger or Panther went with them. The morale question was one of the reasons why - in the US at least - there was public debate on this subject. Best regards, JR.