The M4 Medium Tank - the Sherman - was one of the most famous tanks of
the Second World War. It was produced in greater numbers than any other
Allied tank, it fought on every front - in Western Europe, on the
Eastern Front, in North Africa, Burma, the Pacific - and it continued to
serve effectively as a front-line fighting vehicle in the Korean War,
the Arab-Israeli wars, the Indo-Pakistani wars. Pat Ware's new history
of this remarkable tank covers in detail its design and development, its
technical specifications and the many variants that were produced, and
he reviews its operational role in conflicts across the world.
While the Sherman outclassed the older German tanks it encountered when
it was first put into combat in 1942, it was vulnerable to the later
German medium and heavy tanks, the Panther and the Tiger I and Tiger II.
Yet, as Pat Ware shows, the Sherman was more effective than these
superior German tanks because it was cheaper to build, reliable, easy to
maintain and produced in such large numbers. It was also adaptable - it
was converted into a tank-destroyer, an amphibious tank, a recovery
vehicle, a mine-flail, a personnel carrier - and, after the Second World
War, the soundness of its original design was proved as it was developed
to confront more modern tanks in combat.
Pat Ware's expert account of this remarkable fighting vehicle is
accompanied by a series of color plates showing the main variants of the
design and the common ancillary equipment and unit markings. His book is
an essential work of reference for enthusiasts.
