Sherman Tank's Role In World War II

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World War 2 took place from September 1,1939-September 2, 1945. The United States entered the war after Pearl harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. The US officially joined on December 8, 1941. President Franklin Roosevelt was the president at the time and was the one who entered us in the war. Tanks played a huge role in World War 2 for the US. The US has several tanks in their army and marines. Some tanks were more important than others and played bigger roles than others. Some of the more important tanks were the Sherman tank, the light tank, and the Chaffee tank. Tanks were a huge step for the US since we did not have our own in World War 1. One of the more important tanks was the M4 Sherman tank. It was the workhorse …show more content…

During the 1930’s the US did not think tanks would be a relevant weapon on the battlefield. Because of this little research was known about tanks. They knew the basics. The M5A1 had the main principles of tanks. It has armor, firepower, and mobility. The M5A1 got the name “light tanka” because of its light armor. This was a major deficiency for a combat vehicle. This tank was equipped with four guns. A .30 caliber bow gun, .30 caliber coaxial machine gun, and 37 mm main gun and a .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine gun. A .30 caliber was originally going to be used for the anti-aircraft gun but the .50 caliber worked better. It had a two speed gear box coupled to two drive shafts from four speed transmission. This giving the tank eight speeds forward and two speeds in reverse. “The power plant is the 346 cu.in. flat head V8 engine, two of which are mounted in the rear of the vehicle, connected to 4 speed Hydramatic transmissions. Each engine generated 110 horsepower(http://www.robertsarmory.com/m5.htm).” Fuel was given to the engine by a two barrel Carter carburetor. There were thermal spring automatic chokes for when it was cold. The crew was a four man crew. There was a driver, assistant driver/bow gunner, main gunner, and commander/loader. They had a M6 periscope that was used in four locations in the front and one in the back making a total of five locations. The maximum speed was 36 mph. The front

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