American Medium Tanks

Due to Britain's relative lack of production power when compared to the United States, several of America's earlier tanks were mass produced in the US and then used primarily by the British. These tanks are noted by having a brown background similar to the background found on the British Army pages.

M3 "Grant"/"Lee"
M3 Grant	DIMENSIONS
	Mass (mt): 27.2	Length (m): 5.63	Width (m): 2.72	Height (m): 3.12
	TIME PERIOD: 1941 (M3 Grant) to 1943 (M3 Lee)
The result of America's crash rearmament program in 1941, the M3 was a quickly mass-produced stopgap between the aging M2 designs and the M4 Sherman. Used more often by British Commonwealth forces (Britain, Canada, and Australia) than in American combat units, the M3 made its greatest impact in North Africa, with its heavy (for the time) 75mm cannon. Unlike most other tanks, the M3 had two main guns--a 37mm L/57 in a topside turret and a 75mm L/40 in a forward sponson. The only difference between the Grant (which came first) and Lee models was that the Lee, in addition to the massive arsenal of the Grant, also had an independently rotatable cupola atop the turret with a machine gun in it. The M3 Grant was put on "substitute standard" (read "back-burner") status in 1941 when the M4 Sherman was standardized and was declared obsolete in 1944, long after it had been superceded by the superior M4.

M3 "GRANT" MEDIUM TANK				Max. Speed:41.8 kph		Range: 192km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
50mm	50mm	37mm	37mm	20mm	26mm	51mm	51mm
37mm L/57 Tank Gun				Max. Range: 910m		Mx. Penetrate: 67mm
75mm L/40 Tank Gun in Foreward Sponson				Max. Range: 1820m		Mx. Penetrate: 96mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Turret Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
2 .30 Browning Bow Machine Guns				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun

M3A1 "LEE" MEDIUM TANK				Max. Speed:41.8 kph		Range: 192km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
50mm	50mm	37mm	37mm	20mm	26mm	51mm	51mm
37mm L/57 Tank Gun				Max. Range: 910m		Mx. Penetrate: 67mm
75mm L/40 Tank Gun in Foreward Sponson				Max. Range: 1820m		Mx. Penetrate: 96mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Turret Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
.30 Browning Cupola Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
2 .30 Browning Bow Machine Guns				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun

M4 "Sherman"
M4 Sherman	DIMENSIONS
	Mass (mt): 30.1	Length (m): 5.9 - 6.1	Width (m): 2.6	Height (m): 2.74
	TIME PERIOD: 1942 (M4 Sherman) to 1945 (End of War, M4A6 Sherman)
The standard American medium tank of World War II, the M4 Sherman was easily mass produced and mechanically reliable... which, later in the war, were its only true virtues. When first introduced into the North African theatre against early Panzer IIIs and IVs, the M4A1 Sherman was the superior tank with its superior rounded cast armor, 75mm L/40 main gun, and comparable speed. Packing the hefty wallop of the M3 Grant's sponson gun in a fully rotatable turret, the M4 was a very good medium tank in 1941. However, as time progressed, German tanks increased in effectiveness, especially in the area of their main guns, while the M4 remained mostly static. By 1943, the Panzer IV regularly outclassed the M4, while the "big cat" heavy tanks like the Panzer V Panther and Panzer VI Tiger made M4s look like a joke. Lacking a heavy tank design, the counter to the big cats was the late-1943/early-1944 M4A3E2 "Jumbo" Sherman mounting an M1A1 76mm L/55 and heavier armor. A decent heavy-end medium tank, the M4A3E2 finally reachieved parity with late-war German meidum tanks. The Sherman variant that truly surpassed even German heavy tanks was the Sherman Firefly, a British variant mounting the massive 17-pounder gun, which, with its far longer barrel, made the 75mm snubnose look like the popgun it truly was late in the war. Because the M4 chassis was made especially for mass-production, it was modified for all sorts of purposes especially the M7B1 "Priest" self-propelled artillery unit and the M10 and M36 tank destroyers.

M4A1 "SHERMAN" MEDIUM TANK				Max. Speed: 38 kph		Range: 160km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
50mm	50mm	39mm	39mm	12mm	65mm	52mm	52mm
75mm L/40 Tank Gun				Max. Range: 1820m		Mx. Penetrate: 96mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
.30 Browning Bow Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun

M4A3 "SHERMAN" MEDIUM TANK				Max. Speed: 38 kph		Range: 160km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
50mm	50mm	50mm	39mm	12mm	75mm	75mm	52mm
75mm L/40 Tank Gun				Max. Range: 1820m		Mx. Penetrate: 96mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
.30 Browning Bow Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun

M4A3E2 "JUMBO SHERMAN" TANK				Max. Speed: 38 kph		Range: 160km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
65mm	65mm	65mm	50mm	12mm	92mm	65mm	65mm
76mm L/55 M1A1 Tank Gun				Max. Range: 2280m		Mx. Penetrate: 118mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
.30 Browning Bow Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun

SHERMAN "FIREFLY" TANK				Max. Speed: 38 kph		Range: 160km
Front Bottom	Front Driver	Hull, Side	Hull, Rear	Hull, Deck	Gun Shield	Turret Front	Turret Side
50mm	50mm	50mm	39mm	12mm	75mm	75mm	52mm
76.2mm ("Seventeen-pounder") Tank Gun				Max. Range: 2280m		Mx. Penetrate: 143mm
.30 Browning Coaxial Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun
.30 Browning Bow Machine Gun				Max. Range: 450m		Medium Machine Gun