M4 Sherman

This article is fucking 'Murican. Expect copious amounts of Freedom with an infrequent side of Awesome.

"War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want."

– General William Tecumseh Sherman

"Someone call the cavalry?"

– M4 Sherman, Company of Heroes

I can be whatever you want me to be baby.

The M4 Sherman is the poster child of freedom, the Freeaboo's ideal body type, and the backbone of the Western allies' armored forces. It was mass produced at a higher rate than even the Russian T-34, and came out as the 2nd most produced tank of the war. It came in a dizzying number of variants, with a wide variety of weapons, engines, and even suspensions and hull types. It is one of only a few tanks to be deployed on all theaters of the war, including the Eastern Front, China, and the Pacific. It's one of the first tanks to enter service with stabilization for the main gun. It's reliable, easy to fix, ergonomic, and extremely versatile, both in Flames of War and in real life.

For all this, the Sherman tends to get a bad rep. Most of this focuses on it's armor and firepower, which is weaker than German tanks of the later war period. We won't get into this debate here more than to say that you will have to find ways to compensate for your weaker armor and cannon when going up against German and Soviet heavy tanks as a Late War Flames of War player. However, with effective combined arms, mobile tactics, and a little bit of luck the M4 will serve you just as reliably as it served the allies in World War 2.

In Late War

American

The M4 Medium Tank is just as it was in Mid War, but this time with far better crews! The Americans get the option of "trained" M4 crews that are hit on a 3+ and have a 3+ last stand, or "Veteran" M4 crews that trade all that in for a 4+ to hit and a 3+ tactics. What really makes the M4 stand out in the American force is its 'Stabilizer' special rule. This lets the M4 maintain it's rate of fire of 2 on the move, though it suffers a -1 to hit. This gives you a higher chance of hitting a shot in almost all situations, making the American M4 the king of mobile warfare and exceptionally flexible. A second point in the Sherman's favor is the sheer number of machineguns it brings, pumping out 5 shots per tank stationary and making it very capable at pinning enemy infantry and blocking enemy infantry assaults.

The US has a few different platoons to bring their M4s in late war. The first is the Dday formations, which bring M4 Sherman and Sherman 76 platoons. Compared to the bulge platoons, the 76mm platoons are more expensive and the 75mm platoons are slightly cheaper for their value. That being said, the Dday formations are less flexible than the Bulge formations, with homogenous platoons and fewer M4 variants available.

The Bulge formations is where the Sherman really blossoms into its full potential. The US unlocks access to the Late 75mm M4, the Easy Eight, the Jumbo, HVAP ammo, and up armored M4 variants. The coolest part though is that you can mix and match any of these variants freely within a platoon, letting you essentially customize your force completely down to the individual tank (with the exception being that you can only bring one jumbo per unit, including the HQ). Do you want something to hunt heavy tanks? Boom, E8s with HVAP, maybe a jumbo. You want something a bit more durable to maybe duel with enemy heavies and mediums? Slap a Jumbo 76mm on with some 76mm M4s and add some 75mm M4s with smoke. Need something cheaper to support and flank? Bring base M4s and tack on a jumbo for some good survivability. The possibilities are truly as endless as your imagination.

First off, we'll go over some of the command card options available in the Bulge: American book. The first is HVAP. This card costs half a point per tank and boosts all your 76mm cannons to pen 13. This is practically a must take, taking your 76mm M4s from scary medium tank hunters to capable heavy tank hunters as well for a relatively trivial rise in points.

Second is the uparmored sherman. This can be added to M4 (late), M4 (76mm), and E8s on an individual tank basis. This costs a point and boosts the front and side armor by one in exchange for a -1 on its cross rating. This can really help deal with medium tanks like the Stug and Panzer IV, but still leaves you rather vulnerable to heavy AT and limits your ability to take cover from them. As such, it really depends on your local meta if you take these: if PaK 40s and stugs or other medium tanks are the thing where you're at, or if you just really like the look, then take them! If not, it's not really worth it.

M4 Sherman

This is the generic stat card for the M4, M4A1, and early M4A2s in US service. The base M4 Sherman is a cheap middle of the road tank with a cannon that can deal with enemy medium tanks and armor that keeps it safe against light and medium antitank guns. That said, AT10 will struggle against the side armor of 8 on heavy tanks like the Tiger and IS-2, meaning that while the 75mm is a capable vehicle in most situations, it struggles against heavy tanks. Use the maneuverability provided by the stabilizer and artillery smoke to avoid enemy heavy tanks and heavy antitank guns and focus on breaking through and exploiting enemy light vehicles and medium tanks. This is where the M4 truly shines, being cheap and mobile. In addition, it has direct fire smoke, meaning that this tank can act in support to help smoke out enemy tanks and cover your own infantry and tanks from enemy infantry and antitank guns.

M4 Calliope

The stats

Rocket's on a armored platform, and before you ask, the gun is fake.

M4 (Late)

This is the stat card for the later model M4A2s and M4A3s in US service. These models had their frontal armor increased to 65mm and wet stowage installed, but retained the reliable 75mm cannon. In game this gives them bonuses to frontal armor and remount, something that can really help in duels with German panzers. This tank is just as versatile and capable as the base vehicle, though without improved penetration it will still struggle to deal with heavier enemy armor.

M4 (105)

The M4 (105) is the odd one out here, being essentially an artillery/assault gun variant on the Sherman. It's got an AT9, FP2+, Brutal and Slow-Firing 105mm gun as well as the FA7 of the 76mm Sherman. All in all, it's kinda hard to find a place for, trying to fill a niche that doesn't really exist. It's got the armor to go toe to toe with enemy mediums, but not the penetration. It's helpless against heavies. It's job as artillery is done better by the cheaper priest and 105mm towed artillery. It lacks the volume of fire to deal with enemy infantry platoons in direct fire. It may find a place hunting enemy light and medium AT guns, but it will get slaughtered by enemy heavy AT. It might be useful as an integrated artillery asset in an M4 tank company, but you have so many other units you can put in there, why bother. If someone comes up with a use for this thing, let me know!

M4 (76)W

This stat card represents the M4 (76)W, M4A1 (76)W, M4A2 (76)W, and M4A3 (76)W fielded by the US. The M4 (76) is a capable enough antitank vehicle, with a 76mm high velocity gun that bumps the antitank up to 12, wet stowage that gives it a 3+ remount, and a front armor of 7 thanks to the up armored T23 turret. This, combined with the stabilizer, makes it a capable QRF vehicle for dealing with heavy tank breakthroughs as well as the king of dueling with enemy medium tanks. It also makes it a relatively pricy vehicle, with a full veteran platoon coming in at 28 points for 5. Nevertheless, this is currently the final word in American antitank and will serve you well if used properly. Consider escorting them with some form of infantry to help assault and capture enemy tanks, because FP3+ always bails when you need it to kill and chances are you really can't afford to lose these tanks. Something worth noting is the "No HE" rule on the main gun, meaning it suffers against infantry, but if you were looking for an infantry killer you shoulda just gone with the cheaper 75mm anyway.

M4A3E8 Easy Eight

"Cause I'm eaaaasssaayyy~!"

The E8 takes everything the 76mm does and does it better. For a point boost, it gets 2 major bonuses: a 2+ cross and smooth ride, which essentially says that as long as it moves less than 4" it fires as if it was stationary. This is essentially a free blitz move that lacks some of the major drawbacks of an actual blitz move: you can assault following it (lmao you better be desperate to assault with M4s) and you can stack it with a regular blitz move to get an 8" blitz. This makes them the unparalleled masters of terrain and reserves, with their ability to reliably traverse all kinds of terrain and shoot at full rate of fire on their first turn on the table. That said, these things come with a hefty price tag: 7 points per tank for the elite variant, as much as a Soviet IS-2 heavy tank, and its not very tough for that cost. Be careful with them, use terrain and smoke to keep them alive so they can do their job. You aren't a brainlet Soviet or German player that can just push his tanks forward and suck up shots, you're a US player, be smart about it. It's generally smart to take this variant by itself, since the other variants will often slow it down, particularly the Jumbo.

M4A3E2 Jumbo

One tank in each Sherman platoon may be upgraded to one of the heaviest armored tanks in the game, the M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo. This thicc boi has front armor 11 and side armor 8 and comes in 2 variants, the 75mm and 76mm. Paired with the target allocation rules and smart use of terrain and distance, this tank can effectively halve the number of casualties you take to AT14 cannons at least. This does come with a massive drawback though: 4+ cross. This really limits your options when it comes to using terrain and advancing through walled fields, though its armor reduces your need for such cover. Consider pairing it with a lucky card to help with the occasional failed armor or target reallocation.

British

The US provided the British with 17,184 Sherman Tanks of all models throughout the war.

A notable British variant was the Firefly, which carried a QF 17-pounder 76.2mm cannon. Introduced in early 1944, Sherman Fireflies could pierce the armor of Panther and Tiger Tanks.

As a notable aside, it was the Brits who decided to give the M4 medium tank the official designation of Sherman.

Soviet

Some 4,102 Sherman Tanks were sent to the USSR as part of Lend Lease. These were notably equipped with Diesel Engines so they could use the same fuel that T-34s used. Fun fact: the Soviets that got to ride into lend-lease Shermans were full of praise about it, rating it as equal or even better than their own T-34; unlike the M3 which they called the "grave for seven brothers". The higher level of quality control also played a factor in it's success on the battlefield, with the survival rate of M4 crews being 4% higher than that of T-34 crews.

In Real Life

"This American tub's not half bad wot?"

The M4 epitomizes the US Government's commitment to supplying its soldiers with massive quantities of almost good enough equipment. From the onset, the M4 was designed to maximize easy of repair and part longevity over all other concerns since the damn thing had to serve an ocean way from the factory making the parts for them. Mechanically, it was largely a continuation of the definitely not good enough M3, minimizing the amount of factory changes needed to produce it. Ultimately M4's would be churned out by a dozen companies with half a dozen different engine setups, ranging from V8's to twin diesels to repurposed aircraft engines (this was originally designated by the "Able" suffix; the Army's preferred V8 Sherman was the M4A3. Meanwhile Great Britain used Roman numerals and proper names, so their preferred multi-bank engine M4A4 instead became the Sherman V). Its slab-sided high profile was a consequence of a secondary requirement that it be easily transportable by existing railroads, which initially limited its overall width to 103 inches. It is ironic then that all these considerations in mind, most of which were pragmatic consideration for logistics of waging an overseas war, that the vehicle would be named after one of the United States' most infamously pragmatic Generals.

Contrary to popular belief, the Sherman was very much intended to fight other tanks; its original 75mm gun M3 (the same as the M3's sponson gun, but more sensibly mounted in the turret) was the best possible tank gun the Americans had at the start of the war, and projects to find a replacement began as early as 1942. The 75mm was adequate against Panzer IIIs and IVs and could perform surprisingly well against the big cats as battles like Arracourt demonstrate. 75mm HE ammo was also highly regarded for its ability to kill enemy infantry, and the Marine Corps retained the older Shermans for this reason.

Early attempts to add a more powerful gun (at first the 3-inch gun from the M10 tank destroyer, and later purpose-built 76mm tank guns) resulted in extremely cramped turrets, significantly compromising the ability to lay guns and make follow-on shots. The British decided the added anti-tank ability was worth the compromises, resulting in the Ic and Vc "Firefly" tanks incorporating their massive 17 pdr gun; these were effectively ambush vehicles, and would always be incorporated into larger units with 75mm Shermans. The US would finally adapt the T23 turret (with 76mm gun M1) from the Pershing prototypes in the "easy six" conversion, although very few of these tanks arrived in Europe in time for D-Day.

Like most prewar US tanks, the Sherman incorporated a bogie suspension system, with its initial incarnation using a vertical volute spring for each bogie. This made replacement of suspension elements very easy in the field, compared to a Christie or torsion bar system. However, the Sherman had more limited roadwheels, narrower tracks and a correspondingly higher ground pressure, making it a more difficult tank to operate in rough terrain. The US Army would attempt to mitigate this through "duckbill" end connecters, giving a somewhat wider track (the tank pictured has both a VVSS suspension and duckbills). Later, the "easy eight" modification introduced a new suspension bogie, with dual road wheels and a horizontal volute spring. The HVSS would make the Sherman more of an off-road contender, and its smoother travel allowed tanks to more effectively shoot on the move.

Despite it's shortcomings as a combat vehicle, the Sherman can easily be considered one of the "greatest tanks of WW2". Sure, it didn't fire 88mm shells of death over 2km, or shrug off dozens of 40mm AT shells, but no one can deny that it fulfilled one goal that almost no other tank fielded in that conflict could: That it was everywhere that it was needed and did its job well enough, and could do just about anything you needed it to, from the Deserts of North Africa to the Jungles of Burma, the Mountain Passes of Italy, the Beaches of the Pacific, the Rice Fields of China, the Steppes of Russia, the Hedgerows of Normandy, and finally the Streets of Berlin. The Sherman was everywhere.

Shermans, being one of the most modular chassis/platforms in the entire war, had tons of variants that we won't waste your time with. Instead, we'll just focus on the two cool ones: The "105 Sherman" and the Flame variant.

Officially called the M4A3(105), the Sherman 105 is what happens when you look at the Scott, decide that its a good start, then proceed to shove a 105mm howitzer in the turret of a larger tank. 500 were built, and they were used in much the same role as the Scott, though probably in a more frontline role due to the heavier armor and having more glorious M1919 Machine guns.

The U.S. Marine Corps, somewhat fed up with dealing with people with Katanas and bayonets at close range with flamethrowers, decided to yank out the cannon and shove a heavy flamethrower, creating an "M4 Zippo". It gave up its anti-tank capability and shared the same overall shortcomings as the conventional M4, but Marines loved this thing, because torching the enemy in their caves and bunkers with a MEHTUL BAWK was vastly better than going in after them. Officially called the M4A3R3 because technical designations.

Soviet Forces in Flames of War
Tanks:	T-70 - Valentine - M5/M3 Stuart - M3 Lee - T-34 - KV - Churchill - IS-2 - Captured Tank Platoon - T-28 - BT-7 - KV-2 - T-26
Transports:	M3 Scout Car - Universal Carrier - SdKfz 251
Infantry:	Rifles - Motor Rifles - Penal Company - Storm Group - SMG Company - Engineer Sapper Company
Artillery:	Katyusha - 152mm Artillery - 122mm Artillery - 76mm Artillery - 120mm Mortars - 82mm mortars
Tank Destroyers and Assault Guns:	45mm Anti Tank - 57mm Anti Tank - 76mm Anti Tank - 100mm Anti Tank - SU-76 - SU-85 - SU-100 - SU-122 - SU-152 - ISU-122/ISU-152
Recon:	Scout Platoon - BA-64 Platoon - Armored Reconnaissance Platoon - Reconnaissance Platoon
Aircraft:	Il-2 Sturmovik
Anti-Aircraft:	ZSU M17 - DShK AA MG Platoon
Midwar Monsters:	KV-3 - KV-5 - T-43