I've been looking over the site that Faust posted today, www.jagdtiger.de,and I have a question. There is a picture of a Sherman on display at the Musee National D'Histoire Militaire in Belgium. The tracks were hanging very loose at the rear of the tank. I don't know anything about tanks but I'm guessing this is because the ideler wheel is misadjusted. Is this right and what would cause this in battle? I thinking this might be a nice touch to do on some dio someday.

Yes, it means that the idler wheel is loose. The tension is set by a track adjusting link. The idler is connected to the suspension by basically a big screw-type linkage. Turn the link one way, it loosens the track for maintenance. The other way tightens the track (compensates for the loosening of the rubber bushings that occurs when the track starts to get worn). Works like a household C-clamp.

Running over a mine or breaking track will cause the track to sag towards the rear idler. Vehicles in use would have tight tracks since a loose track would be thrown the first time you made a turn.

This particualr tank (Page 6 of the Sherman section) has way too many tread links on the port sideTo get those links tightened up withthe idler, the idler would be about two feet behind the tank. Of note is the normal track tension on the starboard.