I am trying to find more information about this M4A3E8 Sherman operated by the 761st Tank Battalion. I have only seen these two images through months of research and it's really getting to me

Also, can someone identify this half track and possibly tell me what unit it may have served in? All I can tell is it is an African American unit and this picture strikes a chord with me so I would like to get my facts straight before I pursue something with these two kits.





Thanks ahead of time

Maybe a stupid question, if so, I do apologize, but have you asked the question on the site of the 761st tank battalion?
http://www.761st.com/

I would imagine, that if anyone would know something about it, he or she would most likely to be found there.

The half track looks like an M3A1 to me.
As at least on paper, every tank battalion would use the same TOE, you could build the half track as a recon maintenance or HQ vehicle of the 761.

I hope you have your inof soon, would love to see the build.
happy modeling

I know it won't help you much with Floyd Dade's Sherman, but talking about half-tracks, did you see this one which belonged to the 761st ?

"Officers of the 761st Medium Tank Battalion, await action near Nancy, France on 5 November 1944. L-R: Captain Ivan H. Harrison, Captain Irvin McHenry and 2nd Lieutenant James C. Lightfoot."



Frenchy

The halftrack appears to be an original M3 rather than an M3A1, as it appears to have the original skate rail for the machine gun (visible through the door flap), rather than the later "pulpit" mounting on the right front. M3 halftracks were pretty universal in armored units, so it's hard to state exactly what outfit we're looking at, though the 761st is an obvious candidate.

I don't believe that the second photo of the Sherman is the same vehicle, in fact, I don't think that its an E8. It looks as though the track has duckbills, at least on the outside, and maybe on both sides. There was a kit that allowed the Sherman to have duckbills on both the inside and outside of the track. If you look at the tank's left track, the link at the bottom of the photo sure looks like it has a duckbill to me. Of course, I could be wrong

You're right. The second tank has standard sixteen-inch VVSS tracks with duckbills on the outer edge. Tanks fitted with the kit that allowed duckbills on the inside as well carried the E9 suffix, a modification only seen on rebuilds, mostly postwar tanks. The suspension bogies had to be spaced out from the hull to allow them to fit, but the complete track was as wide as the HVSS track. I've never seen one in a WW2 combat zone, though some went as military aid to such nations as Pakistan in the postwar years.

The 761st is too under represented in the modeling world. Good luck in your research and build. There are or were a few figure sets of African-American tankers, I have one set waiting on the time to build it.

They were a hard charging unit with a record to be proud of.

Tom

The photo of the halftrack appears on page 13 of the Osprey Elite series #158 entitled "African American Troops in World War II" by Alexander Bielakowski. It is identified as an M3 belonging to the 784th Tank Battalion. 1st Sgt. Morris O. Harris is on the right, being interviewed by Ted Stanford (left), a correspondent from the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most widely read African American newspapers of the time. The photo is dated Germany, March 28th, 1945. Halftracks were typically found in the HQ, recon and mortar platoons of the battalion.

As for the E8 Sherman in the top photo, I was informed by Joe Wilson Jr., (author of "The 761st 'Black Panther" Tank Battalion in World War II") that the 761st was never issued E8 model Shermans. In my research on the 761st I've not run across this particular photo so it is possible that it could be a tank from one of the other two African American tank battalions...the 758th or 784th.

As already mentioned, you should go to the 761st website and join their forum. There hasn't been much activity there lately but through the site you may be able to contact Mr. Wilson or Mr. Wayne Robinson, the unit historian, as I did. I understand that they have a fairly active association but they don't post much to the forum.

It seems the 761st has lately become an interesting topic among modelers so maybe we could generate some new life into their site if enough of us join!

M3 half tracks never had skate rails, only the M2/M4 half tracks did. The M3 half track had a pedestal mounted in the rear compartment just behind and the drivers compartment.






What you are looking at through the door flap is the skate ring inside the pulpit, what's more, just under the .30 cal MG barrel you can see the squareness of the front and side of the pulpit armor under it's canvas tilt.

That half track in the original posters photo is an M3A1.