Looking at this interesting picture on the Shadock Sherman Minutiae site I wonder if anyone knows what the block like object is on the rear deck

Looks like some kind of improvised gun crutch to me.

Tom

I thought about that Tom but it looks too low to be any use.
After some discussion with the other Sherman nuts on Missing-lynx we decided it is a .50 cal ammo can

Hi Pat,

Playing devils advocate here, what would be the point of keeping a "squashed,deformed, 50 cal ammo box" welded to the rear deck??

My guess & that is all it is that logically the only thing that makes sense is some sort of gun crutch. Not at a completely useful height I would admit, but maybe added to add transportation for some weird reason??

Cheers Mike

I agree with Pat, Looks like a crushed 50 Cal ammo can to me.

I agree 50 cal.can

I don't think it's welded to the deck. The tank appears to me to be on fire and the 50 cal box may not have been there at the start of the fire and may be deformed from ammo going off inside it. The 76mm gun couldn't depress enough to touch it if it is fixed in place there.
Plus this is one of the original Operation Cobra Shermans with the flat return rollers and the missing turret ventilators and since this pic was taken in March 1945 it means they would have held on to that "gun crutch" for eight months.

Another oddity of the photo.... It's a reverse negative. The all round vision copula is on the wrong side of the turret.

No- then you would see the pistol port It was quite common practice to switch those hatches around. Not sure of the reason but there are lots of photos of tanks with the hatches switched

Hi Pat,

I don't see an ammo can, but I agree the gun crutch idea is unlikely. Could it be a crushed cardboard carton, maybe rations? That dent is about right if somebody leaned back on it like a pillow. Of course, that'd be sometime well before the fatal shot...

As for reversed hatches, I could see a TC being stuck in his ways when upgraded from an older ride. The vision blocks are a mixed blessing, and the new hatch offers less sniper protection for head-out operation. (By the way, the tow cable on the left and the gunner's sight hood are both indicators that the photo is the right way round...)

Tom

I still think it's a .50 cal box

Like this:



And there's something leaning up against the box on the far side of the photo, making it appear deformed.

Yeap, its just like the picture jesse posted. The lid on those cans come off. It looks like a 50 cal can with the lid missing and crushed in at the center.