Hey lads. want some info re the 105mm Sherman. did it land from D-Day onwards, or was it a later introduction ie. Belgium etc? Have not seen photos earlier than say the Ardennes but imagine it would've been... If maybe there's a site dedicated to it that has ample photos that someone can steer me towards? Cheers... :-)

My Dad's tank Reg't.....Three Rivers Reg't.....got 105mm shermans when they left Italy and went into Belgium for a bit of a rest and refit before going back into action in Holland.
I'm sure other Reg'ts got them before going into action on D Day...but I don't know on the dates for sure.

Thanks dio man. Have the Tamiya kit (does anyone else make the tank?!?) And because of the figures included will make a Bulge version (as per the kit markings) anyways methinks.

I'm sure that Tamiya's M4A3 based 105mm was not used during D-Day. The M4 based 105mm saw eary action though. I'm sure that these are the only two variants of the 105mm to see action during WW2.

The Steve Zaloga book by Concord, "THe M4 Sherman at War" has a picture on p. 23 around the Cobra breakout that shows an M4 (105) Sherman. The M4A3 (105) tanks were latecomers -- end of '44. However the M4 (105) is an early participant in the NW European war.

In my Dad's Reg't they had M4A1s with the 105mm......a Mr Vern Dowie was in one of these when the commander a Mr Ian Grant used it as a front line tank instead of a command tank.....these things have a crank turret on them....Vern was the gunner and swore that Ian was trying to get them all killed.....Ian was put in for the VC but instead won the DSO...a desicion that almost caused a mutiny in the Canadian army.

Missed this question: yes, DML makes a very late war M4A3 HVSS POA-CWS-H5 which basically means a 105mm armed Sherman with a flame thrower instead of a coaxial machine gun. These used to go real cheap on Ebay. This variant did not participate in the ETO, only the PTO (POA=Pacific Ocean Area; CWS=Chemical Warfare System or flame thrower).

Good catch, Rob -- I keep forgettng about this kit. It can be built into a very nice M4A3 (105) HVSS by leaving off the flamethrower parts. I'm not sure how much action this 105mm howitzer tank saw in WWII (maybe only Okinawa), but there were lots of them serving in Korea a few years later.




Uh, Grant -- not a flame or to take anything away from your war story -- but they had to be either M4 (105) [the Sherman IB in British designation] or M4A1 (76)W [Sherman IIA]. I'll bet both vehicles served in the same regiment, because both were mechanically nearly identical. There were no such things as the Sherman IA or the Sherman IIB.

The M4 with 105mm Howitzer did not arrive until 2 - 3 weeks after the Normandy landings.
It's not official but I probably think one reason might be is because the M7 Priest 105mm SP was there .

- ralph