I tend to concentrate on US tank units, so I humbly defer to others more knowledgeable to give you a unit by unit breakdown of types used in British divisions.

Numerically, the most common Sherman tanks supplied to the UK were M4A4, followed by M4A2. Some M4A1 and welded-hull M4 were also supplied, but in much smaller numbers. The Chrysler composite-hull M4 tanks were supplied in large numbers in late 1943 (not surprising, since all of Chrysler's previous output had been M4A4's, which the US used only for training, the rest going to Britain). Most of these composite-hull tanks were converted to Fireflies.

I suspect that many of the welded hull tanks you've identified as M4's are probably M4A2's. While many Fisher-built tanks had the distinctive welded drivers' hoods, the Federal Machine & Welder, Alco, and Pullman Standard M4A2 tanks had cast hoods, and can hard to distinguish from the front.

The nearest info I can find is from June 1944 which indicates that the Guards Armoured Division was wholly equipped with M4A4 (Sherman V), and that only 8th and 27th Armoured Brigades and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade had M4A2 (Sherman 111). There were a substantial number of both in the Armoured replacement group, but i would think it unlikely they would have been mixed up because of logistics problems with M4A2 being diesel.

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The nearest info I can find is from June 1944 which indicates that the Guards Armoured Division was wholly equipped with M4A4 (Sherman V), and that only 8th and 27th Armoured Brigades and 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade had M4A2 (Sherman 111). There were a substantial number of both in the Armoured replacement group, but i would think it unlikely they would have been mixed up because of logistics problems with M4A2 being diesel.

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Thank you, that's more than I can find. Picture evidence of the Irish Guards at least shows only M4A4's. However there are pictures of the Coldstream Guards with an M4 Hybrid Firefly and an M4 dozer tank, so maybe by Market Garden the M4's were being issued as replacements, or the captions are wrong. Units of the 8th Armoured Brigade were active in Market Garden, and were following right behind the Guards, which would account for the odd M4A2.

I could find nothing on the 44th RTR besides a basic unit history, and maybe the tanks with the M4A2 based recovery are actually from the 8th AB which was in the same area at about the same time.

Hi! I'd agree with the information that you've obtained from the contributors in this thread. There is one little thing that I can add to this subject. BEWARE of the captions to photos shown both in books and on line. The only REAL way to figure things out is to compare the DETAILS of your subject with what your see in the photographic image by using a magnifying glass and your basic Mk.I eyeball. I wish I had a dollar for every inaccurate caption and printed text in my multitudinous collection of books and reference materials. Ditto for on line info. TV sources are ABSOLUTELY THE WORST...