Does anyone have details of the various types of track fitted to the Sherman tank? Were any of these specific to a particular version?

Excellent ... thanks for the speedy response.

I would suggest that you get the Sherman book by Presidio Press or the Son of Sherman Vol 1 by Patric Stansell and Kurt Laughlin, these are a wealth of information covering the Sherman. However this is what information I can give you on this question, it does seem that the all Sherman models had specific track styles assigned to them, however this was not necessarily gospel, for example most M4/M4A1's are seen with the T51 (rubber block) but many were fitted with T48 (rubber chevron) or T54E1 (steel chevron), however there is a photograph of a U.S. M4 in Italy with the WD210 track, this is a waffle pattern track mostly seen on British lend/lease M4's. However M4A3's were fitted more often with T54E1 track. I'm sure there are others out there with more information on this subject. I hope this helps.

I'm not an expert for sure, but let's not forget that what a tank comes out of the factory with is often replaced in the field, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes out of "what ever is on hand"at the time. And track wears out rapidly as mileage increases. Having said that, I know certain Shermans (E8s for instance) were in fact fitted with tracks that would not be found on an M4. It might be helpful for the "experts" if you had a specific Sherman in mind.
VR, Russ

Many thanks to you all for the very useful information!

Any specific subject version about which you are asking? It’s quite a big area.

Photographic evidence (contemporary) tends to be my starting point in such matters, as it provides incontrovertible proof of what did happen on at least one occasion.

There tends to be trends. For instance, M4A4s (solely built by Chrysler at the Chrysler Defense Aresnal in Warren MI), are often pictured sporting either T62 or T54E1 tracks. Very few other Shermans or their variants have the T62 tracks. (indeed, the T62 tracks have erroneously been called the "British" tracks -- but almost all M4A4s were sent to the British).


Likewise, many Fisher built M4A2 75s had the T49 tracks. Again, not air-tight -- but a common occurence.

Sometimes a pattern exists -- most likely caused by a close supplier to manufacturer circumstance.

As Roy says there are some patterns but photographic evidence is the best indicator. The rarer T41 tended to be seen only very early in NA and occassionally US, UK and MTO on M4A1 and M4A2 usually of the British 8th Army and some US M4 and M4A1 Tanks in Tunisia. Again not without exceptions. Similarly the British WE 210 is seen on M3 Med and M4A2 or M4A1 of the 8th Army and occasionally other commonwealth units in Sicily/Italy and very rarely in NWE
Al