Large Hatch M4A1 as a regular gun tank
If you've ever wondered about what to do with that extra Italaeri hull you have, well here is a possibility. There weren't too many of these and most apparently were made into DD's.
Late dry stowage M4A1 75mm, France, late Summer 1944
From "Iron Knights" by Gordon A. Blaker. A
large hatch M4A1 with a 75mm gun. "Tank company church service in France.
Late summer 1944".
2nd Armored Division, 66th Armored Regiment. The barrel length and
M34A1 rotor, which can just be made out in this photo, give the turret away as
a 75mm tank. This tank also appears to have upswept return roller arms.
M4A1 as a DD.
Recovered M4A1 DD. Note the idler. The cast in armor reinforcement is barely discernible on the hull sides. The turret cast in armor can be noticed by the shadow on the lower edge of the right front of the turret. This is probably a high bustle turret. Note the idler, a distinctive characteristic of the DD. The Sherman DD V that the British and Canadians used on Sword, Gold, and Juno beaches had an extra sprocket plate which was bolted onto the ring that is visible on the idler. These were left off of the M4A1 DD's.
Cast in hull side armor reinforcement
The late M4A1 hulls, both small and large hatched, had the armor reinforcement,
which had been welded on before, cast into the hull. This change to the
hull design occurred before the introduction of the large hatches. A lot
of these M4A1's made it into British service (the type with cast in side armor
and small hatches, I haven't yet seen a large hatched non-DD in British
service) and show up fairly regularly in pictures of 4th Armoured Brigade
Sherman II's. This hull variation shows up in DD conversions as well.
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The Slapton Sands M4A1 DD. The cast in armor reinforcement is very obvious a the lower edge of the hull. The area between the two "pads" where the appliqué was on earlier hulls was also built up, however, not as thickly. |
Although a small hatched M4A1, this example shows how the cast in side reinforcement blended into the hull. The large hatched hulls did not have the notch in the rear hull plate. |
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Mike Canaday
7-12-01