The U.S. Army did finally develop the M26 Pershing tank, with heavier armor and wider tracks than the M4, and with a long-barreled 90mm gun. This tank was far superior to the Sherman and would have placed us on a more level playing field with the German armor. However, due to the arrogance of certain high-ranking officers it was recommended that this tank be given a low priority, and production concentrated on the M4
Sherman. Many observers at the time believed that had we had the M26 Pershing during the November 1944 offensive east of Aachen, we might have been able to break through the last vestiges of the Siegfried line, exit onto the Cologne Plain, and outflank the German troops building up in the Ardennes. Had this occurred, the Battle of the Bulge might never have taken place and the war would have ended months earlier.
APPENDIX II – Adding More Protection
I first became aware of the deficiency in the M4 Sherman’s armor in England in November 1943. Major Arlington told me that ordnance had prepared a field service kit to put additional armor plate on all the M4
Sherman tanks, and I was to be in charge of the project. The work was to be performed at Warminster, the main British armored depot. Army ordnance, at Aberdeen, had sent over a technical observer (TO), who was an expert on welding armor. He was on loan from General Motors and had a good background in production welding techniques.
It was my job to work with the British depot commander and secure the necessary labor and facilities. The TO’s job was to work with the British foreman to figure out the necessary jigs and fixtures and welding procedures. After several screwups and near disasters, we finally got things worked out and the job went along smoothly.
From combat experience in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, we had learned that the M4 Sherman had inadequate armor and was vulnerable in several critical areas. It was felt that the application of this additional armor would overcome some of its vulnerability. The tank carried a combat load of eighty-nine rounds of 75mm ammunition. It was stored with sixteen rounds in each of two racks in the right-hand sponson (the area that overhangs the track) and one rack in the left-hand sponson. There were thirty-two rounds stored in a rack under the turret, in the main fighting compartment, and nine rounds in ready rack clips in the turret itself.
If the tank was penetrated in any of these areas and a fragment penetrated the soft brass case of a 75mm round, the round was likely to detonate and set off the other rounds. A one-inch-thick patch of armor plate approximately eighteen inches by twenty-four inches was welded on the outside of the sponson immediately over the ammunition boxes. Inside the sponsons we fabricated small boxes of quarter-inch armor plate with doors to go around the ammunition, in case a fragment struck the ammunition from the inside. We fabricated another quarter-inch armor plate box with doors to go underneath the turret. On the right forward side of the turret, the cast armor had been thinned out to accommodate the control mechanism for the turret’s hydraulic powered traverse. We welded a two-inch-thick bulbous contoured patch approximately two feet square over this area. On the M4 Shermans with cast armor, the contour of the glacis plate changed radically to an almost perpendicular position right in front of the driver and assistant driver. We welded two large inch-anda-half-thick tapered patches over these areas.
After several days of experimenting, we finally got a good assembly line set up. We were fortunate to have a large fabricated steel shop building with plenty of floor area, overhead cranes, and heat. The building was large enough to accommodate eight tanks at a time. This was unusual for us; we had been used to working in the fields in the rain, sleet, and mud up to our butts.
We would bring the tanks into the long bay and space them about thirty feet apart. Our tank maintenance mechanics got in the tanks and disconnected all the wiring and hydraulic mechanisms from the tank turret.
We removed the bolts from the turret rings, and the crane picked up the entire turret with its attached bottom cage and set it on a fabricated steel stand to one side of the tank.
Three welding crews started tacking the side patches into position, then the regular welders came in and finished the job. Welding armor plate is tricky, but our TO welding expert set up an efficient procedure and trained the British welders in effecting a good weld, using the right kind of alloy rod and making small multiple passes. The heat from each pass tended to stress-relieve the bead underneath to produce a relatively stress-free joint.
One of the first tanks off the assembly line ran over a six-inch timber used for blocking, and this slight jar caused one of the welded patches in front of the driver’s position to crack loose. The British welder had apparently made too large a weld, which built up excessive stress and caused the patch to crack. This condition was corrected, and we proceeded without further incident.
In the meantime, other crews fitted the preassembled ammunition boxes inside the tank sponsons and underneath the turret. Some crews repainted the interior and others repainted the exterior. The turrets were then reinstalled, and the wiring and hydraulic mechanisms were hooked up. Once the production problems were worked out, we were able to turn out eight tanks a day. By working around the clock, we completed the entire division in approximately one month.
Due to my complete ignorance, I got into a hassle with some of the British workmen; it was blown completely out of proportion and almost became an international incident.
Things were hectic during our first few days of operation. One morning, just as things began to settle down, I noticed that at about ten o’clock the lead British foreman signaled the men to stop working. At first I thought this was similar to the incident that happened on board our troop ship at Liverpool, when the stevedores went on a short strike and refused to unload the rest of the ship until a British dock officer got them straightened out.
When I asked the British foreman what was going on, he replied that the men were taking a thirty-minute tea break.
“I’ve got my men working around the clock trying to get these tanks out, and you guys are taking a damn break? Don’t you realize there’s a war going on?”
Here was a young American lieutenant who had just gotten overseas and was telling the British that a war was going on while they had already been in it for four years. Some of these men had had sons at Dunkirk and in North Africa; others had lost members of their family to the bombing.
The tension heightened as I continued to make a fool of myself. I could see that we were getting nowhere, and I walked away to report the work stoppage to the British base commander. The British foreman returned to his men and finished his tea break.
It was finally explained to me that these men worked ten-to twelve-hour shifts. There was insufficient labor in England for war workers to work three shifts, as they did in the United States. The men came to work at seven in the morning and finished at seven in the evening, when the night shift replaced them. The British had five meals a day: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and supper. They didn’t eat supper until about eight in the evening. Thus, tea was actually one of their regular meals. Once I understood this, work proceeded smoothly. I never apologized to the British foreman; however, we understood each other, and before the project was finished we became good buddies.
The entire project, involving more than 232 medium tanks, was finished in approximately a month. When we left Warminster, the assembly line was set up for the 2d Armored Division. In addition, several thousand tanks at Tidworth Downs came through the same assembly line that we had established. I recall being at Tidworth Downs when the sixty thousandth tank was unloaded from the transporter. Detroit had painted 60,000 in large numerals about two feet high on the sponson of the M4 Sherman tank. Everyone cheered as the tank was unloaded from the back end of the trailer. I was amazed that this many tanks had been built. The experience of learning how to weld armor plate became an invaluable one later on when we got into combat.