![]() The presence of the mighty Soviet T-34 tank soon forced the Panzer IV to take on a "truer" tank-versus-tank battlefield role in which the Panzer could effectively engage the T-34's in head-to-head combat. The German Panzerkampfwagen IV (or simply Panzer IV) was originally intended as an infantry support tank. Now with Paris under control of the Nazis, the US Congress had little reservations (or choice for that matter) in releasing millions of dollars in an effort to revamp the aged World War 1-era American armed forces. France was considered a major military power for the time and to see it dismantled by Germany's use of coordinated land and air power came as quite a shock across the world. However, that all changed once the French defenses suffered the same type of defeat. ![]() The appearance of the German Panzerkampfwagen IV medium tanks running rampant across Polish defenses raised awareness on the part of the Americans, whose congress was still reluctant to release money to the military to upgrade their forces as Poland was, more or less, viewed as a less-than-capable military power of the time - the results were rather expected. To this point, America had put more emphasis on the development of light class tanks with only a smattering of resources going into medium tank development. If the Sherman had an advantage over her contemporaries, it was in her speed, battlefield reliability and simply her quantitative presence regarding in any given engagement of the day.Įvents in Europe, following the German invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939, necessitated a change to American tank design philosophy. The M4 proved to be relatively weak in comparison to these German systems by its lack of a potent main gun and relatively inadequate armor protection for her crews and vital systems. Despite her reach, it was outclassed in the important combat-related categories when coming up against the later-stage German Panzer tanks. Similar to production efforts on the part of the Soviet Union with their T-34 tank system, the M4 Sherman was the same class of tank weapon under an American guise. The Sherman proved a relatively inexpensive, easy-to-maintain and - perhaps most importantly - an easy-to-produce combat system that more or less won the ground war for the Allies through sheer numbers. The M4 Sherman series of medium tanks proved an invaluable asset to Allied operations North Africa, Europe and the Pacific theaters of war in World War 2.
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