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Sherman WIth 2 Main Guns?


Guest Zulu1

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Guest Zulu1

I picked up The Operational Art of War for $12 Cdn in a bin. Haven’t really got into it yet but it looks like fun until CM arrives (T -6 weeks and counting smile.gif).

Anyway on page 124 of the manual, there’s a picture of a Sherman that looks like it has 2 main guns in the turret. Can anyone shed some light on what this vehicle is? Or is it just a trick of the photograph and there’s another tank or artillery piece behind the first one (not visible at all) so it just looks like the Sherman has 2 main guns.

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The M3 Medium Tank had a hull-mounted 75mm gun and a turret with a 37mm gun. The 75 was on the .... right side of the hull (IIRC) and I'm pretty sure it was in one of those sponson things with limited traverse. It wasn't really in the turret, but I can see how it might look as though it sort of comes out of the base of the turret given the high profile of US tanks of the period.

[To sort of tie this in with the thread on Tanks, AGs and TDs, this was a sort of stopgap measure to get a 75mm armed tank in the field without having to immediately solve the problem of mounting such a large gun in a turret.]

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Leland J. Tankersley

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There were so many Sherman variations and nearly every country that received Shermans came up with their own modifications for them. I agree with Pak40 that maybe the vehicle you're looking at is a flamethrower-equipped model. However, there was also a quad-AAA mounted model called the <a href = "http://www.cgo.wave.ca/~sbeldam/main23.htm">"Skink"</a> that got me to thinking maybe there was a dual-AAA mount, too, that you might be looking at.

Ever do a look for WWII AFVs on the Web and see how many sites there are dedicated to German tanks? You'd think they had won or something!

Dar

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Guest Zulu1

I think PAk40 may be right. Its definitely not an M3 Grant. The suspension is wrong for those and the 75mm sponson would be visible. Its some sort of Sherman variant for sure. The "second" main gun looks slightly smaller in calibre than the main gun. When I get home I'll scan it and post it.

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I think what you guys are talking about is the POA-CWS-H5 flame thrower tanks. They mounted a 105mm with a flamethrower tube to the right side of the gun mantlet. These tanks were developed in 1945 and saw no action until Korea. Pretty tough a 105 and a flamethrower. Man I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that one.

The normal Flame thrower M4 was the POA-CWS-H1 which used a recycled 75mm gun tube with a flamethrower unit installed inside of the gun barrel.

dano6

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Guest KwazyDog

Especially against light armour such as a priest or halftrack. They can really be a serious threat if ignored.

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