Kingfish Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Looking for info on what versions of medium tanks were in the US 3rd Armored division during the first weeks of August '44. What was the ratio of 75mm to 76mm equipped tanks at this time? Were the assault gun companies already equipped with the M4/105 or M8 HMC? I know that CMAK overrepresents the Rhino-equipped vehicles, but how about those with wet storage or added armor? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael kenny Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 1/8/44. 192 75mm 51 76mm 15/8/44. 185 75mm 50 76mm 16/8/44. 168 75mm 68 76mm 30/8/44. 164 75mm 65 76mm No 105mm M4 listed in August for 2nd/3rd AD. All the 105mm Shermans appear to be in the individual Tank Battalions and 4th/5th/6th/7th/French AD's. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 Much abliged. It is interesting to see that the ratio went from almost 4:1 to less than 3:1 in the span of two weeks. AIUI, the Commonwealth maintained a 4:1 ratio of 75/Fireflies in their tank platoons until much later in the war. Was it that much harder to get sufficient 'flys, or are my numbers wrong? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John D Salt Posted March 17, 2007 Share Posted March 17, 2007 Originally posted by Kingfish: [snips] AIUI, the Commonwealth maintained a 4:1 ratio of 75/Fireflies in their tank platoons until much later in the war. Was it that much harder to get sufficient 'flys, or are my numbers wrong? Mark Hayward's magnificent book "Sherman Firefly" (Barbarossa Books, 2001) is probably the best source on this. On p. 20 he has a table of Sherman C conversions by month, and they peak in September 1944. On p. 23 is a table showing holdings in 21AG for Jun 44, Dec 44 and Jun 45. Of the ten or so British, Canadian and Polish Sherman-equipped armoured brigades/divisions shown, six have their full allocation (36, enough for 12 per regiment or about 1 per sabre troop) in Jun 44 and the lowest allocation is 22. By December, everyone has at least 40, and four of them have enough or more than enough for two per troop. There isn't any detailed data on holdings between June and December, but another table on p. 27 notes that the unit establishment as at Sep 44 was 45 17-pdr tanks per brigade, plus 11 in the Armoured Replacement Group (ARG), and this was expected to be exceeded by holdings. All the best, John. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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