United Kingdom The British Empire received 17,184 Sherman tanks from the USA under Lend-Lease, roughly 78% of all American Shermans provided worldwide under this program. This includes Sherman tanks used by all members of the British
Dominions and Empire and those Allies who were equipped by the UK, such as the
Polish Armed Forces in the West. The first M4A1 Sherman II received by the UK was equipped with two driver-operated fixed mount machine-guns in the hull front and carried the shorter M2 75mm tank gun with a counterweight. The two extra hull machine-guns were a standard feature of very early Shermans, carried over from the previous
M3 Medium (Lee/Grant) tank, and were one of the first elements to be discarded from the original plan.
Bovington Tank Museum has an example of this build-standard, the very first Sherman tank supplied to the UK under Lend-Lease and named "Michael". The British became the primary users of the M4A4 Sherman V, which they found to be far more reliable than did the few US users (mainly for testing within the continental USA). M4 Sherman I, M4A1 Sherman II and M4A2 Sherman III were also used in (roughly) that order of importance. Free Polish and
Czechoslovak government-in-exile armoured units supported and equipped by the British had M4A1s, M4A2s and some M4A4s. Some Shermans in British service were also converted to specialist-type combat engineering vehicles. The Sherman Crab was the main conversion, which was designed to be used for clearing minefields in northwestern Europe and Italy. The Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle was a waterproofed
armoured recovery vehicle produced in small numbers and used only in support of beach-landings to pull drowned tanks and vehicles from the water and to push off stuck or beached landing-craft.
North Africa The first Shermans to see battle in World War II were M4A1s (Sherman IIs) with the
British Eighth Army at the
Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. The tanks had been supplied in a hurry from the US, which had removed them from their own army units. They were then hastily modified to meet British military requirements and for desert and hot-weather conditions, such as the addition of sandshields over the tracks. Over 250 of these US-supplied Shermans, which were divided among 12 regiments, participated in the battle. They formed the so-called "heavy squadrons" (16 tanks in each) of one brigade in each division of
X Corps and some other squadrons of the other units taking part in the battle, with the other heavy squadrons still being equipped with M3 Lee/Grant tanks and light squadrons possessing
M3 Stuart light tanks and
Crusader cruiser tanks. The British Shermans were able to tackle enemy rearguard units and defending troops by using high-explosive (HE) shells which were fired indirectly at them whilst the German
5 cm Pak 38 anti-tank gun was only effective against the Sherman if it could engage it from the more-vulnerable sides. More of the British armoured units in North Africa were converted to increasingly larger quantities of Shermans over time from their successful outcome at El Alamein, including the addition of Sherman IIIs (M4A2s) aside from the previous Sherman II, although the infantry tank units retained use of their
Churchill tanks.
Italy The British forces in Italy did not use their standard cruiser tanks (such as the Crusader). Instead, in their place, they used Shermans and turretless and regular gun-tank
Stuart tanks to equip their reconnaissance troops. The other tank of the campaign was the Churchill tank (early models carried a 6-pdr tank gun; later models had a 75mm main gun), with such equipped tank units being bolstered with Shermans. In general, the Shermans acted in the infantry support role in difficult (mountainous and hilly) terrain against fixed-type German defences and fortifications. At the end of 1944, 76mm-, 105mm- (howitzer) and 17-pdr-armed Shermans began to be fielded by the British troops as they came up against the German-built and strongly-defended
Gothic Line.
Northwest Europe , 10 June 1944. Note crashed
Horsa glider in background. British and Commonwealth use in Europe was comprehensive. The Sherman replaced the
M3 Grant and Lee tanks and the
Ram Tank in Canadian service and was in the majority by 1944 – the other main late-war tanks being the Churchill and
Cromwell cruiser tank. The Cromwell was used largely in the reconnaissance role. The slower, more heavily armoured Churchills were used in the infantry support
Tank Brigades. The Sherman 17pdr variant was converted mostly from the M4 Sherman I and M4A4 Sherman V, with possibly a few Sherman III, and was used both in Sherman and Cromwell-equipped units to add extra anti-tank capability. The VC was necessary as the intended supplement (the
17 pdr development of the Cromwell was produced in insufficient numbers whilst the production of the VC was much greater). A 1944-pattern British armoured
squadron (equivalent to a US company) had one 17pdr Sherman per troop (platoon) of four Shermans. The 17pdr Sherman was retained in Cromwell units until the introduction of the
Comet, which carried the
77mm HV, a shortened derivative of the OQF 17 pounder firing the 17 pounder shell from the cartridge of the obsolete
3-inch 20cwt AA gun for less recoil but with slightly less armour penetration. By the end of the war, 50% of the Shermans in British service were VCs or ICs. With the end of the war, and with superior tanks entering service, the UK returned its Shermans to reduce its Lend-Lease payments. However, the US did not really want the 17pdr conversions returned and many found their way from British stocks into other armies post-war, where they served until the 1960s in many cases (e.g. Argentine
Repotenciado upgrade of IC and VC fitted with French 105mm gun and diesel engine).
India in a Sherman III tank in the Middle East, March 1944. In the Indian Army tradition, formations included British regiments alongside Indian Army units. As well as some Indian units receiving Shermans, the 116th Regiment
Royal Armoured Corps (converted from the 9th Battalion
Gordon Highlanders) part of
255th Brigade was equipped with Shermans. As part of the 255th, they were involved in January and February 1945 in Burma
in action near Meiktila and Mandalay. The actions were predominantly in support of infantry with few enemy tanks encountered. After that, they were part of mobile columns that moved to
retake Rangoon.
New Zealand The
4th New Zealand Armoured Brigade operated approximately 150 M4A2 Sherman tanks from late 1942 until the end of the war. The 4th Brigade formed part of the
New Zealand 2nd Division and was converted from an infantry brigade. The 4th Armoured Brigade saw action during the
Italian Campaign.
Australia Although the
Australian Army received 757
M3 Lee/Grants in 1942, it only received three Sherman tanks. These three tanks were supplied by the UK and were only used for trials purposes. When the
Australian Cruiser tank program was cancelled in 1943, after US authorities promised M4 Mediums would be available in any quantity required by Australia. A proposal was made to replace the entire order of 775 Australian Cruiser tanks with 310 Sherman tanks; however, this proposal was not acted on. Early in 1944 Australian Army was requested by War Office to undertake trials of Churchill and Sherman tanks in "New Guinea conditions". Trials were conducted in the jungle terrain of New Guinea using British Churchill Mk IV, Mk V and Mk VII Infantry tanks and American Sherman M4A1 and M4A2 Medium tanks, and included armament tests involving firing 75mm and 95mm main guns on a Japanese style bunker constructed from coconut logs. It was considered by those trials results that the Churchill was preferable to the Sherman for operations in jungle. Australia's first Sherman, an M4A2, arrived in Australia in 1943 with a further two M4s (sometimes mis-labelled as M4A1s) arriving for tropical trials in
New Guinea in 1944. The tanks were manned by crews drawn from the Australian
4th Armoured Brigade. The results of these trials showed that the British Churchill tank was better suited to jungle warfare's low-speed infantry support than the Sherman. As a result, the Australian Government ordered 510 Churchills, of which 51 were delivered before the order was cancelled at the end of the war, and did not order any further Shermans. Following the war, the three trials tanks were placed on display at Australian Army bases and one was later destroyed after being used as a tank target.
Canada The United States officially did not list Canada as a Lend-Lease recipient, but did create the 1941 Joint Defense Production Committee with Canada so that "each country should provide the other with the defense articles which it is best able to produce" and
American Locomotive Company enabled its Canadian subsidiary, the
Montreal Locomotive Works, to build M4A1 variants in Canada. Canada received four Shermans under Lend-Lease; the mechanism of this is not fully understood. The MLW built 188 Shermans called the
Grizzly I cruiser in Canadian service, which were restricted to training. As there was sufficient production capacity in the US, the MLW investment in Ram and Sherman tank production was turned to building of the
Sexton self-propelled guns which used the
25pdr gun-howitzer on M3 or M4 chassis. In European combat, the Canadian Army used American-built Shermans supplied by the UK. These were armed with 75 mm, 105 mm and 17-pounder guns.
China Chinese forces based in British India received 100 M4A4 Shermans from British stocks and used them to great effect against considerably-inferior Japanese tanks and their infantry in the subsequent offensives, such as in
Battle of Northern Burma and Western Yunnan, between 1943 and 1944. An estimated 812 Shermans were provided under Lend-Lease. After the war, some vehicles remaining in India went to the British, with several others put to use by the Nationalist Chinese (
Kuomintang or KMT) against Chinese communist forces in the
Chinese Civil War until the KMT's defeat in 1949.
Soviet Union , just before the start of
Operation Bagration in 1944. The M4A2s used by the Red Army were considered to be much-less prone to blow up due to ammunition detonation than their
T-34/76 but had a higher tendency to overturn in road accidents and collisions or because of rough terrain due to their much-higher center of gravity. in April 1945. Under Lend-Lease, 4,102 M4A2 medium tanks were sent to the Soviet Union. Of these, 2,007 were equipped with the original 75 mm main gun, with 2,095 mounting the more-capable 76 mm tank gun. The total number of Sherman tanks sent to the U.S.S.R. under Lend-Lease represented 18.6% of all Lend-Lease Shermans. The first 76mm-armed M4A2 diesel-fuel Shermans started to arrive in Soviet Union in the late summer of 1944. By 1945, some Red Army armoured units were standardized to depend primarily on them and not on their ubiquitous T-34. Such units include the
1st Guards Mechanized Corps, the
3rd Guards Mechanized Corps,
6th Guards Tank Army and the
9th Guards Mechanized Corps, amongst others. The Sherman was largely held in good regard and viewed positively by many Soviet tank-crews which operated it before, with compliments mainly given to its reliability, ease of maintenance, generally good firepower (referring especially to the 76mm-gun version) and decent armour protection, as well as an
auxiliary power unit (APU) to keep the tank's batteries charged without having to run the main engine for the same purpose as the Soviets' own T-34 tank required.
Poland Poland was not a recipient of Lend-Lease aid directly from the United States. However, Polish forces also used a wide variety of Shermans redirected from Lend-Lease shipments to the British Empire. The
Polish 1st Armoured Division entered the
Battle of Normandy mostly equipped with Sherman Vs (M4A4s) with 75 mm guns, and VC Shermans. The reconnaissance battalion was equipped with Cromwells, as in British armoured divisions. After heavy losses closing the
Falaise Pocket and in the Dutch campaign, the division was re-equipped, largely with Sherman IIA (M4A1 (W) 76 mm) models. The
Polish II Corps, fighting in Italy, primarily used M4A2s (Sherman III) that had been used by the British Army in Africa. However, some ICs and Sherman IB (M4(105 mm)) howitzer tanks were also used. Parts of the
Polish First Army also briefly used M4A2s (76 mm) borrowed from the Soviet armies after heavy losses in the conquest of Danzig. After receiving replacements, the army was re-equipped with T-34s.
France The first use of Sherman tanks by a French unit appears to have been with
1ère Compagnie Autonome de Chars de Combat (1ère CACC), it was merged with the French Army Corps Reconnaissance Group (GRCA), and was known as the "Free French Flying Column". It was part of the British Eighth Army, and fought from El-Alamein to Tunisia. The tank company was attached to "Force L (Leclerc)" and later became the 1st Company of the newly organized
501ème Régiment de Chars de Combat,
2ème Division Blindée. In 1943, the
Free French Forces decided to create their new army in North Africa, and had an agreement with the Americans to be equipped with modern US weapons. France received 656 Sherman tanks under Lend-Lease (274 M4A4s and 362 M4A2s, plus 20 remanufactured M4A2s), being the third largest recipient of the Sherman. French armoured divisions were organized and equipped the same as the U.S. Army's "light" armoured division table of organization and equipment of 1943. Each division was equipped with 165 Shermans.The French
2nd Armored Division () entered the Battle of Normandy fully equipped with M4A2s. The
1ème and
5ème DB, which entered southern France as part of the
First French Army, were equipped with a mixture of M4A2 and M4A4 medium tanks. M4A3(76) and M4A3(75)W tanks were later received from U.S. Army stocks as replacements to make up for losses in combat, and the French were also issued M4A3 (105) Shermans; the
2ème DB received a few M4(105)s at the end of July 1944 while still in the UK. The
3ème DB, which served as a training and reserve organization for the three operational armored divisions, was equipped with roughly 200 medium and light tanks. Of these, 120 were later turned in to the US Army's Delta Base Section at
Marseille for reissue. In the final weeks of the War in Europe, French units also received supplies of M4A1(75)s, remanufactured in the US before shipment overseas.
Brazil Brazil received 53 Sherman tanks under Lend-Lease in 1944, all equipped with the 75 mm gun. These tanks were not used by the
Brazilian Expeditionary Force in Italy during the war, but sent directly to defend Brazil itself. In the early 1950s, another group of 30 Sherman tanks was delivered under the
Military Assistance Program, bringing the total number of Shermans to 83 tanks. The variants of these tanks consisted of 40 M4, 38 M4 with the Composite Hull, and 2 M4A1. The Brazilian Army used the Shermans until 1979 when they were replaced by M41 tanks.
Czechoslovakia While the
Czechoslovak government-in-exile did not receive Lend-lease equipment from the United States, its
1st Czechoslovak Armoured Brigade was equipped and supplied by the British Army. The brigade's equipment during the
siege of Dunkirk included 36
Sherman ICs in addition to Cromwell tanks, which constituted the primary armoured vehicle operated by the brigade. The 17 pdr Shermans were, in May 1945, exchanged for 22
Challenger cruiser tanks with which the brigade returned home. In addition, one damaged Sherman I abandoned by an unknown unit was salvaged from the battlefield by the brigade's repair shop and was later used as a recovery vehicle. This vehicle returned with the brigade to Czechoslovakia.
South Africa South African Shermans were used by the 6th Armoured Division. ==See also==