M4 Sherman - Mobility

Mobility

The U.S. Army restricted the Sherman's height, width, and weight so that it could be transported via typical bridges, roads, and railroads. This aided strategic, logistical, and tactical flexibility.

The Sherman had good speed both on- and off-road. Off-road performance varied. In the desert, the Sherman's rubber tracks performed well. In the confined, hilly terrain of Italy, the Sherman could often cross terrain that some German tanks could not.

Albert Speer recounted in his autobiography Inside the Third Reich

On the southwestern front (Italy) reports on the cross country mobility of the Sherman have been very favorable. The Sherman climbs mountains our tank experts consider inaccessible to tanks. One great advantage is that the Sherman has a very powerful motor in proportion to its weight. Its cross-country mobility on level ground is, as the 26th Armoured Division reports, definitely superior to that of our tanks

However, while this may have held true compared with the first generation German tanks such as the PzKfpw. III & IV, actual comparative testing with the second generation German tanks (Panther & Tiger) conducted by the Germans at their Kummersdorf testing facility as well as by the US 2nd Armored Division, proved otherwise.

Lieutenant Colonel Wilson M. Hawkins of the 2nd AD wrote the following comparing the US M4 Sherman and German Panther in a report to Allied headquarters:

"It has been claimed that our tank is the more maneuverable. In recent tests we put a captured German Mark V against all models of our own. The German tank was the faster, both across country and on the highway and could make sharper turns. It was also the better hill climber"

This was backed up in an interview with Technical Sergeant Willard D. May of the 2nd AD who commented:

"I have taken instructions on the Mark V and have found, first, it is easily as maneuverable as the Sherman; second the flotation exceeds that of the Sherman"

Staff Sergeant and Tank Platoon Sergeant Charles A Carden completes the comparison in his report:

"The Mark V and IV in my opinion have more maneuverability and certainly more flotation. I have seen in many cases where the Mark V and VI tanks could maneuver nicely over ground where the M4 would bog down. On one occasion I saw at least 10 Royal Tigers make a counter attack against us over ground that for us was nearly impassible"

U.S. crews found that on soft ground such as mud or snow, the narrow tracks gave poor ground pressure compared to wide-tracked second-generation German tanks such as the Panther and the Tiger. Soviet experiences were similar and tracks were modified to give better grip in the snow. The U.S. Army issued extended end connectors, "grousers" or "duckbills" to add width to the standard tracks as a stopgap solution. Duckbills were original factory equipment for the heavy M4A3E2 Jumbo to compensate for the extra weight of armor. The M4A3E8 "Easy Eight" Shermans and other late models with wider-tracked HVSS suspension corrected these problems, but formed only a small proportion of the tanks in service even in 1945.