I learned something new todayThomas Courtien |
| ||
| Pedro |
| ||
COMSUBBBS Posts: 2974 Location: Liverpool, England | Subject: RE: I learned something new today Tom, A very interesting story that was all new to me; thanks for posting. There was a U.S. built tank, the Sherman, of which there were two versions, one for the U.S. Army and the other for the Allies during WWII. The U.S. model was powered by two flathead Cadillac V8’s and the other by five 6-cylinder Chrysler flathead sixes radially mounted on a common gearbox. My Dad drove the latter type all over North Africa, Sicily, and Italy when serving with the Royal Armoured Corps 17/21st Lancers. He never said too much about the war to me but he did go into depth with me about the mechanics of this tank. If there had been awards for exams on Sherman tanks at school I would have been top of the class every time. They were classified as a light battle tank that was fast but their speed dictated a shortage of armour plating and they were out-gunned by the German Panzers. They were fuelled by gasoline (petrol) making them susceptible to explosion when taking a direct hit. British tankers jokingly referred to them as Ronson’s, a brand of popular cigarette lighter akin to that of the U.S. Zippo. But they bravely got on with what they had to get the job done and they did it. Here’s to all of those Sherman tank crews. Pedro  Edited by Pedro 2019-06-20 5:28 PM | ||
| Holland Club |
| ||
Master and Commander Posts: 2490 Location: East Coast of Wisconsin | |||
