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May 15, 2013

Foreign Shermans

Author: Priory_of_Sion

In this article I will be looking at the modified Sherman Tanks of Great Britain, Canada, Israel, Yugoslavia, and other nations. Don't worry about other American versions right now.

Now you should all know the famous British version of the M4, the Firefly, or more officially the Cruiser Sherman VC. Fitted with the 17 pounder(pdr for short) the Firefly brought to the Sherman firepower that could destroy almost anything it came up against. The need for the Firefly arose due to the slow production of the British Challenger, so the Brits decided to cram the 17 pdr into the Sherman's turret that originally mounted the 75 mm gun. The M4's large turret ring and the 17 pdr's heavy but small breech made the conversion possible. Muzzle breaks, an enhanced recoil mechanism, and a new depression/elevation mechanism(-5 degrees to + 20 degrees--Darn those Brits for making the Sherman uncomfortable).

Here are some Kiwis in front of thier Firefly which is disguised as a regular Sherman.


The Firefly was successful when it was introduced in 1944 in France. The 17 pder was more than capable of destroying Panthers, Tigers, and even a Tiger II if the Firefly loaded an APDS round(I don't recall any Firefly vs. Tiger II engagements though).

Another interesting tidbit about the British and their Shermans is that the method of ammo storage practiced by the British was very poor and led to increase of fires when hit. The Americans solved their ammo storage problems very quickly, but not the poor Brits.


The Canadians licensed the M4A1 to create the Grizzly. The Grizzly only differed from the M4A1 by having slightly thicker armor and the unique track design but it was the AA version of the Grizzly that is noteworthy(there was a Grizzly Firefly though). The Skink used a modified turret that had 4 20 mm Polsten autocannons. The range of fire of these guns goes from -5 degrees to +80 degrees. A single Skink was deployed with the Canadian forces in 1945, by that time the Luftwaffe didn't really have a whole lot left so the Skink found a new job of cleaning out German soldiers from defensive positions.



In 1948 the Israelis got their first Shermans in 1948 by scrapping together some pieces from some British and Italian military dumps. The first couple Israeli Shermans proved quite capable versus their Egyptian opponents and as the Israelis received more Shermans from the British and the Americans they decided it was time to give the Sherman some firepower. Before the Israelis had a variety of 75 mm, 76 mm(the 76 mm armed Shermans were kept in service as the M-1), and 105 mm guns; the Israelis even used pre-WWI Krupp 75 mm field guns due to lack of armament. The first M-50 Super Shermans(or Ishermans---The IDF called it the M-50 officially) of Israel appeared in 1956 armed with the French 75 mm gun that was mounted on the AMX-13. The turret needed a new mantlet and a larger/heavier turret bustle in the back. Improved suspension was also added onto the Super Sherman. This new gun gave the Sherman a very reliable weapon that could knock out the Egyptian T-34/85s and Churchills with ease.



 Between 1956 and 1967 the Israelis developed the most powerful Sherman variant, the M-51 Super Sherman. The M-51 mounted a very powerful French 105 mm gun (same basic weapon as on the AMX 30, but shortened) which could penetrate upwards of ~360 mm of armor using HEAT rounds. In 1967 and even in 1973 the Super Shermans proved very valuable and the M-51 proved that it could knock out the latest Soviet MBTs such as the T-55 and the T-62. The Centurions, M60s, and the upcoming Merkevas meant the Sherman was done in Israel.

Bringing a new meaning of carrying a big stick.


Israel exported some of the Super Shermans to Chile. This gave the Chilean Army the most dangerous tank in South America at the time. Some of these Super Shermans had their 105 mm guns removed in favor of a new high velocity 60 mm cannon, the new tank is called the M-60.


My new desktop background.

Egypt had a few Shermans of their own. The Egyptian used French supplied Shermans that have had the original turret removed in favor of the FL10 turret used on the AMX-13. 


The Yugoslavians also got their hands onto the Sherman. The M-634 was a project using the V-2 engine from the T-34 in the Sherman, the new engine have the Sherman some extra horsepower and speed. 


Later the M-634 evolved into the SO-122 which changed the gun from a 75 mm gun to the Soviet A-19 122 mm gun.  The comfortability of the SO-122 is minimal, IIRC it has a whopping -2 degrees of depression.

"and boom goes the dynamite"

Shermans continued to see service with nations up until the 1990s. They have seen service in Latin America, the Balkans  the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and Central Africa. The only continent to not see Shermans in combat is Antarctica(the least comfortable continent in my opinion).


Sources:
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks/
Sherman: History of the American Medium Tank by Hunnicutt
Armour of the Middle East Wars 1948-1973 by Zaloga
http://forum.valka.cz


Storm: LeFH 18 premium arty gets overhauled

Source: http://world-of-kwg.livejournal.com/194503.html

Storm basically confirms that in 0.8.6, LeFH 18 French premium arty gets moved from T4 to T5, accuracy gets nerfed from 0,49 to 0,73, shell price gets doubled and the shell velocity is reduced.

What this means by the way: ALL 105mm German derp guns will have the velocity reduced, not just this arty.

Either way, Storm states that the "characteristics" of LeFH will stay practically unchanged, because due to the "new coordinate system" (SS: what the hell is that?), it won't fit tier 4 anymore. According to Storm, the shell price is a "system change" and the profitability of this vehicle won't be affected.

And about the arty accuracy "nerf" .... Storm might tell today :) I'll make a separate post about this later, but it's absolutely clear the arty accuracy will get a serious overhaul.

Edit: the "coordinate system" is a translation fail from my side, after consultation with Edrard (thank you!), we came to conclusion that by this, Storm means the new battletier spread.

As for the artillery accuracy overhaul, it will be published in 5 days officially.

On the WG matchmaking patent and "rigged" MM

Hello everyone,

this post is about the patent link, that has been posted around the forums many times and various people claiming it's a proof that MM is rigged.

First and foremost, PLEASE stop sending me this link, in last 7 days or so, I have recieved around 50 PM's or mails with this "news".

Second: I believe that this patent (while it describes a possibility of how MM could look - the point of this is to make the patent as broad as possible, encompassing every possibility - this is a common practice in intelectual property law) is by no means any proof that MM is rigged against good players. It's simply an option, that shows Wargaming was thinking about this.

Personally, I can't judge, simply because I am not a good enough player to be affected by any such "rigs", but I doubt there is any such rigged MM implemented.

15.5.2013

- Confirmed from supertest: developers now have a new way how to detect present mods (illegal mods) from replays for the whole battle (eg. if you report a cheater by a ticket, devs have a way of telling what mods is he using) - for now it's not automatized
- devs are not consulting gameplay issues with players, because all they get is whining
- the amount of credits for losses won't be lowered and for victories won't be increased - devs thought about it long time ago, but decided the current balance is just fine and the company mode proved that such a thing is irrational
- it's possible the difference between winners and losers income in companies will be lowered
- according to SerB, Gaijin War Thunder tanks don't have much chance to beat World of Tanks ("Don't hold your breath")
- with the new camos, players who already bought camos won't get gold/credits back to buy the new ones
- Storm on WoT conspiracy theories: "It's the same as in real life. Real life also has enough conspiracy nuts. According to them, the "reds" are to blame for everything, or the "whites", or the "greens". "
- Ersatz Panther will get the US stars, but won't get the US camos
- WoT for Linux will definitely not come. It's not decided yet, whether there will be WoT for Mac
- British arty will come this year
- it's unknown, whether the Japanese will make it this year
- 2nd German TD branch this year? "Everything's possible"

New 0.8.6 camos

Source: www.wot-news.com

So, in 0.8.6, we will get new camo patterns. About time!

USA:



France



Soviets



Germany





The source (wot-news) has more pictures (of the same camos), it's kinda pointless to copypaste everything here. As a summary (confirmed by Ectar, EU forums community manager):

3 new French camo's (3 summer)
3 new German camo's (2 summer 1 desert)
1 new American camo (desert)
3 new Soviet camo's (winter and 2 summer)