The M4 Sherman Tank Epic Information Thread.. (work in progress)

[Brick Fight]

Didn't the early deployments of Shermans have a radio set that was placed in the co-driver's seat, but were eventually moved to the commander's position?

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Didn't the early deployments of Shermans have a radio set that was placed in the co-driver's seat, but were eventually moved to the commander's position?

 

 

Almost. All Shermans had their main radio mounted in the turret bustle. The radio was usually a SCR 506, 528, or 538, and installed in the rear of all the various turret models. Command tanks had an extra SCR 506 in the right front sponson. This was continued into the wet hull tanks, though on those hulls, the extra antenna was installed on the turret, and the ammo capacity was not changed. On early non wet hulls,  this mean the removal of some sponson ammo racks, and the antenna was mounted on the right front hull.  

 

British Shermans do not seem to need the extra radio on command tanks. 

 

I should add in the co driver working the extra radio on command tanks. 

[Brick Fight]

Ah, thanks for the correction.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

New section on the LST. 

 

I've really downloaded a huge amount of stuff from Archive.com, sorting through it is a brock eating bear, buts got a lot of good stuff. 

Unit histories for several TD and Sherman battalions, more tech manuals, a ton more stuff from the US Strategic bombing survey and a few more videos. 

 

The LST or Landing Ship Tank. 

When most people think about a tank being used in a beach assault, they think the Duplex Drive Sherman, or tanks getting delivered by LCM or LCT.    There were many other specialized landing craft, and they all had similar flaws. The main being they were small, and not really capable of long ocean voyages. They also couldn’t haul a useful amount of cargo for use in an efficient shipping system.  The LST or Landing Ship Tank was the solution.

 

The LST a large ocean going vessel, and though they reputed to have a horrible ride, were capable of crossing the Pacific or Atlantic oceans with their own fuel stores.  There were several classes of LST but the differences between them were fairly minor, unless you want to get into the British made LSTs, but we’ll do that later.  For our purposes we are going to use LST-808 as our example, she participated in Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She was lost to a Kamikaze towards the end of the war.

 

LST-808

Class: LST-542

Displacement:

1,625 tons

4,080 tons (sea-going draft w/1675 ton load)

2,366 tons (beaching displacement)

Length: 328 feet      Beam: 50 feet

Draft:

Light:  2' 4" front, 7' 6" aft

Sea-going:  8' 3" front, 14' 1" aft

Landing: 3' 11" front, 9’ 10" aft (landing w/500 ton load)

Limiting: 11' 2"

Maximum navigation: 14' 1"

Speed: 11.6 kts. (trial)  Endurance:  24,000 miles at 9kts, while displacing 3960 tons

Complement:

13 officers, 104 enlisted

Troop Accommodations:

16 officers, 147 enlisted

Boats:  2 LCVP

Cargo Capacity:  (varied with mission - payloads between 1600 and 1900 tons)

Typical loads:

One Landing Craft Tank (LCT), tanks, wheeled and tracked vehicles, artillery, construction equipment and military supplies. A ramp or elevator forward allowed vehicles access to tank deck from main deck

Additional capacity included sectional pontoons carried on each side of vessel amidships, to either build Rhino Barges or use as causeways. Married to the bow ramp, the causeways would enable payloads to be delivered ashore from deeper water or where a beachhead would not allow the vessel to be grounded forward after ballasting

Armament:   2 - Twin 40mm gun mounts w/Mk. 51 directors,  4 - Single 40mm gun mounts, 12- Single 20mm gun mounts

Fuel Capacity:  Diesel 4,300 Bbls (approximately 180600 gallons of fuel.)

Propulsion: Two General Motors 12-567A, 900hp Diesel engines, Single Falk Main Reduction Gears

Two propellers, 1700shp,    Twin rudders

Three Diesel-drive 100Kw 230V D.C. Ship's Service Generators

As you can see from the specifications, these ships, were pretty big and over a football field long. The tank deck had a massive capacity; it could take up to 20 Sherman tanks, 39 M3/M5 light tanks or 70 trucks or anything else that would fit up to 1900 tons. Not only did they have the ability to carry the vehicles, there were accommodations aboard for the crews and troops that would be riding the ship.  

 

The LSTs were long ships, and their front hull had a much shallower draft than the rear. The front of the hull was made up from a pair of huge doors that opened out, and behind them was a ramp that was dropped. If shore conditions were right, the ramp could be dropped in the shallow surf and vehicles driven right off and onto the beach.  If beach conditions were not right, like a sand bar or reef stood in the way, they could use floating pontoon docks to make a causeway that tanks or anything else could drive to shore on. These causeways would be held in place by LCMs.  The LST could carry large numbers of the pontoons as deck cargo. They would know ahead of time what the beach conditions were going to be and what they would need to bring. This ingenious system was something only the allies, and specifically the US and the UK.

 

The LST used a system of pumps to fill or pump out large numbers of compartments all around the hull to raise or lower the ship in the water. When they were about to beach the front of the ship, the would need to be as high in the water as they could, but at sea, they would want many of the void spaces flooded to keep the flat bottomed LST from rolling around so much in even mild weather. Even loaded up and with the ballast spaces as full as was safe, the LST’s still had a less than ideal ride. Very few were lost to weather though.  I don’t have a good breakdown on the numbers but the US had 933 LST(2) and 26 were lost to enemy action. They lost another 13 to fires, collisions, explosions, storms and groundings.

 

Being an LST captain was not something a career naval officer would have wanted, and most officers were reservists. Some joined their ship while it was being built, and would stay with it until wars end, or it was sunk. The LSTs were not the worst ships to serve on, they had a nicely appointed galley, and served with the same men the whole war, including the enlisted crew. The LST proved to be pretty safe and durable because of how they were built, with a lot of reserve buoyancy. They also had the capacity to produce a lot of fresh water.

 

The tank deck had to be ventilated so the tanks could be run, early LSTs had hoses that were hooked up the tanks or other vehicles exhaust. That setup did not work well, so twelve, eight foot tall ventilation stacks, with a fan in each were installed. These could clear the tank deck of vehicle exhaust even with the bow doors closed. There was an elevator on early LSTs, but it was slow and not all that reliable, so it was replaced with a simple hinged ramp.

The ships were also well appointed with shops including a machine shop with a full complement of metal working too, and there was probably an electrical and hydraulic shop as well. The Captain would be a full Lieutenant of the Navy, and the XO a JG. As mentioned before in many cases these men joined the ship while it was being finished, right after they finished they Navy Officer or Boot Camp, and a few cases specialty schools. They would work with the builder to get their LST working and get it commissioned and then take it out, often right to a combat area but they might stay stateside for more training.

 

The Army Armor base at Fort Knox built a replica off a tank deck on the base so tank crews could practice loading and offloading. The US Navy built 1051 LSTs were built in the US. Most of them served with the US, but some went to the UK, and the Greeks even operated some.  After the war, the surplus LSTs were bought up by commercial interests right away. They are very useful for delivering heavy cargo to areas with no heavy port facilities. A few survive to this day.

 

Now for my obligatory section on why this ship was something the Germans had nothing like. The Germans also lacked the ability to build all the different landing craft the allies used in their multiple successful amphibious landings. Germany was short of resources, and even if they had been given the plans for the LST and all the various other landing craft you need to land on an enemy shore, they didn’t have the naval construction capacity or  natural resources to produce the. Maybe if they had not built their silly battleships, but that gets to the other problem, they never achieved air superiority, nor naval supremacy in time frame they would have needed to pull of operation sea lion.  Nazi Germany was bad at boats and planes, but great at propaganda, some people still buy into even today.

[Belesarius]

"This ingenious system was something only the allies, and specifically the US and the UK."

 

This sentence needs editing. Not sure where you want to go with it. Adding used after UK might fix it.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

"This ingenious system was something only the allies, and specifically the US and the UK."

 

This sentence needs editing. Not sure where you want to go with it. Adding used after UK might fix it.

 

 

Ooh, thanks for the catch Bele!

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

New section. 

 

The Small arms of the US Army Tanker: What they were issued and what they carried.  

 

 

The US Army issued early Sherman tanks with a single Thompson M1928A1 .45 caliber submachine gun. They tank also had two boxes to hold a total to twelve hand grenades of various types. Two smoke and two thermite grenades were kept in a box on the left side turret wall, and there was another box under the gunner seat that held 2 smokes grenades, 4 M2 fragmentation grenades, and 2 M3 offensive grenades.  The tank also had a pair of M1919A4 machine guns and the M2 HB that could be mounted on the pair of tripods issued with the tank.  They had 600 rounds of .45 ACP and 4750 rounds of .30 caliber, and 300 rounds for the M2 HB. They

 

Later versions of the Sherman were issued with a slightly different setup. The single M1928A1 Thompson was replaced with 5 M3 submachine guns.  The other major change was, all the machine guns were provided with more ammo, 600 .50, 6250 .30, and the same 600 rounds of .45 for the new SMGs. The tank was also issued with a small number of spare parts that commonly broke on all the weapons and specialized tools to service them.

 

In all cases, each member of the Sherman crew would have been issued a M1911A1 pistol as a side arm.

 

Let’s talk about these weapons a little, first the Machineguns.

 

M2 HB .50 caliber machine gun: Who doesn’t know about this machine gun, developed before WWII, it was a legend by the end. It saw use everywhere the US Military fought. If it could mount a heavy Machine gun or guns, the American put one of these on it.  The Sherman had one, The M16 halftrack had four, the P-47 Thunderbolt, had eight! They used them on Ships, Jeeps, Aircraft, with the infantry, and as AA guns. There is a reason this machine gun, designed by maybe the greatest firearms inventor of all time, John Browning. It’s so well liked, slightly improved version still serve with the US Military and to many other Nations around the world to list here.

 

The versions issued with the Sherman had a 450 to 550 RPM, and a quick change barrel that still required it to have its headspace adjusted, so not all the quick. Someone who knew what they were doing could keep the barrel from overheating by firing in short controlled bursts.  The machine gun would rarely leave the tank, were the lighter M1919s might be pulled and mounted on a tripod for some reason, if the crew had to fight on foot, or to setup around a perimeter at night maybe.

 

M1919A4 .30 caliber machine gun: The Sherman crew was provided with two, sometimes three of these guns. They like their bigger, little brother, the M2, were designed by John Browning. For The US Military in WWII and Korea, .30 caliber meant the 30-06 cartridge.  This was a pretty decent round as .30 caliber rounds go, and would serve as the Army rifle and light/medium machine gun chambering until the adoption of the 7.62 NATO round. This gun spat round at between 450 and 550 round per minute and it was a reliable and well liked gun.  If it had a flaw, it was it was not easy to swap barrels on, for the same reasons as the M2, and it was a tad heavy for a light/medium machine gun.

 

The M1919 served with the US Army, and Marine Corps well into the 50s, they were eventually replaced by the M60 machine gun.  These Machine guns have a long and well recorded history, and my goal here is to talk about them without causing any new myths or bad information.

 

Now let’s talk about the Submachine gun.

 

M1928A1, .45 ACP submachine gun: This SMG is another American Classic, and it was a classic by WWII all on its own. Originally developed for use in WWI, it missed the war, and any Military contracts, but the gun was sold on the civilian market. Enough sales tricked in from a few small government and police agencies, along with foreign sales to keep Auto-Ordnance alive between wars. The weapon was sensationalized by the media after it was used by prohibition era gangsters and a few notable regular criminals, and this inspired some of the nation’s first federal gun control laws. In 1934 the National Firearms Act went into effect, after being passed by Congress. It limited the sale of Machine guns to civilians and made the one already in Civilian hands have to be licensed.

 

There was already one huge limiting factor on Thompson sales, if you were not a government agency; you had to be pretty rich to buy one. Sure, a few criminals were, but what normal Joe of the 1920s could spend $200 bucks on a machine gun when a new car cost around $400?  That 200 bucks was for the basic 1921 m model with 1 magazine if I recall right.  When you started adding things like the wood front pistol grip, deluxe wood furniture and drum magazines and fancy cases, the price could run into luxury car range.  

 

The M1928A1 was not all the different from the M1921, and still used the odd Blish lock and could still take the drum magazines but had dispensed with the front pistol grip. If it had a drawback it was that it was large and heavy for a SMG, but you would think this would help control it.

 

The Army would go on to have even simpler version of this SMG produced, but as far as I know only the M1928A1 was issued with Sherman tanks.

 

M3 and M3A1 .45 ACP submachine gun:  This SMG was designed to be the easiest to manufacture and cheapest SMG that could still perform as well as the M1928A1 and the M3 was born. After some use, the M3A1 came about to solve all the problems with the basic M3.  The M3 looks a little like a grease gun, so that name stuck, and the weapon would go on to serve into the 1990s as tank crewmen’s weapon.

The M3A1 was a simple no nonsense weapon that filled the tank crewmen dismounted weapon fairly well, and that’s why it no one bothered to replace the thing.  I may be wrong on this, I’ll have to check, but I think it was replaced with the MP5.

From the Sherman crewman perspective, I bet they’d say, five M3A1s is better than one M1928A1.

Next up, let’s talk about the pistol.

 

1911A1 .45 ACP Pistol:  So much has been said about the 1911, I’m not going to say much, but I’ll note for those who don’t know, John Browning designed it too. I will say this, it is not the finest handgun ever produced, nor is it even close to the worst. It is probably the most popular handgun in America, and I own two. What it was, was a reliable, tested, accurate enough handgun for soldiers, pilots, officers or anyone else who needed a hand gun.  Like all handguns, it should be viewed as a last resort, and the M3A1 or M1928A1 would be more useful in all but the most close of encounters for a tank crewman.  

. . .

 

Now so far, we’ve only been talking about the weaponry issued with the tank or to the crew. Soldiers and marines being soldiers and marines means as soon as they were out of an environment where the tank they and the tank was being inspected on a regular basis they would have started acquiring extra things for the tank.  Crews of early Shermans probably worked pretty hard to get more Thompson SMGs, or used captured ones.  I’m sure they stuffed extra grenades all over the tank along with extra .30 cal and .50 cal ammo. Depending on unit discipline and how aware they were of the risk, some crews might have carried extra main gun ammunition as well.  It wouldn’t be impossible for a something like an M1 Garand or M1 Carbine to make an appearance as well. 

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Plus, all these new downloads. 

 

The History of the 781st Tank Battalion, Up From Marseille: This unit history book covers their whole combat deployment. It’s good quality and illustrated, and comes in at 34 pages *NEW* 1/16

The History of the 786th Tank Battalion, The Path of Destruction: This is a short but interesting history of a tank battalion that got into the war very late, but had M26 tanks. This one is an ok scan and 39 pages.*NEW* 1/16

The History of the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 1941-45: This is 225 pages of TD history, the 628th seems to be one of the first units to get M36 90 GMCs.  This has lots of photos and drawings  and seems to be a very detailed history. it’s a very large file at 487 megs. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 1: The Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it:  This series was intended to help soldiers utilize the lesson learned in combat by the US Army.  This one covers all kinds of things from Battle Leadership, to info an Ranger training and even a section called “Hints on the Heinie.” a section on German tactics. Very interesting read,  at 64 good quality pages, 1945. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 2: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it: This is just like the one above with different content, it seems like this one covers some Leadership subject, then Normal Operations, Mountain Operations, and Jungle Operations, 82 good quality pages. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 3: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it:  This one much like the last one covers leaderships and operations in various places 98 good quality pages. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 4: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it: This one is much like the last, covering leadership, Normal, Jungle and Amphibious operations to shake it up this time. 94 good quality pages. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 5: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it:  This one covers Leadership, Jungler, Airborne and Amphibious operations. This one is 98 pages, but the quality has really dropped off. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 6: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it: This one is formated a little differently, with more photos. it also covers things differently, dropping the four section layout of the older ones. This one covers, Leadership, streetfighting, patrolling, armored notes, and many other subjects. This one came in at 97 very good quality pages. The Armor notes in this one are of particular interest to our subject mater.  *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 7: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it:  This one keeps the quality and new format of the last, but lacks anything interesting to people looking for something specific to the Sherman.  This scan is 65 good quality pages. *NEW* 1/16

Combat Lessons Number 8: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it: Archive.com does not have number 8, all the number 8s are number 7. I’ll continue to look for it.  Sorry folks.

Combat Lessons Number 9: Rank and File in Combat, what They Are Doing and How They Are Doing it:  This is the last one in the series, it covers leadership, tank infantry team work,  a salute to medics, commo comments, and odds and ends. A very good quality scan at 50 pages and it wraps up the series. This one also has a large section of armor tips, most from the Okinawa campaign *NEW* 1/16

Army Battle Casualties and Non Battle deaths in WWII Parts 1: These are just what they sound like, very detailed statistics on battle deaths and non battle deaths.  *NEW* 1/16

Army Battle Casualties and Non Battle deaths in WWII Parts 2: *NEW* 1/16

Army Battle Casualties and Non Battle deaths in WWII Parts 3: *NEW* 1/16

Army Battle Casualties and Non Battle deaths in WWII Parts 4: *NEW* 1/16

 

USSBS Air Campaigns of the Pacific War: This is an overview of the air campaigns against the Japanese. This one is a good scan and comes in at 100 pages. *NEW* 1/17

USSBS The Campaigns of the Pacific War:  This is not an overview,  and has a ton of detail.  This decent scan comes in at 438 pages. *NEW* 1/17

USSBS kawasaki Aircraft Industries Company, Corp Report No. IV: Another report on a Japanese Aircraft Factory,  and how well we did blowing it up.  This scan is ok, it the source material that was in bad shape, and its 104 pages. *NEW* 1/17

 USSBS Hitachi Aircraft Company Report No. VII: This is the report on Hitachi Aircraft, what they made, where they made it, and how bombing effected the output. This one is a good scan and 94 pages.  *NEW* 1/17

USSBS Japan Musical Instrument Manufacturing Company Corp Report No. IX: Sounds like an odd place to bomb right? Well they were making propellers.  Good scan, 50 pages.  *NEW* 1/17

[SuperComrade]

The T6 prototype looks like a cute toy tank

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Yeah, it's so cute, it fell over!

 

[SuperComrade]

Do they court-martial you if you ruin a tank that way?

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Nah, it just needs to be flopped back over, maybe a few springs in the suspension replaced, and it would be ready to go again. 

 

Now if you sunk it in a river by driving over a bridge that you were not sure could take the weight, maybe then, but they were surprisingly forgiving of machine loss, at least small ones, like tanks and planes.  

 

You run a navy ship aground and you're in deep shit. 

[SuperComrade]

There must be at least some consequences, though?

[ZloyKrolik]

You probably had to buy beer for the wrecker or ARV crew that tipped you back over.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

There must be at least some consequences, though?

 

During wartime, I think as long as it was an honest mistake and no one got hurt, they really didn't care.  If you were doing something stupid, you might lose your stripes, or your career as an officer might take a hit.

 

Things are probably much tougher now that a tank costs so much!

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

You probably had to buy beer for the wrecker or ARV crew that tipped you back over.

 

That's how it was for sure in Vietnam, it was like three cases or so to get your M48A3 out of a rice paddy, at least I think that's how much it was in Ralf Zumbro's Tank Sergeant, a great read, if you can find it.

[ZloyKrolik]

That's how it was for sure in Vietnam, it was like three cases or so to get your M48A3 out of a rice paddy, at least I think that's how much it was in Ralf Zumbro's Tank Sergeant, a great read, if you can find it.

I loved that book, especially the part where he beans a VC on the head with a ballpeen hammer. I used to joke that the ballpeen hammer was a tanker's true sidearm.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Yeah, now I'm going to have to find my copy!

[Meplat]

There must be at least some consequences, though?

"Statement of Charges" is what you're after.  And in the case of testing, there likely would be none.

[Khand-e]

"Statement of Charges" is what you're after.  And in the case of testing, there likely would be none.

 

"Statement of Charges for Meplat"

 

"68 REDACTED employees removed with Webley exploding bullets, cost of bullets and diesel fuel to operate excavator - $140"

 

File not found.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Here's a link for people who would like a cool Tshirt!

 

[EnsignExpendable]

"Cast armour is prone to shattering! Shooting at one piece of armour several times during testing is cheating!" - A wehraboo

 

[Meplat]

"Cast armour is prone to shattering! Shooting at one piece of armour several times during testing is cheating!" - A wehraboo

 

Just like well made cast steel anvils are prone to shattering on the first blow... Oh waitaminute.. Umm, like cast steel structural components in wind generator towers! Yeah those break all the time..Wait no they dont..

 

Umm, MEIN KRUPPSTAHL (or some similar shit).

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

Massive update to the Radio post!!!

 

The Radios: I don’t know much about tank radios, but I will when done with this section.

The Sherman tank came with a SCR 508, 528 or 538 radio set. Command tanks had an additional SCR 506 mounted in the right front sponson. This let the tank listen on the net for the HQ he answered to while still talking to his own unit. The main radio set also had the tank intercom built into it.  This intercom allowed the crew to talk to each other, but not transmit on the radio, only the commander could do that, and as we will see, in a few cases he couldn’t either.

 

Let’s talk about the radios, now that I know a little more about them.  The SCR 508, 528 and 538 were all in the same family. The TM covering these radios was TM 11-600 Radio Sets SCR-508-A, C, D, AM, CM, DM; SCR-528-A, C, D, AM, CM, DM; and AN/VRC-5 and it was very informative on how these radios worked. These radios were all FM band radios, used because FM radios deal with interference from the tanks electrical system and motor better than AM radios. This did present a problem, in that the only radios the infantry or artillery used that could talk to the tanks were at battalion level, since they were using AM Radios at the company level and lower.

 

SCR-508: This radio had the most options of the three basic radios that could come in a Sherman tank.  This radio set included a

BC-604 Radio Transmitter, and two BC-603 Radio Receivers mounted on an FT-237 Mounting Tray. This gave the basic Sherman with this radio the ability to transmit on 10 FM channels, and listen on up to 20, if they had the crystals for all the channels. I’ve read a few things here and there that make me think they may have restricted how many could be carried, but that may have been just for the infantry. The BC-604 has a drawer with room for all the crystals for its frequency range. The frequency range was (Mc) 20 to 27.9.  This radios transmitter was 25 watts and had a range of 7 miles moving, and 10 to 15 while stopped. It could be powered by 12 or 24v Dynamotors. This Radio came in at 181 pounds. The Tanks Intercom was also controlled through this, and BC-606 Interphone Control Boxes mounted at each crew station.  These Radios would be found in Platoon Leaders, and Company Commanders tanks.

 

SCR-528: This radio was exactly the same thing as the 508, but with one less BC-603 Receiver. In most cases the spot where the 603 would have been was taken up by a CH-264 Parts Chest. A 508 could be turned into a 538 or the other way very easily. This radio would normally be the radio installed in the normal gun tanks of the platoon and company. This Radio came in at 181 pounds, and the same specifications other than only having the one receiver.

 

SCR-538: This radio would only be installed in tanks when there was a shortage of 508 or 528 at the factory or in a battalion itself.  This radio did have one feature that set it aside from the ones above, because it lacked a transmitter, it needed a BC-605 Interphone Amp for the crew intercom system. This one came in at only 135 pounds.

 

SCR-506: This radio would be the rarest of Radios installed in Shermans. This “Command Tank” Radio would only be installed in the Battalion Commanders Tank. On early small hatch Shermans, this radio would have taken up some ammo space in the right sponson near the BOG. In later large hatch wet tanks, you lose some .30 cal storage. It could be operated either on 12 volts or 24, and was designed for vehicle use. It would only be able to talk to Battalion level HQs and Higher, and the Tanks normal Radio, probably always a SCR-508, would be used to talk to the Tanks in the Battalion. This radio could have four preset frequencies, and also an adjustable range from 2-4.5(Mc) transmitting, and 2-6 (Mc) receiving. This radio was hefty and came in at 176 pounds. It was made up from the BC-652 Receiver, BC-653 Transmitter, and the FT-253 Rack Mount.  

 

. . .

 

Destruction of these Radios would be top priority for the crew of they had to abandon a disabled tank. After watching videos of restored versions of all these radios, I have to say the biggest surprise is all the mechanical noise as the warm up or transmit. It was also a surprise at how clear the voice was on a 508 in good working order. After reading through the manual for the 508 it is clear, these old radios needed a lot of work to keep the operating. There is a long list of things that have to be inspected, cleaned and lubricated to keep the thing working. These Radios all used tubes, and those tubes, (much like a little lightbulb, if you have no idea what one looks like), also had be removed, and inspected and cleaned. These tasks would all add to the daily grind of being a tanker, and keeping the steel monster working.

 

 

When the British took possession of a Sherman they installed the British Wireless Set Number 19, and it replaced the intercom system as well. It was slightly smaller than the US radios. At the level these radios were on, I doubt a British Sherman and an American Sherman could talk to each other. These Radios were made in the USA by RCA and installed in tanks slated for Lend Lease use.

 

These Radio sets were both more advanced, and less advanced than their US Counterpart, A true Transceiver, the first, meaning the receiver and transmitter were part of the same unit and shared circuitry. They used UHF for short range direct view tank to tank communications and HF portion could transmit up to 50 miles. These radios were not on the same frequency ranges as the US Army, and they were not as suitable to vehicle use. They were cheaper and simpler to build though and they were a powerful Transceiver.

 

. . .

 

Here is a fascinating transcript of a marine tank company’s radio chatter, taken by a US destroyer off shore during the fighting on Okinawa. You can find this on page 64 of Michael Greens M4 Sherman at War.

“This is Red Two, Red One; heartburn says that he is ready to start shooting at those pillboxes”

“Tell Heartburn I can’t receive him. You will have to relay. Tell him to give us a signal and well spot for him”

“Red Two wilco”

“Heartburn, raise your fire. You’re firing right into us”

“That’s not Heartburn, Red Two, That’s a high velocity gun from our left rear. I heard it whistle. Red One out.”

“Red Three, this is Red One. Can you see that gun that’s shooting into us?”

“Red One, I think that’s our own gunfire.”

“Goddamnit, it’s not, I tell you. It’s a high velocity gun and not a howitzer. Investigate or there on your left. But watch out for infantry; they’re right in there somewhere”

“Red Two, tell Heartburn down fifty, left fifty”

“Red Two wilco”

“Red Three, what are you doing? Go south west!”

“I’m heading south west Red One.”

“For Christ sake, get oriented. I can see you, Red Three. You are heading are heading northwest. Fox Love with hard left brake. Cross the road and go back up behind that house”

“But”

“I don’t know why I bother with you, Red Three. Yellow One, take charge of Red Three and get him squared away. And get that gun; it’s too close.”

“Red One from Red Two, Heartburn wants to know if we are the front lines”

“Christ yes we’re plenty front right now”

“This is Red Two, artillery on the way”

“Red one wilco”

“Red One from Yellow One. I can see some Japs setting up a machine gun about 100 yards to my right”

“Those are our troops Yellow One, don’t shoot in there”

“The man at my telephone -  I think he’s an Officer, - says we have no troops in there.”

“Yellow Two, go over there and investigate. Don’t shoot at them; that man at the telephone probably doesn’t know where the troops are. If they’re Japs, run them over.”

“Yellow One, wilco.”

“Go ahead, Yellow Two. What in God’s name are you waiting for?”

“I’m up as far as I can go and still depress my machine guns.”

“The hell with your machine guns! I told you to run over them! Run over them, Goddamnit; obey your orders!”

“Yellow Two, wilco”

“Yellow One, what have you to report on that machine gun?”

“Red One, a Jap stood up and threw a grenade at us so I gave him a squirt.”

“Did you run over that gun like I told you?”

“No. Red One, we put an HE into it and wrecked it.”

“Christ, won’t you people ever learn to conserve your ammunition…”

“Red One from Green Two, I’m stuck between two trees.”

“Green Three stand by him. After the infantry has cleared up around there, get your assistant driver out and tow him clear.”

“Green Three, wilco”

“While you’re waiting, Green three, keep an eye out on that house on your right. I see troops coming out of there with bottles in their shirts.”

“Can I send my assistant driver over to investigate?”

“Stay in your tank”

“Yellow One, from Red Three, where are you going?”

“Red One from Green Four. I am moving out to take out a pillbox the infantry pointed out I will I will take care of it and let them catch up.”

“Where is it, Green Four?”

“In that clump of bushes to my right.”

“Can you see it? It is all right to fire? Wait Green four”

“Green Four wilco”

“Green Four, you better not fire. The 4^th Marines are over there somewhere.”

“Run up on the box and turn around on it”

“It’s one of those coconut log things. It looks like it my be to strong to squash. Is it all right if I fire into the slit?”

“Affirmative, but be careful, wilco”

“Red One, this is Hairless. We’ve got some Japs bottled up in two caves in Target Area Four Baker. We’d like you to leave two tanks to watch them.”

“You know damn well that’s infantry work. We’re a mobile outfit, not watchdogs. Put your saki drinkers in there.”

“Ok Harry, Red One out.”

“All tanks start ‘em up. Move out now. Guide right and form a shallow right echelon. As soon as we hit the flat ground around the airfield, spread out to one hundred and fifty yard interval. Al right, move out, move out

. . .

The fighting on Okinawa was brutal and they lost a lot of tanks. There was Army and Marine tankers there, all operating Shermans, mostly M4A3s, but a few late model M4A2s were mixed in with the Marines. I thought it was very interesting how much they talked about what they wanted to shoot, and how they had to rely on each other to confirm if a target was friendly or not.   

 

I also thought it was amusing when Green Three asked if he could send his assistant driver to check out the log bunker. I really suspect it was sarcasm. The tankers seemed reluctant to run over Japanese out in the open. Was it because getting in that close was dangerous, or because cleaning people out of the treads after the fight was really gross? Morbid questions aside, being a tanker in the Pacific had its own share of risks, and took men with a lot of guts, and stamina.  Many of the fights took place in very warm locations, and late in the war, colder ones. The Japanese willingness to throw away their lives made being a tanker a dangerous place, but if it followed the same pattern casualties in the ETO did, than being a infantrymen was by far the most dangerous thing you could be.

 

 

 

As always I'm happy for any feedback, I largely had no clue about tank radios before this, now I have a little bit of a clue, and have spent all day reading technical manuals on the damn things!

[Meplat]

Much of the noise one hears in these old boatanchor radios is caused by dynamotors ( basically motor driven generators) or vibrator coils (same purpose as the dynamotor, just doing it differently), Sometimes there's a cooling fan, I do not remember if the 508 I played with had one.

 

As it is all I have left of my boatanchor collection is a RT-70 and the wacky VN era PRT4/PRR9 "Helmet radio" set .