All, A unique piece of Sherman memorabilia is up for auction: https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/hose-rhodes-dickson/catalogue-id-srhos10121/lot-91efc325-5403-4cd6-bfb4-b1a700a5232d "A historically important metal tank name plate 'Michael' removed from the very first Sherman tank to arrive in the UK for evaluation in WWII, sponsored by Michael Dewar - hence the name, it was only the second Sherman to be manufactured during the war - the first stayed in the US (see provenance and photographs) - 48cm x 13.5cm" Also see https://www.facebook.com/share/p/W3dCfTHuJjP1roqC/ "The “Michael” nameplate was removed from the very first Sherman tank to arrive in the UK for evaluation in WW2, sponsored by Michael Dewar, hence the name. It was only the second Sherman to be manufactured during the war… the first stayed in the US to be evaluated by the US Army. The tank was put on display in Horseguards Parade, and this original nameplate is clearly seen in the photos taken at the time. It was removed by Lt Col Denis O’Rorke who was responsible for evaluating it for its gunnery (trials at Lulworth) and mechanical capabilities (at Bovington). The tank is now on display as the oldest Sherman in existence in the Bovington Tank Museum, wearing a duplicate nameplate however the one we have is the original. Size is 48cm x 13.5cm, and it made of a heavy metal such as cast iron or brass. Attached is a photo of the handwritten label on the reverse, annotated at the time by Lt.Col Denis O’Rorke. Additional photos show it on display at Horseguards parade in London. The nameplate will be sold as Lot 33 at the HRD Auction on Tuesday 16th July, commencing at 10:00 am at Quay Lane, Brading, Isle of Wight, PO36 0AT, United Kingdom. Online bidding is open now… https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/hose-rhodes-dickson/catalogue-id-srhos10121/lot-91efc325-5403-4cd6-bfb4-b1a700a5232d If a substantial direct offer is made and accepted prior to the auction, the lot can be withdrawn. Happy to answer any queries. It is being sold as part of the estate of Lt.Col O’Rorke’s stepson, who passed away in April. We can guarantee its provenance." Here's hoping that this nameplate will be reunited with Sherman II T74195, the first Lend-Lease Sherman to be delivered to Britain in early 1942 - read more here: https://tankmuseum.org/article/80th-anniversary-of-lend-lease/ Regards, Hanno

The webpage http://www.srpskioklop.paluba.info/m36/opis.html features a lot info on of M36 and M36B1 90-mm GMC in Yugoslav service. See the full album with photos of M36 90mm tank destroyers and M4A3E4 (76) tanks in Yugoslav service here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1038296782915972&type=3 Quotes (auto-translated to English: " The agreement on military aid to Yugoslavia was formally concluded on November 14, 1951 and lasted until December 12, 1957. In the initial part of that period, the JNA received 399 M36 self-propelled guns, of which only a small number were the M36B1 version. In September 1953, at the negotiations in the USA, the extremely unrealistic list of demands of the JNA included as many as 1,254 SO M36s. The importance and scope of military assistance can be seen based on the fact that 8 complete divisions were rearmed with new artillery and several independent artillery and independent PO regiments were formed. Before the delivery of military aid, corps and armies did not have their own independent artillery units, i.e. all independent regiments/divisions were directly subordinated to the Supreme Command. M36 self-propelled guns after delivery are assigned to: (a). The infantry regiments of the pre-armed divisions each had one battery of 6 vehicles, and this division also had a PO division, which, in addition to the command and command batteries, had three more self-propelled batteries with 18 M36s. (b). Armored brigades from armored divisions were assigned one battery of 4 M36s (or 2 batteries of SO M18s). (c). Independent self-propelled PO regiments, subordinated to corps and army commands, were of battery composition, with command, command battery, rear units and 4 batteries with 6 M36 each. At the end of the fifties, the JNA had 2,400 PO guns, of which about 640 were self-propelled. War reserves for these self-propelled artillery PO assets were 1,150,000 rounds. Despite all the efforts, the artillery of that time lagged behind similar units of other countries. One study of the Artillery Administration from that period provides data that the weight of the art. the American army regiment 1,584 kg, the Soviet 1,632 kg, and the rearmed JNA divisions 612 and unarmed only 324 kg. At the end of the seventies, 42 M36B1 and 347 M36 were listed in the list of armored vehicles. After major organizational changes according to the "Drvar" plan, which was essentially an attempt to adapt the formation of the JNA to nuclear war, and which was carried out after August 1959, the M36 self-propelled guns were no longer part of the infantry regiments, but were in mixed BY divisions of infantry brigades. The mixed division of those brigades each had 4 M36 and M42 (76 mm towed cannon). Also, a battery of 4 self-propelled guns is installed in the mountain brigades. (b). Armored brigades had 1 battery of 4 vehicles each (c). Infantry divisions A classifications (most) had 18 vehicles, as well as armored divisions. (d) Four newly formed mixed PO brigades had, in addition to pieces and com. batteries and 5 fire batteries each - 2 with 6 SO M36 each and 3 with 6 57mm motorized towed guns each. After additional changes through the "Drvar 2" plan, units with M36 are strengthened with PO rocket launchers 2P26. Since 1967, after the previous procurement of excellent PO cannons T-12 and SO M-44, as well as rocket systems 9P122, the M36 vehicle is pushed out of the division A classification. One of the peculiarities of the JNA was the almost continuous expansion and reformation of units. Before the entry into force of the new artillery formation in 1975, the situation regarding self-propelled guns was (a) individual infantry regiments have one battery of 6 vehicles in addition to the 9k11 rocket battery. (b) Infantry brigades had two batteries, a total of 12 vehicles reinforced with self-propelled battery 9P122. (c) The newly formed mechanized brigades had a mixed division with 12 M36 and 4 9P122 vehicles. (d) Some divisional PO regiments had a battery composition with 24 M36 and 12 guns - launchers 9K11. In late 1985, the

We are hoping to trace the history of our Sherman M4 104 we have just collected from Belgium, the Tank needs restoration , but first it would be good to know its past life before we start works, We have found the hull number after cleaning off the rust next to the drivers seat area which shows 57385. Also looking for an R 975 radial engine for it ( amongst other parts) if anybody out there can help it would be appreciated . Andrew (UK)

This makes for interesting reading: Conventional Sherman identification – Shiryon Archive: https://shiryonarchive.com/conventional-sherman-id/

Who can help Mr Van Tuyl of the DAF truck company? Regards, Hanno Van: Huub van Tuyl <Huub.van.Tuyl@...> Verzonden: maandag 19 juni 2023 06:56 Aan: webmaster@... Onderwerp: question - looking for a sherman built by Pacific Car and Foundry (Paccar). Hello there, Next year, end of March or at the beginning of April 2024 we will have an event. I’m looking now for a person who has a Sherman that is built by Pacific Car and Foundry (Paccar). We would like to display the Sherman during our 2-day event that brings together various CEOs, who are a supplier to DAF Trucks, from all over the world. Do you know someone in the Benelux or in the neighborhood of the Netherlands who we can contact.

Howdy Folks, Can anyone point me in the direction of finding info on the removal of the ball joint that the bow gun sits in? It's on a cast hull of an early version flame thrower Sherman. I suspect that screws we're fight with need to be removed and will require some gentle persuasion. I just want to make sure we're not fight something a little less obvious. Thanks, George (from the MoAA) -----Original Message----- From: JR Tisor <theshermantank.com@...> To: G104@groups.io Cc: Peter Blanc <peterlblanc@...>; Hanno Spoelstra <mcspool@...> Sent: Tue, May 2, 2023 1:41 am Subject: Re: [G104] Can you help with tips on shifting gears in a Sherman tank? Peter, I did find this in an old Army Motors magazine. It was put out during the war to help spread fixes and general info to mechanics around the Army. On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 9:16 PM JR Tisor via groups.io <theshermantank.com@...> wrote: Peter, I have added in the Sherman G104 list and Hanno Spoelstra.They are an amazing source of real-world Sherman info! Other Sherman owners out there have driven one. My info comes from reading the manuals. I'll dig out the Transmission Manual and see if there is anything in there about the second gear being hard to get into. It might be something as simple as adjusting the shifter. I think starting in third will probably wear the clutch out faster. Was this the amazing M4A4 that sold on Bring a Trailer? Hanno and his amazing G104 list is going to be your best resource on this type of thing. Hopefully, this will help you get the shifting problem solved! Thanks Jon T On Sat, Apr 29, 2023 at 7:20 AM Peter Blanc <peterlblanc@...> wrote: Hello, I have been going through some of the articles on the Sherman Tank website and have learned quite a bit. While I have always had an interest in World War II weaponry, and tanks in particular, my immediate motivation has been to educate myself on the operation of an actual M4A4 medium tank. This tank is currently on display at the Evansville Wartime Museum in Evansville, Indiana. The museum plans to start offering tank rides to the general public in the immediate future. The museum is essentially run and staffed nearly exclusively by volunteers. I am one of a small group of volunteers who have taken on the responsibility of learning how to maintain and safely operate the tank. None of us can be described as "tank experts" so to a considerable extent we are educating ourselves from what information we can glean from the internet. While our tank is an M4A4 built in early 1943 the original Chrysler A57 multi-bank engine was replaced after the war with a Ford GAA V8 so in a sense our tank is something of a hybrid. It does have a late model instrument panel as was used on the M4A3 rather than the original that would have been installed on the M4A4. While we have made considerable progress in this endeavor, one of the difficulties that has been encountered by most of us who have actually driven the tank (about four so far) is attempting to shift the transmission from neutral into second gear. This seems to require a certain degree of finesse and often requires multiple attempts. Personally, I have no difficulty shifting from neutral into either first gear or reverse but quite a bit of trouble shifting from neutral to second. One person who attempted to drive the tank was not able to get it to go into second gear at all. Any suggestions you might be able to offer us that would allow us to make this gear shift more smoothly would be most welcome. If it should remain very difficult for us to shift from neutral to second gear to start from a dead stop on level ground, do you know whether there would be any major problem starting up from a dead stop in third gear? The shift from neutral to third gear seems to be much easier. Thanks much, Peter Blanc, Evansville, Indiana

Peter, I have added in the Sherman G104 list and Hanno Spoelstra.They are an amazing source of real-world Sherman info! Other Sherman owners out there have driven one. My info comes from reading the manuals. I'll dig out the Transmission Manual and see if there is anything in there about the second gear being hard to get into. It might be something as simple as adjusting the shifter. I think starting in third will probably wear the clutch out faster. Was this the amazing M4A4 that sold on Bring a Trailer? Hanno and his amazing G104 list is going to be your best resource on this type of thing. Hopefully, this will help you get the shifting problem solved! Thanks Jon T

All Thanks Hanno for the invitation... yet another group to read and keep me out of the pub ;-) I own and have been collecting bits for the restoration of Sherman VC, Serial Number 4873, T289477 which came from the Brasschaat range via the Belgian Tank Museum. I have a fairly one track mind, Sherman C tanks, though there is some overlap into the other tank models depending what bits I need to find... and for the Firefly, some RAF aircraft components too. I tend to stick stuff out onto facebook, just because it is easy... however can happily pop info here subject to what members of the group might be interested in. My facebook page is - www.facebook.com/T289477 Collection of parts and restoration started nearly 9 years ago, and with luck the hull will be driving by August this year - engine will for now be the GAA which will be installed without modification to the hull. Subject to acquisition of A57 parts and cash, I will hopefully sometime in the future once the vehicle is complete, be able to turn attention to the A57 multibank engine. The current phase aim is to have the vehicle sufficiently complete to take part in the 30 corps event in the Netherlands in September 2024. I do have non- Firefly related material, some of which I will share here separately. Tim

Op ma 27 jun. 2022 om 23:30 schreef Joe DeMarco <snick13@...>: Hello Joe, no I have not found any, yet. CT-150503 has a lot of mysteries surrounding her, parts of which have only come to light recently. The information on that plaque is just plain wrong, and should be corrected. It may be the same sort of case as what happened to Sherman V "Argyll Roger" at Oosterbeek. That has a made-up identity as well, based on ignorance and the will to please some stakeholders, rather than at least trying to get the facts about its history right. "Ginny", or "Old Ginny", landed in France on 26 July 1944 with the 22nd Armoured Regiment (The Canadian Grenadier Guards) as part of the 4th Armoured Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, and continued to fight in North West Europe until the end of the war. The fact that she did not land in Normandy on 6 June, does not make it's history less interesting. D-Day has a mythical ring to it, but the Canadians fought much tougher battles after that as experienced by the various crew of CT-150503. It is a worthy war trophy and I think she should be reinstated as such. Regards, Hanno

Hello All I'm trying to find the elusive needle in the haystack. I'm trying to find how many Shermans are out there either restored/running or as monuments that landed on D Day (and made it to VE Day). I am well aware of HOLY ROLLER and BOMB in the Canadian Army of NWE, are there others? The needle I am looking for even more is how many of these tanks took part in the initial assault? Again, I am aware that HOLY ROLLER did. Thanks for any assistance and guidance. Gary

Chris, Sorry for the delay, Gmail stuffed it in the spam folder. Before you sent these pictures, I didn't even know training turrets for the Sherman existed. I knew they did them for later tanks, but not for the Sherman. This means, I can't be of much help, but I know the group who can if anyone can. There is an email list/group dedicated to the Sherman run by Hanno Spoelstra. The list is packed with people who know a lot of information on the Sherman. Hanno just shared something about British Tank Infantry phones that was awesome. I added Hanno and the group to this email. Trying to manage a website can be a real pain, so I know how you feel! I'm sitting on 1700 comments I have to sort by hand, maybe 3 or 4 will be real and not spam, I keep putting it off and it keeps growing! Your test turret is super cool. Did they simulate the gun recoiling? Are you trying to get it operational? Thanks for sharing your awesome restoration project! -Jon