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Return to: A Sherman Tank named “Bomb!”Full resolution (1572 × 1750)
A unknown Canadian Sherman tank in late June 1944 near Caen.  Some tank crews believed that bogey wheels and tracks carried as spares but mounted on the front provided extra armor protection.  Some crews used sand bags and famously General George Patton, who was a stickler for appearance and demanded his men fight wearing their regulation neckties, reprimanded a tank crew for the unsightly mountain of sand bags growing on it.  To which the tank commander replied, "With all due respect General, I'm the one fighting in this tank."   Patton was of course correct, none of these materials made any difference but only added weight and stress to the tank's suspension and transmission.  They had to be made of high tensile strength steel to stop an AP round and their presence negated the real benefits of sloped armour entirely.