Sherman And Pershing Tank Essay

The Sherman and Pershing Tanks

Tanks have been around since the beginning of World War I, and throughout time, there have been many changes and improvements to them. The first tank was a British Mark 1 Tank. This tank needed eight people to run it, and weighed 28 tons. The newest tank is the Russian T-14 Armata. To run this tank you only need 3 people, and it weighs 48 tons. As you can tell, there have been huge improvements, but along the way, two tanks played a very important role in American History. These tanks are the Sherman Tank and the Pershing Tank, both of which helped the Allies beat the Axis in World War II.

The Sherman Tank was manufactured by American Locomotive, which was a very good company for making big and sturdy war machines. Because five people were needed to run one tank, 25,000 people were needed to run the 5,000 tanks made by American Locomotive. To run one of these tanks, you need a driver, bow gunner, ammunition loader, gunner, and tank commander. The driver steered the tank and controlled how fast it went. The bow gunner fired a machine gun, and if the driver died, he would take over the driving position. The ammunition loader would put ammo into the guns when they ran out. The gunner fired the main gun, and was verbally told where to shoot it. The tank commander made most of the decisions and

(Alex) The Sherman Tank first went to war in October of 1942, and did very well, so it was used many times later. It did so well partly because it had a 75-mm gun on it, which had accuracy, range, and power. This tank did not did not lose its place as the best until late in the war when other countries started making better tanks. That meant that the United States had to make a better tank to combat the enemy tanks.