VILSECK, Germany - A World War II-era warrior with a storied past still stands guard over the back gate of Rose Barracks here. Smith and Harold Hafner - pose for a celebratory photo in the vicinity of Bastogne, Belgium shortly after the tankers led the armor and infa. HVSS was not seen widely until after the conclusion of the Battle of the Bulge it is doubtful if any HVSS-equipped M4 fought in the battle.The 'Cobra King' crew - 1st Lt. The early deliveries in April-July were M4A1, while the first M4A3 began arriving in July and August. No distinction was made between M4A1 and M4A3 76mm in the unit reports, just as no distinction was made in the different types of 75mm armed Medium Tanks M4. So the 76mm was 37.7% of operational strength. It also had 490 M4 (75mm) on hand and 94 in short-term repair, 104 M4 (105mm) on hand and 9 in short-term repair. Overall, First Army reported 297 Medium Tank M4 (76mm) on hand and 21 in short-term repair on 16 December. While the shortage of tanks had led to 12th Army Group instituting a temporary TO&E change, reducing the number of 'gun' (i.e., 75mm and 76mm-armed) tanks in the 'light' armored division to 150, the division was technically over-strength. The 9th AD was somewhat unique that it arrived in Europe as the 'tank shortage' of the fall-winter of 1944 was temporarily easing and when virtually all the tanks arriving and in depot were 76mm-armed variants, so was completely equipped with them. It also had 8 Medium Tank M4 'dozer' tanks, which likely were 76mm-armed again, but that is not confirmed. Zaloga lists 297 76mm variants for the 16th.ĩth AD had 82 Light Tanks M5, not 83.

These are Anderson's figures presented in Bergströms Ardennes book. 18 105mm Sherman 'howitzer' and 83 M5s for a total of 269 tanks. I was referring to 76mm variants, the 9th had 168 76mm Shermans. I would find it hard to believe 9th had only 28 75mm Medium tanks The Armored Division TO&E for 14 Sept 1943 shows a ''Light Armored division'' (like 9th ) had a all up strength of 186 Medium tanks (M4/M4A1), 77 Lights (M5/M5A1).

Sherman tanks battle of the bulge