War Thunder Wiki - User contributions [en]

StuH 42 G

2024-10-09T22:41:44Z

U146473601: /* Modifications and economy */

{{Specs-Card
|code=germ_stuh_III_ausf_G
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png|ArtImage2_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' ([[Abbreviations#.28DE.29_Sd.Kfz._Index|German armoury designation:]] '''Sd.Kfz. 142/2''') is a rank {{Specs|rank}} German tank destroyer {{Battle-rating}}. It was introduced in [[Update 1.49 "Weapons of Victory"]].

While the StuH 42 bears much resemblance to the [[StuG III G]], its playstyle is a bit different. While later StuGs (Ausf. F - G) are most effective at medium to long range combat, StuH is much more suitable for medium to very close range (mostly in RB).

The reason is its gun - it is equipped with a large 10.5 cm howitzer, hence the abbreviation Stu'''H''' – Sturm '''Haubitze'''. The shell velocity is lesser than that of StuG, but they can cause crippling damage with a single hit. Due to low muzzle velocity, shells often fail to hit moving tanks, often requiring to get closer to the opponents. Luckily, like all StuGs, the StuH frontal armour is reasonably good, being mostly 80 mm with several weakspots of 30 mm thickness, and good mobility of Panzer III chassis now becomes even more useful. Allowing for similar gameplay, so just switch your brain to snail slow muzzle velocity mode.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}


The armour of StuH 42 G is semi-reliable. It has a very strong frontal armour of 80 mm RHA, but there are quite visible angled plates of only 30 mm thickness, which only become more vulnerable when fighting tall tanks. The cupola is 50 mm thick and will generally deflect stray shots. Generally, at 600 m range while being on a high ground or slightly angled upwards, StuH can mostly ignore tanks firing at the front. It is important to avoid angling the hull downwards, as this makes weakspots to be penetrable even with autocannons.

Technically, the frontal weakspots can be made stronger with "add-on armour" in form of tracks, but at point blank range this won't be much of help.

The greatest vulnerability of StuH 42 G is its roof, which is only 11 mm thick. While most tanks only have 9 mm of penetration with their HE shells, pretty much any enemy with a big gun can breach the roof by hitting the cupola, with SPGs also often being able to overpressure even the angled frontal plates.

The sides protection is overall terrible and even reserve tanks can take out this SPG by flanking it, so it is of utmost importance to control the entirety of the space enemy tanks can fire from. But, the sides do have the side skirts, which will stop HESH and might derail HEAT.

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear (Slope angle) !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 30 mm (86°), 80 mm (50°) ''Front glacis'' 80 mm (19°) ''Lower glacis'' || 30 + 5 mm || 30 mm (77°) ''Tlop'' 50 mm (15-42°) ''Middle'' 50 mm ''Bottom'' || 16 mm
|-
| Superstructure || 80 mm (10-11°), 30 mm (50-69°) || 30 (9°) + 5 mm ''Left'' 30 (11°) + 5 mm ''Right'' || 30 mm || 11 mm
|-
| Cupola || 50 mm || 50 mm || 50 mm || 11 mm
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.
* Sides of the tank are covered by additional 5 mm thick armour plates, protecting the tank against HEAT and HE shells, as well as reducing damage from nearby explosions.
* Some areas of the front armour are still only 30 mm thick. With a bit of luck they can be penetrated even by much weaker guns
* Belly armour is 30 mm thick.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=426|rbMinHp=265|AoAweight=0.45}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|StuH42 (105 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[StuH42 (105 mm)|105 mm StuH42]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 36 || rowspan="2" | -6°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±10° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 10.6 || 14.6 || 17.8 || 19.6 || 20.9 || rowspan="2" | 13.00 || rowspan="2" | 11.50 || rowspan="2" | 10.60 || rowspan="2" | 10.00
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 7.1 || 8.4 || 10.2 || 11.3 || 12.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====

* '''PzGr''', Armour Piercing High Explosive round - It has awesome post-penetration damage but penetrates armour poorly making it, difficult to use against the front armour of most enemies. It has about the same velocity as chemical shells, so it's not useful as a backup sniper shell; instead it is very good to finish off enemies from the side.
* '''F.H.Gr.''' - Can be used to great effect by skilled players (particularly in AB), as it can penetrate almost any roof at the BR, but it doesn't have enough explosive mass to obliterate tanks by hitting them virtually anywhere, unlike with heavier rounds of the KV-2, SU-122 or the Sturmpanzer II. It is also quite difficult to hit Soviet and American tanks into their weakspots with this shell.
* '''Gr.39 rot Hl/B''', High-Explosive Anti-Tank round - This one should be just skipped, it has no advantage over the better HI.Gr.38C.
* '''Gr.39 rot Hl/C''', High Explosive Anti-Tank round - For beginners HEAT is a good option as it wont struggle to penetrate most tanks and will destroy the lightly-armoured and open-topped foes with overpressure and easily detonate ammo racks of the rest. They are usually effective at any range, as long as they land on enemy tanks.
* '''F.H.Gr.Nb''', Smoke round - Useful to blind a sight line that you want to cross or cover an escape.

Many players will ask themselves which round to main, for newer players, considering the inaccuracy of the stock gun, HEAT is a good choice as it will penetrate most armour and is easy to use.

In order to maximize survivability, bring in only 25 shells, as otherwise almost any penetration on the right side becomes fatal. About 12 HEAT, 5 APHE and two smoke rounds is a good idea for general melee combat, while 23 HE and 2 HEAT (for enemy heavy howitzers) can be loaded when all accuracy upgrades were researched and the safety of the flanks is guaranteed.

{{:StuH42 (105 mm)/Ammunition|PzGr, F.H.Gr., Gr.39 rot Hl/B, Gr.39 rot Hl/C, F.H.Gr.Nb.}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! Ammo part
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''36''' || ''Projectiles'' ''Propellants'' || 29 ''(+7)'' 31 ''(+5)'' || 20 ''(+16)'' 25 ''(+11)'' || 13 ''(+23)'' 13 ''(+23)'' || 1 ''(+35)'' 1 ''(+35)''
| No
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* The {{PAGENAME}} uses two-piece ammunition, composed of projectiles (yellow) and propellant bags (orange). Both have separate racks.
* Racks disappear after you've fired all shells in the rack.
* Left side empty: 20 ''(+16)'' shells.

== Usage in battles ==

The StuH 42 G boasts a front armour which, if used correctly, can become impenetrable to most enemies it encounters at its battle rating. With the Add-on armour modification, the StuH's armour is brought up to a minimum of ~40 mm and maximum of ~90 mm RHA with quite good angles, when this armour is supplemented with medium range or slight angling, only SPG and several medium tanks will manage to crack through its defences without using HE. The Sturmhaubitze 42 performs best in urban or spaced hills environment, where the poor gun depression and low shell velocity won't matter as much and it can just terminate any tank trying to get past or attempting to fight it.

The StuH can also do very well at close range as a "Heavies Killer" as its strong frontal armour will protect it against the guns carried by heavy tanks around this BR and the HEAT round will defeat even thicker armour, making the StuH a real headache to Matilda, Churchill and KV-1 tankers. Another strategy for close-quarters engagements is to wiggle the tank from side to side while engaged in a 1-vs-1 frontal battle. This will make it more difficult for stationary enemies to hit any weak spots on the front plate as they cannot get an accurate shot off.

A very important thing to keep in mind is to never expose the StuH's weak sides to the enemy as they are only 35 mm thick (with the side skirts), so even the weakest guns and SPAAG autocannons can take you out from the side. Therefore, avoid crossing a long sightline as any enemy covering it will easily destroy the StuH 42 G with a well aimed shot at the side. Against multiple tanks, with thoroughly planned out positioning it becomes possible to fire over cover by using a rangefinder or AB aim assist to avoid being shot by 3 tanks from multiple directions at once, particularly if they also have SPG on their side.

When facing a tank from the side, especially if you don't know the tank layouts, it is recommended to aim for the engine first (particularly if HEAT is loaded) this way the enemy won't be able to flank you or escape. After that, retreat into cover and load APHE and fire in the side to destroy the enemy with the massive explosive filler (or just use HE, if you know how to aim it).

When facing a tank from the front use HEAT to disable their driver and/or gunner and/or transmission then aim for ammo or other crew members.

Where to shoot common foes:

* M4 Sherman - Aim for the driver first then shoot in the one of the upper corners off the front plate as that is where ammo is stored.
* T-34 - Aim for the left middle (right from your perspective) part of the front plate that will disable the gunner and driver leaving the tank completely debilitated, then shoot the other side of the UFP to disable the other two crews (a round in the middle of the UFP will often knock out the T-34 with a single shot, but that depends on crew vitality).
* KV-1 - If it doesn't angle you can penetrate the front. Aim for the left side to knock out the driver then the turret cheeks are good ways of disabling turret crew.

;Enemies worth noting:

* M4A3 (105) and SU-122 - Those two foes are quite similar to each other and to the StuH in multiple regards. They both have heavy calibre howitzers, firing high penetrating HEAT rounds (130 mm and 160 mm respectively) that will rip through your armour with ease. They are also extremely likely to carry an enormous amount of high-power HE, which can simply obliterate StuH. Secondly they are not open-topped and cannot be merely counter-shot, both boast above average frontal armour, but weak sides. However the StuH can easily penetrate their armour with HEAT, thus when facing them the winner is usually whoever gets the first shot with correct ammo off. It is worth mentioning that sometimes in RB the StuH can use its side skirts against those foes - by angling heavily StuH will expose the sides which will tempt most of HEAT users to take a shot at them, but the skirts will set off the sensitive HEAT fuse prematurely thus causing a non-penetration once the HEAT jet reaches the actual armour, leaving the StuH a 15-second window to shoot them. This will never work against dedicated HE users, and it is even less likely to work in AB, as the enemy will see gray crosshair upon aiming at sideskirts if they can't penetrate them.
* Very mobile tanks e.g. M22, M3 and M5 Stuart, Crusaders, Cromwell's, etc - Those can flank the StuH with ease and destroy it. Your best bet with those is to detect them as early as possible and expose your front armour, that is either invulnerable to their guns or will delay the fatal shot for a split second, so you can fire first.
* Soviet tanks - Despite the high variety of firepower at the BR, their shells generally deal with angles exceptionally well, thus a shot to even heavily angled 30 mm plates above the driver's hatch will often penetrate. Luckily the Add-on Armour modification adds 20 mm of track armour (adds 10-15 mm RHA depending on angle of attack and what they use), making this kind of penetration much rarer. Most of them will also resist HE, so it is safer to just load HEAT at first.
* Achilles, Archer and M10 GMC, other kinetic SPG - The former two boast the infamous British 17-pounder 76 mm gun which will rip through your armour in all places. The latter is equipped with the American M7 76 mm cannon, while having less penetration this gun won't penetrate you everywhere but it still can at a lot of angles, and has some HE filler, making the penetration fatal. They all can easily be crushed by firing HEAT or HE at them - regardless of where you hit them, they will implode, even if you hit their tracks.

'''Counter tactics''':

Technically, if your gun supports HE shells and they can penetrate more than 12 mm of RHA, then you can just fire it at its cupola and the fearsome tank destroyer will explode. This is easier said than done when the said SPG is looking at you and awaits for your move, particularly in AB, so try to blindside it. In AB, if you are using any SPG which has shells of muzzle velocity below 475 m/s, you can simply use aim prediction to attack it like a mortar out of cover without exposing the hull (by aiming white crosshair at it or simply setting the gun zero to the enemy position), which will allow you to either destroy them without being put in danger, or at the very least concern the enemy and make them move away.

If your gun is too weak to deal with the StuH's front or roof armour (which most are), and the StuH is unaware of your presence, it is best to wait for it to expose its side, then take a shot at the rear part, in order to knock out the engine - preventing them from swinging their hull around and positioning their thick front armour and fearsome 105 mm howitzer. Then it is just a matter of finishing it off: from the left side simply fire at the front/middle section, to decimate the three crew members there, thus destroying the StuH.

From the right (after disabling the engine), try to shoot the very front upper section, hitting the frontal ammo rack and very likely detonating it.

If a head-on encounter is inevitable, aim for the driver's port, a penetration there will knock out 3 out of 4 crew members - instant destruction. However, few guns can penetrate a well prepared StuH, especially on a sniper position, so a head-on encounter should be avoided at all costs.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* HE can penetrate nearly any roof at the rank (extremely deadly in AB)
* Good at destroying heavy tanks (which often cause a lot of trouble to weaker allies) due to having a reasonably strong HEAT shell
* Frontal armour can render a lot of weapons useless
* Good mobility, especially for a tank with such armour
* With all upgrades, can quickly turn around, very useful for a turretless tank
* Side skirts can be used to protect against HEAT/HESH projectiles, very useful when attacked by a plane with rockets

'''Cons:'''

* Very weak sides make it vulnerable to flanking, lack of a turret means reacting to flanking enemies after the fact is impossible
* Cupola and machine gun shield on superstructure roof are weak points that can be targeted with HE to penetrate through the 11 mm roof top
* 105 mm howitzer performance is lacking compared to [[StuK 40 (75 mm)|75 mm StuK 40]] in penetration and muzzle velocity (less than 500 m/s)
* HEAT post-penetration damage is lacking compared to APHE, and HE is difficult to aim in RB
* Low reload speed, maximum of 13 seconds. If the loader dies, the vehicle's reload rate decreases dramatically and the StuH becomes rather useless in close range combat
* Low gun depression of -6° makes it incapable of angling on a high hill, at close range must partially or completely expose itself to fire
* Low stock accuracy (even at close range) makes weak spot targeting harder
* Huge ammo rack on the right side of the tank (and loader behind it); even with just 25 shells carried, the charges still remain there.
* Very bad at protecting itself if loader is knocked out or if cannon is damaged

== History ==

===Development===
[[File:StuG III Production (Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1985-100-33).jpg|right|x300px|thumb|none|The Alkett factory producing both StuG III (right) and StuH 42 (left).]]
The role of a self-propelled gun came from combat experiences in World War I. During the German offensives on the Allied front, infantry lacked artillery support against fortifications in places out-ranged by their heavy artillery behind the lines. A need for a mobile artillery piece was necessary to keep up with the German infantry and fight enemy fortifications with a direct-fire assault role. The father of this concept was German General Erich von Manstein and was coined as the ''Sturmartillerie'' (assault artillery), and these units were to be embedded in infantry divisions.

The result of this concept was a vehicle known as the [[StuG III A|StuG III]], a vehicle built on the Panzer III chassis that fits the role of a support vehicle in the artillery branch. It was meant to give close support to advancing infantry against fortifications or other lightly armoured oppositions. As such, it was initially armed with a 75 mm StuK 37 L/24 howitzer. However, as World War II progressed, the appearance of newer and better tanks such as the [[T-34 (1941)|T-34]] and the [[KV-1 (L-11)|KV-1]] tanks forced the Germans to upgun their existing StuG IIIs in order to be able to combat these tanks. This resulted in the StuG III design being armed with a 75 mm StuK 40 L/43 and L/48 cannon in the [[StuG III F|StuG III Ausf. F]] and [[StuG III G|Ausf. G]] respectively, turning the design into something of a tank destroyer.

===StuH 42 Ausf. G===
The StuG III designs are now bona fide tank destroyer, but an infantry support role was still needed from these assault gun to support the advancing infantry. In 1942, some StuG III Ausf. F were equipped with the 105 mm leFH 18 howizter rather than the usual 75 mm cannons. This variant was designated the '''StuH 42''' (''Sturmhaubitze 42'', or "assault howitzer") and was meant to support the infantry with heavier artillery power than the 75 mm could provide. The StuH 42 was made from the StuG III Ausf. G chassis (though the first 12 were built on refurbished StuG Fs). About 1,300 of these StuH 42 were built between March 1943 to 1945.

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
A modified version of the StuG self-propelled assault mount adapted to strike undefended targets, including those beyond direct firing range. The first models of the vehicle armed with 105 mm howitzers were assembled in October, 1942, and on November 22 they were used in combat by the 185th Assault Artillery Division.

The first vehicles were based on the StuG.III Ausf.F8. However, all other vehicles were assembled on the basis of the StuG.40 Ausf.G, whose chassis was a better fit for the 105 mm howitzer. The vehicles with this modification were built at Alkett's factories right up until April, 1945.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=germ_stuh_III_ausf_G Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|YZeFerI9YiI|'''Unforgotten: StuH 42''' - ''War Thunder Official Channel''}}

== See also ==


;Related development

* [[StuG III (Family)]]

== External links ==
''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Germany tank destroyers}}

Sd.Kfz.234/2 TD

2024-10-09T22:36:57Z

U146473601: /* Pros and cons */

{{About
| about = German tank destroyer '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = Sd.Kfz.234 (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=germ_sdkfz_234_2_td
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_Sd.Kfz.234-2 TD.jpg|ArtImage_Sd.Kfz.234-2 TD.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''{{Specs|name}}''' is a Twitch drop version of the [[Sd.Kfz.234/2]] with identifier 'Red 18'.

It was introduced during [[Update "Ixwa Strike"]] as a reward for [[wt:en/news/7122-twitch-drops-rewards-for-war-thunder-and-enlisted-this-weekend-en|watching Enlisted streams on Twitch.tv]]. A respectable armoured car, the {{PAGENAME}} presents great speed and a significant 50 mm KwK39 cannon. Due to its status as a light tank, and thus having the ability to scout, it should put more emphasis on its speed to put itself in an advantageous position to sight targets for allies, with its gun only for emergencies should an enemy vehicle try to get an upper hand on the vehicle.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}


'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour
* Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Vision ports)
* Wheel (Tires)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 30 mm (40°) ''Front plate'' 15 mm (70°), 30 mm (55°) ''Front glacis'' 30 mm (35°) ''Lower glacis'' || 8 mm (34-35°) ''Top'' 8 (10-35°) + 4 mm || 10 mm (21°) ''Upper glacis'' 10 mm + 10 mm (46°) ''Lower glacis'' || 15 (20°) ''Driver compartment'' 5 mm ''Crew & engine compartments''
|-
| Turret || 30 mm (20°) ''Turret front'' 30 + 50 mm (conical) ''Gun mantlet'' || 14.5 mm (24-25°) || 14.5 mm (25°) 8 mm (22°) ''Pistol port'' || 8 mm
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Torsion bars and wheels are 10 mm thick.
* Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick.
* Mudguards and storage boxes are 4 mm thick.
* Vision ports on car body are 10 mm thick.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=325|rbMinHp=186}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|KwK.39/1 (50 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[KwK.39/1 (50 mm)|50 mm KwK.39/1]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 55 || rowspan="2" | -10°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 13.3 || 18.4 || 22.4 || 24.8 || 26.4 || rowspan="2" | 4.81 || rowspan="2" | 4.25 || rowspan="2" | 3.92 || rowspan="2" | 3.70
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 8.3 || 9.8 || 11.9 || 13.2 || 14.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
{{:KwK.39/1 (50 mm)/Ammunition|PzGr 39, PzGr 40/1, PzGr 40, Sprgr. 38}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! 9th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''55''' || 33 ''(+22)'' || 29 ''(+26)'' || 25 ''(+30)'' || 21 ''(+34)'' || 17 ''(+38)'' || 13 ''(+42)'' || 9 ''(+46)'' || 5 ''(+50)'' || 1 ''(+54)'' || No
|-
|}
[[File:Ammoracks_Sd.Kfz.234-2.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|MG42 (7.92 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[MG42 (7.92 mm)|7.92 mm MG42]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 1,950 (150) || 1,200 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

''Describe the tactics of playing in the vehicle, the features of using vehicles in the team and advice on tactics. Refrain from creating a "guide" - do not impose a single point of view but instead give the reader food for thought. Describe the most dangerous enemies and give recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of the game in different modes (AB, RB, SB).''

=== Pros and cons ===

''Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in a bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".''

'''Pros:'''

* '''The gun is powerful, fast to reload, and can effectively penetrate armour on the M4's front at 200 m. Its APCR has a penetration of up to 137 mm, which is effective against KV-1'''
* '''Extremely high forward and reverse speeds make it the fastest vehicle on the road; can get to positions quickly or retreat fast'''
* '''Small and narrow frontal profile allows it to hide behind small bushes or rocks; it's also harder to get hit'''
* '''Can be a great scout vehicle in higher ranks due to its fast speed. Even the [[M18 GMC]] cannot easily outrun it'''
* '''Only 8 mm side armour, meaning some shells will go straight through without being detonated'''
* '''Has a wide range of good-looking camouflage to unlock. Suitable for almost every terrain/map'''
* '''Has 6 smoke grenades, that create a wide frontal screen when launched; very useful when trying to cover up a general area'''
* '''Surprisingly durable at times, due to inexperienced players shooting at the front, ignoring the crew member lying in the back'''
* '''Gun mantlet is thick and covers most of the turret, which makes the turret surprisingly durable'''

*

'''Cons:'''

* '''Thin armour overall, can get killed by almost anything including artillery strikes, strafing planes and [[M2 Browning (12.7 mm)|.50 cal M2 Browning]]'''
* '''Vulnerable to overpressure (HE shells, artillery strikes, bombs, and rockets)'''
* '''Compact crew compartment, will be easily destroyed in one shot'''
* '''Relatively slow turret rotation, combined with the sharp turns at high speed, it is hard to aim'''
* '''Relatively low calibre shells tend to bounce off angled armour, angled hull of the [[T-34 (Family)|T-34]] is almost impossible to penetrate'''
* '''Starts to snake around at high speeds, making it hard to control, needing counter-steering.'''
* '''Sluggish mobility on snowy and desert maps, which takes away its mobility advantage'''
* '''Cannot turn in place due to wheels'''
* '''Hard to control at top speed'''

*

== History ==

{{:Sd.Kfz.234/2/History}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=germ_sdkfz_234_2_td Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]
* Skins and camouflages for the [[Sd.Kfz.234/2#Media|Sd.Kfz.234/2]] can be used for the {{PAGENAME}}.

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|A2zWW2t5-oY|'''Twitch Drop vehicle April 9th to12th - Puma TD''' - ''8Bit Dane''}}

== See also ==

''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==

''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Twitch Drops}}
{{Germany light tanks}}
[[Category:Wheeled ground vehicles]]

Pz.III J1

2024-10-09T22:23:26Z

U146473601: /* Ammunition */

{{About
| about = German medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = Panzer III (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=germ_pzkpfw_III_ausf_J
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''Panzerkampfwagen III Ausführung J1 (Panzer III J1)''' ([[Abbreviations#.28DE.29_Sd.Kfz._Index|Sd.Kfz. Index:]] '''Sd.Kfz. 141/1''') is an up-gunned modification of the [[Pz.III J|Panzer III J]], which is the ninth variant of the [[Pz.III (Family)|Panzerkampfwagen III medium tank family]] (the "I" variant was skipped). From December 1941, some existing units of the [[Pz.III J|Panzer III J]] variants were modified with the 50 mm Kampfwagenkanone (KwK) 39 L/60 tank gun to replace the earlier 50 mm KwK38 L/42 tank gun. They were originally known as the Panzer III J1 before being renamed the Panzer III L. Armoured vents were installed on the rear engine deck of tanks going to North Africa. This is somewhat comparable to when the Germans started modifying some of their older Panzer IV Fs with longer KwK40 L/43 guns in early 1942. The new improved Panzer IV F was initially known as the [[Pz.IV F2|Panzer IV F2]], before being redesignated as the [[Pz.IV G|Panzer IV G]]. The original Panzer IV F was then renamed [[Pz.IV F1|Panzer IV F1]].

Introduced in [[Update 1.43]], the Panzer III J1 is an improved variant of the Panzer III J. Armed with the long-barrelled 50 mm KwK39 L/60 tank gun, players will notice a significant increase in firepower over the standard Panzer III J. Dealing with heavier armoured adversaries is much easier, and engagement range is greatly increased. However, with the appearance of early [[T-34 (Family)|Soviet T-34 medium tanks]] and early [[KV-1 (Family)|KV-1 heavy tanks]] in battle, players must be cautious, as these tanks pose a severe threat to the Panzer III J1. Since the long-barrelled 50 mm KwK39 L/60 tank gun will struggle to penetrate Soviet early T-34 medium tanks and early KV-1 heavy tanks beyond close ranges, engagement must be much closer. Finally, the long-awaited electric power traverse system has arrived, addressing the fundamental weakness of the Panzer IIIs that has remained for the previous eight variants.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

'''Armour type:'''

* Rolled homogeneous armour
* Cast homogeneous armour (Barrel shroud, Cupola)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 50 mm (12°) ''Front plate'' 25 mm (86°), 50 mm (53°) ''Front glacis'' 50 mm (23-69°) ''Lower glacis'' || 30 mm || 50 mm (15-41°) ''Top'' 50 mm (11-66°) ''Bottom'' || 15 mm
|-
| Turret || 50 mm (12-25°) ''Turret front'' 50 mm (12-46°) ''Gun mantlet'' || 30 mm (22-25°) || 30 mm (13-16°) || 10 mm
|-
| Cupola || 50 mm || 10 mm
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=465|rbMinHp=265}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|KwK39 (50 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[KwK39 (50 mm)|50 mm KwK39]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 84 || rowspan="2" | -10°/+20° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | N/A || 13.33 || 18.45 || 22.40 || 24.77 || 26.35 || rowspan="2" | 4.81 || rowspan="2" | 4.25 || rowspan="2" | 3.92 || rowspan="2" | 3.70
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 8.33 || 9.80 || 11.90 || 13.16 || 14.00
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====

* '''PzGr 39''' - Armour Piercing Capped shell - This is your main ammo type, use it whenever you think it has enough penetration to penetrate your target. It deals the most damage because of its explosive filler.
* '''PzGr 40/1''' - Armour Piercing Composite Rigid shell - This type of ammo should be used if you are having trouble penetrating your opponent, or trying to hit a fast-moving tank at some distance. However, its damaging potential is much lower, because it has no explosive filler to further enhance damage after the penetration.
* '''PzGr 40''' - Armour Piercing Composite Rigid shell - this variation of APCR is lighter, slightly faster and offers the best penetration (up to 150 mm). Use it against heavily armoured beasts like the [[KV-1 (Family)|KV-1]] (If you can't flank them). However, don't expect it to cause any real damage upon penetration, it is even worse than that of PzGr 40/1. It basically only deals damage to modules/crew straight in its path. It is therefore almost useless to fire them at things like turret cupolas, as it will usually just fly right through them.
* '''Sprgr. 38''' - High Explosive ammo - You should carry only very few of these. They are completely useless against anything other than unarmoured AA vehicles and TDs, to which it is lethal.

{{:KwK39 (50 mm)/Ammunition|PzGr 39, PzGr 40/1, PzGr 40, Sprgr. 38}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_Pz.IIIJ1.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
| '''84''' || 70 ''(+14)'' || 62 ''(+22)'' || 34 ''(+50)'' || 1 ''(+83)'' || No
|-
|}
'''Note''':

* Turret empty: 62 ''(+22)'' shells.

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}

{{main|MG34 (7.92 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[MG34 (7.92 mm)|7.92 mm MG34]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 3,750 (150) || 900 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}

== Usage in battles ==

'''Offensive'''

Optimal combat distance for this vehicle is somewhere between medium to close range. But don't be mistaken, the Panzer III J1 is not an frontline tank. You should be always on the move and harass the enemy without rest as any return fire will be lethal. Don't trust your armour and instead rely on your mobility. Flanking is the best option for J1 as you can use the high rate of fire for good effect and hopefully avoid the incoming retribution. You don't have the best mobility for a medium tank, but you definitely remain competitive against most enemy tanks you may encounter. Always try to find some good firing positions, with available cover, and if necessary, pull back and relocate. Always avoid direct close range confrontations with main enemy force; never try to fight more than 1 enemy at the time. However - playing purely as support/sniper tank isn't optimal either, because of your lower armour penetration.

With this tank, you have essentially a "jack of all trades, somewhat good at all of them" kind of options set. You can stick with friendly tanks, and use the cannon's high rate-of-fire and excellent stats with APCR to nab scores from either destroying the enemy or getting team assists. Another way to go on the offensive is to go for a flanking move since at practical distances (400-1,000 m) the gun's penetration statistics are far less than the maximum advertised. However, the cannon still has enough power at those ranges to at least immobilize particularly important enemy tanks like a [[KV-1 (L-11)|KV-1]] or [[Churchill Mk I|Churchill]] with a drivetrain shot. You can attempt multiple shots to destroy enemies, but by that point, you will begin receiving "responsive fire", and your tank's armour is not good enough to withstand more than 1-2 hits before being taken out.

A possible solution is to use "shoot and scoot" manoeuvres, popping out to fire and then scurrying to a different spot, but this poses issues if the terrain won't allow you to have a consistent cover (which may result in a downed tank between cover) or if there simply isn't much of any cover (like on the [[Kursk (Ground Forces)|Kursk]] map's outer capture points).

'''Defensive'''

When on the defense, you have a number of advantages and some severe disadvantages - being able to hunker down and hammer in shots with the long 5 cm cannon away from the immediate frontlines mean that most tanks that you will face will likely be more focused on more offensive-oriented players in your team, which may cause them to unintentionally show their hull sides towards the Panzer III J1's position. This scenario, combined with your excellent rate of fire and penetration statistics, means you can make quick work of an unsuspecting light or medium tank, assuming you can find cover in a location the enemy will not be looking at.

If detected or ranged by a tank or tank destroyer (assuming they have an angle that negates your cover's protection), your armour will not protect you from very much, as even 20 mm AP rounds can penetrate the armour plates if close enough. If you simply find yourself stuck behind cover because the enemy has your position, it is advised to pop smoke (as you have multiple use smoke-grenade launchers) and use the smoke to full effect, making it as difficult as possible for enemy tanks to get an exact bearing on your position as you try to move to better or another cover in general.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Great firepower: high rate of fire, high penetration, and explosive filler
* Quite mobile and fast with 10km/h reverse speed to be more versatile
* Excellent -10° gun depression
* APCR is great against moving or heavy targets like Matildas
* Boxy armour construction is great when angling

'''Cons:'''

* APCR has poor damage against modules and crew, and low penetration at range
* Gun lacks penetration at range, is likely to bounce on armour slopes
* Overall weak armour, can be penetrated by common enemies like T-34, T-50, M3 Lee
* Turret rotates slowly, fatal if being flanked

== History ==


===Development===
The '''Panzerkampfwagen III''' medium tank, or the '''Panzer III''' was developed in the 1930s. Starting in early 1934, Heinz Guderian set down some specifications for a new tank, which the Army Weapons Department took up to design the tank to weigh no more than 24,000 kg with a top speed of 35 km/h. This tank's role was to be the main tank of the German army and was expected to destroy opposing tanks, as opposed to a tank made to destroy anti-tank guns and opposing infantrymen, which the [[Pz.IV C|Panzer IV]] served as.

Daimler-Benz, Krupp, MAN, and Rheinmetall produced prototypes meeting the specifications and the Daimler-Benz model was chosen after testing in 1936-1937. The Panzer III model used a leaf-spring suspension in its early models (Ausf. A - Ausf. D) before utilizing a six-wheeled torsion-bar suspension in the [[Pz.III E|Ausf. E]] and beyond. The Panzer III had a crew of five men, the commander, gunner, loader, driver, and assistant driver. The best feature of the Panzer III during its introduction that is the most overlooked was the three-man turret, which was not as common at the time. This frees the commander to be able to effectively command the tank while maintaining situational awareness, rather than be burdened by the role of a loader or gunner, improving combat effectiveness of the tank. The 37 mm (later 50 mm) anti-tank gun was also very effective against contemporary tanks. Despite this rather advanced design, the turret did not have a turret basket for the crew. It was a proven design and production began in May 1937. The total number of Panzer III tanks constructed in its production life was 5,774 units (excluding the far more produced [[StuG III F|StuG III]] variant).

===Design===
The '''Panzer III Ausf. J1''' features a much better 50 mm gun compared to its predecessors, the 50 mm KwK39, which is an improvement over the 50 mm KwK38 by its longer barrel that provided additional accuracy. Longer cartridges with more propellant charge were used, providing extra velocity and penetration. This new 50 mm gun gives the Panzer III a fighting edge against [[T-34 (1941)|T-34]]s and [[M4|M4 Shermans]], which the older 50 mm KwK38 had trouble fighting against. The Panzer III Ausf. J1 still featured the 50 mm armour thickness on the front and rear originally from the [[Pz.III J|Ausf. J]] variant, but later models had new offset armour on the front of the hull and turret that provide 20 mm of effective protection These armour also apply as spaced armour due to not being attached to the hull or turret mantlet. The spaced armour on the front helped defend the tank against Soviet anti-tank rounds or HEAT rounds fired at it on those plates, as it dissipates the penetration power before striking the hull.

===Combat usage===
The Panzer III J1 was only a stopgap design to integrate the 50 mm KwK39 into service as fast as possible. The final designs in its later models were later redesignated the [[Pz.III L|Panzer III Ausf. L]] and [[Pz.III M|Panzer III Ausf. M]]. It saw service on the eastern front, where it performed poorly against superior [[T-34 (Family)|T-34]] and [[KV-1 (Family)|KV-1]] tanks. However, it also saw service in North Africa, where it would easily defeat allied light tanks such as the [[M3 Stuart]] and the [[Crusader Mk III|Crusader]], even when outnumbered. However, the introduction of more medium tanks by the allies in the African theater would prove to be problematic for the Panzer III. Those that survived the defeat in Africa would try to defend Sicily from the allied invasion of Italy.

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
The next modification to the Pz.Kpfw.III medium tank after Ausf. J, featuring an enhanced armament.

These tanks, which were armed with KwK38 L/42 cannons, were unable to fight successfully against Soviet T-34 and KB tanks, whose armour could withstand the impact of projectiles fired by the short-barreled cannon. The tank's armament had to be enhanced. The new weapon selected was the long-barreled KwK39 L/60, which featured high ballistic characteristics. However, despite these enhanced characteristics, fighting Soviet tanks remained extremely difficult. Tanks with the new armament began to be released in December, 1941. A total of 1,067 tanks with the Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.J modification and KwK39 L/60 cannon were produced.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=germ_pzkpfw_III_ausf_J Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Sights

* [https://live.warthunder.com/post/675135/en/ RideR2's Realistic gunsight (TZF4a, TZF 5a/b/d/e/f/f2, TZF 9b/b1/c/d, TZF 12/a) for Pzkpfw II, Pzkpfw III, Pzkpfw IV, Pzkpfw V, Pzkpfw VI]

== See also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the vehicles;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==
''Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:''

* ''topic on the official game forum;''
* ''other literature.''

{{Germany medium tanks}}

A-10A Late

2024-10-04T00:04:12Z

U146473601:

{{About
| about = American strike aircraft '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = the premium version
| link = A-10A
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=a_10a_late
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg}}
|cockpit=cockpit_a_10a_late.jpg
}}

== Description ==

The A-10 Thunderbolt II was developed to fill in the gap created by the more expensive Phantom for strike missions. A ground attack focused plane was needed and that's where the A-10 came into play. In late 1966, the USAF expressed interest in a plane that could carry out close air support missions. Fairchild Republic won the contract over Northrop and birthed the A-10 Thunderbolt II, a homage to the very successful P-47 Thunderbolt in World War 2. The A-10 featured a titanium bathtub to protect the pilot, a redundant control system, turbofan engines that were robust, and much more. The A-10A Late fielded a few new weapons like the AGM-65D Maverick.

Introduced in [[Update "Wind of Change"]], the '''{{Specs|name}}''' features the ability to carry four AIM-9Ls as well as AGM-65Ds. Unlike the AGM-65B, the D variant uses infrared imaging which gives the pilot a very clear image regardless of the surrounding conditions. Unfortunately, this lacks screen magnification like the AGM-65B but is better for night operations. Players should be more than satisfied with the addition of AGM-65Ds, the ability to use four AIM-9Ls, and retaining almost all of the benefits of the A-10A Early.

== General info ==
=== Flight performance ===
{{Specs-Avia-Flight}}

The single biggest downside with the A-10 is its top speed. At 642 km/h at sea level, the A-10A is the slowest aircraft at its BR. Not enough emphasis can be put on how much of a disadvantage the A-10's speed is, especially at a battle rating of 10.0, where apart from another A-10, every single aircraft it faces will have at least a 400 km/h faster top speed.

Despite how crippling the A-10's speed is, there are a handful of advantages to being so slow. First, while it is slow, it still is manoeuvrable at those low speeds, even with a heavy weapon loadout. It also means that its turn time is tight and quick compared to supersonic aircraft.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="70%"
! rowspan="2" | Characteristics
! colspan="2" | Max Speed (km/h at 0 m - sea level)
! rowspan="2" | Max altitude (metres)
! colspan="2" | Turn time (seconds)
! colspan="2" | Rate of climb (metres/second)
! rowspan="2" | Take-off run (metres)
|-
! AB !! RB !! AB !! RB !! AB !! RB
|-
! Stock
| 624 || 609 || rowspan="2" | {{Specs|ceiling}} || 30.2 || 30.8 || 21.0 || 19.9 || rowspan="2" | 700
|-
! Upgraded
| 662 || 642 || 28.5 || 29.0 || 30.3 || 25.3
|-
|}

==== Details ====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="6" | Features
|-
! Combat flaps !! Take-off flaps !! Landing flaps !! Air brakes !! Arrestor gear !! Drogue chute
|-
| X || ✓ || ✓ || ✓ || X || X 
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="7" | Limits
|-
! rowspan="2" | Wings (km/h)
! rowspan="2" | Gear (km/h)
! colspan="3" | Flaps (km/h)
! colspan="2" | Max Static G
|-
! Combat !! Take-off !! Landing !! + !! -
|-
| 874  || {{Specs|destruction|gear}} || N/A || 740 || 370 || ~__ || ~__
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="4" | Optimal velocities (km/h)
|-
! Ailerons !! Rudder !! Elevators !! Radiator
|-
| < 550 || < 650 || < 500 || N/A
|-
|}

==== Engine performance ====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="3" | Engine
! colspan="6" | Aircraft mass
|-
! colspan="2" | Engine name || Number
! colspan="3" | {{Annotation|Basic mass|Mass of the aircraft with pilot and engine oil, but no fuel or weapons load}} || colspan="3" | Wing loading (full fuel)
|-
| colspan="2" | General Electric TF34-GE-100A || 2
| colspan="3" | 11,636 kg || colspan="3" | ___ kg/m2
|-
! colspan="3" | Engine characteristics
! colspan="5" | Mass with fuel (no weapons load) || rowspan="2" | Max Takeoff Weight
|-
! Weight (each) || colspan="2" | Type
! 14m fuel || 20m fuel || 30m fuel || 45m fuel || 48m fuel
|-
| 654 kg || colspan="2" | High-bypass turbofan
| 13,092 kg || 13,651 kg || 14,659 kg || 16,170 kg || 16,489 kg || _,___ kg
|-
! colspan="3" | {{Annotation|Maximum engine thrust @ 0 m (RB/SB)|The maximum thrust produced by each engine, while mounted in the aircraft. NOTE: Thrust varies significantly depending on speed & altitude.}}
! colspan="6" | Thrust to weight ratio @ 0 m (100%)
|-
! Condition || 100% || WEP
! 14m fuel || 20m fuel || 30m fuel || 45m fuel || 48m fuel || MTOW
|-
| ''Stationary'' || 4,036 kgf || N/A
| 0.62 || 0.59 || 0.55 || 0.50 || 0.49 || _.__
|-
| ''Optimal'' || 4,036 kgf (0 km/h) || N/A
| 0.62 || 0.59 || 0.55 || 0.50 || 0.49 || _.__
|-
|}

=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Avia-Armour}}

The A-10A has substantial armour around the cockpit, fuel tanks, and transmission. This armour effectively protects the pilot from machine gun fire and autocannons up to 25mm. However, while the pilot has ample armour protection, the other parts of the plane, such as the wing, tail and especially the unarmoured and exposed engines, will easily be destroyed by any short cannon burst, so do not expect to tank such attacks.

* 38 mm titanium alloy - "bathtub" around the bottom of the cockpit
* 44 mm bulletproof glass (54°) - windshield in front of the pilot

The A-10A is equipped with a whopping 480 countermeasures. This gives an extended and effective protection against even the most potent heat-seeking missiles it will face. A good strategy is to turn on periodic countermeasures upon entering a battle. The constant flares will make you practically immune to IR guided missiles, and since the A-10A has so many countermeasures, you won't have to worry about running out as you will probably still be left with a large amount provided you survive.

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Avia-Armaments}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="4" | [[Ballistic Computer]]
|-
! CCIP (Guns) !! CCIP (Rockets) !! CCIP (Bombs) !! CCRP (Bombs)
|-
| {{Tick}} || {{Tick}} || {{Tick}} || {{Tick}}
|-
|}

=== Offensive armament ===
{{Specs-Avia-Offensive}}

{{main|GAU-8/A (30 mm)}}

The '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' is armed with:

* 1 x 30 mm GAU-8/A cannon, chin-mounted (1,174 rpg)
* 480 x countermeasures

=== Suspended armament ===
{{Specs-Avia-Suspended}}


The '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! !! width="4%" | 1 !! width="4%" | 2 !! width="4%" | 3 !! width="4%" | 4 !! width="4%" | 5 !! width="4%" | 6 !! width="4%" | 7 !! width="4%" | 8 !! width="4%" | 9 !! width="4%" | 10
| rowspan="9" width="30%" | <div class="ttx-image">[[File:Hardpoints_{{PAGENAME}}.png]]</div>
|-
! [[LDGP Mk 82 (500 lb)|500 lb LDGP Mk 82]] bombs
| 1 || 1 || 1, 3 || 1, 3 || 1 || 1 || 1, 3 || 1, 3 || 1 || 1
|-
! [[Mk 82 Snakeye (500 lb)|500 lb Mk 82 Snakeye]] bombs
| 1 || 1 || 1, 3 || 1, 3 || 1 || 1 || 1, 3 || 1, 3 || 1 || 1
|-
! [[LDGP Mk 84 (2,000 lb)|2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84]] bombs
| || || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || ||
|-
! [[LDGP Mk 84 Air (2,000 lb)|2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 Air]] bombs
| || || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || ||
|-
! [[Hydra-70 M247]] rockets
| || 7 || 7, 21 || 7, 21 || || || 7, 21 || 7, 21 || 7 ||
|-
! [[AGM-65D]] missiles
| || || 3 || || || || || 3 || ||
|-
! [[AIM-9L Sidewinder]] missiles
| 1, 2 || || || || || || || || || 1, 2
|-
| colspan="11" | Maximum permissible weight imbalance: 1,000 kg
|-
|}

{{Navigation-Start|Default weapon presets}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}

* Without load
* 2 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles
* 42 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets
* 84 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets
* 84 x Hydra-70 M247 rockets + 4 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles
* 10 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs (5,000 lb total)
* 12 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs (6,000 lb total)
* 18 x 500 lb Mk 82 Snakeye bombs (9,000 lb total)
* 12 x 500 lb LDGP Mk 82 bombs + 4 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles (6,000 lb total)
* 6 x 2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 bombs (12,000 lb total)
* 6 x 2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 Air bombs (12,000 lb total)
* 6 x 2,000 lb LDGP Mk 84 bombs + 4 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles (12,000 lb total)
* 6 x AGM-65D missiles
* 6 x AGM-65D missiles + 4 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles
* 4 x AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles
{{Navigation-End}}

== Usage in battles ==

The A-10A Late is specifically designed to attack ground targets. The AGM-65Ds and Mk 84s provide substantial firepower against armoured ground units. When within range, the 30 mm GAU-8 cannon can be used: the gun may lack penetration power against armour, but is excellent at destroying exterior modules and inflicting damage by overpressure.

The A-10's low speed makes it difficult to reach enemy ground units and bases without being intercepted, and also makes the A-10 especially vulnerable to both attacking aircraft and SAMs. Another problem with being so slow is that it is very easy to get energy trapped. This means that any common enemy aircraft can simply fly above the A-10, and with its slow speed, it simply has no chance to follow and get in range to use its gun. After the A-10 inevitably pitches back down (or stalls), the enemy aircraft will dive down on the slow and vulnerable A-10. While the A-10 can utilize its all-aspect AIM-9Ls to potentially dispatch aircraft lacking flares before they can initiate an energy trap, skilled players can easily dodge the AIM-9L without flares, while flare-equipped aircraft (which can easily flare an AIM-9L) should never be engaged unless absolutely necessary as it will likely result in the A-10's destruction. The slow speed also disadvantages the A-10 in high-speed head-ons. While it does arguably have the most powerful gun in the game, the A-10 will have trouble dodging the rounds of an enemy aircraft because its low speed prevents it from quickly getting out of the way. Meanwhile, the enemy aircraft, which is likely going much faster than the A-10, won't have too much of a problem dodging the A-10's rounds provided they begin evading at an ample range.

However, its slow speed and great maneuverability allows the A-10 much more time to aim its weapons at ground targets than if it were, say, a supersonic aircraft which is unmanoeuvrable at low speeds. Due to this, the A-10 can farm ground targets much quicker than most other planes; with its 1,174 rounds of 30 mm, a single A-10 left unchecked to freely attack ground targets can reduce an enemy team's ticket count by half or more. As stated before, the A-10 has very little chance in a vertical dogfight. However, the A-10's slow speed and good low speed manoeuvrability gives it the advantage in a horizontal scissors dogfight, as the likely faster enemy aircraft will quickly pass in front of the A-10's devastating gun. In a prolonged horizontal low speed scissors dogfight, the enemy aircraft would have likely bled much of their speed, again giving the A-10 an advantage with its good low speed manoeuvrability. If the enemy attempts to run away, the A-10 can exploit their low speed to launch an AIM-9L. When flying the A-10, if you notice an attacking aircraft may be unaware of the A-10's speed weakness (or unaware of how to exploit it), attempt to force it into a horizontal turn fight or scissors where you will have the advantage.

===== AIM-9L =====
The A-10A Late can equip up to four AIM-9L air-to-air missiles for self-defense. These missiles have long range, high manoeuvrability (30G maximum overload), all-aspect ability (can be launched from all sides including the front), and some degree of flare resistance. The high manoeuvrability sees that most aircraft lacking flares will have extreme difficulty dodging it. Even if an aircraft has flares, a close range launch at rear-aspect may prove somewhat challenging to flare due to its flare resistance. It has a rather long range and can be used to hit unsuspecting enemies at range. It is a very powerful missile found on even top tier aircraft, and at 10.3, it has the potential to wreck havoc. Keep in mind that, on launches other than rear-aspect, they are quite easy to flare. Remember that you are still a very slow and vulnerable A-10, and these four missiles are the only thing allowing you to compete in air combat; use them wisely.

With the AIM-9L, it is important to keep in mind its effective launch/lock ranges. From rear aspect, the missile can hit enemies traveling faster than the A-10 from 2.25 km, or similar speed enemies from 3 km. From side aspect, the missile can hit enemies at 3 km. From the front, the missile can get a lock on hotter aircraft at around 3km.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Great manoeuvrability
* Great roll rate
* Good armour protection around the cockpit area that will protect the pilot
* 480 countermeasures are extremely effective against common heat-seeking missiles and early radar-guided missiles
* Devastating cannon with a large ammo pool
* Great payload options for ground attack
* Access to four all-aspect AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles with long range, excellent turning ability, and some flare resistance
* Sturdy wings which are hard to rip and don't break in dives
* Access to AGM-65D air-to-ground TV-guided missiles which have heat-sensing thermal sights and can therefore be used during night operations unlike the previous AGM-65A/B
* The aircraft's slow speed means G-forces sustained during manoeuvres isn't much of an issue

'''Cons:'''

* Very poor climb rate and moderate acceleration
* Extremely poor top speed makes the A-10 easy prey, especially to SAMs and SPAA
* The GAU-8 cannon will drain the already slow speed of the A-10
* Does not have access to gunpods or guided bombs which the premium A-10 gets
* Engine can potentially overheat when running at or near 100% throttle unless on a winter map
* Engines are heavily exposed and vulnerable
* Large wingspan makes for a large target

== History ==

The A-10A Late was a minor upgrade in the A-10. It featured the new and improved AGM-65D's which was in initial operation in 1985. Unlike the AGM-65B, the D variant featured an IR seeker. The AGM-65B used a TV camera that heavily depended on weather conditions and whether it was night or daytime. The AGM-65D solved that issue by using infrared and could be used in many weather conditions and most importantly, in the night. The Late was largely unchanged compared to the Early.
== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=a_10a_late Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|vVPcNBt02cQ|'''A-10A Warthog Ultimate Review''' - ''Bob Dickinson''|ty5x8xhle84|'''The Shooting Range #295''' - ''Metal Beasts'' section at 00:28 discusses the {{PAGENAME}}.}}

== See also ==


;Related development

* [[A-10 (Family)]]

;Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

* [[Su-25 (Family)]]

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/news/7590-development-a-10a-thunderbolt-ii-the-warthog-arrives-in-war-thunder-en|[Devblog] A-10A Thunderbolt II: The 'Warthog' Arrives in War Thunder!]]
* [https://archive.org/details/T.O.1A10A1FlightManualA10ASerno7500258AndSubsequent15031988/mode/2up/ Technical Order 1A-10-1 - USAF Series A-10A Aircraft Flight Manual]

{{AirManufacturer Fairchild}}
{{USA jet aircraft}}

P-51C-10

2024-10-03T23:55:37Z

U146473601:

{{About
| about = American fighter '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| usage = other versions
| link = P-51 (Family)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=p-51c-10-nt
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''P-51C''' and the essentially identical P-51B were the first production P-51 Mustang models equipped with the famous British Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, license-produced in the United States as the Packard V-1650, significantly improving its high-altitude performance with its two-speed two-stage supercharger in conjunction with a new Rotol four-blade propeller. While not quite as famous as the later P-51D series with bubble canopies, these "razorback" Mustangs were produced in large numbers and served Allied forces well. This aircraft is by default painted in the livery of the 332nd Fighter Group, a distinguished all-African-American unit known as the "Red Tails".

Introduced in [[Update "Raining Fire"]], the P-51C-10 handles similarly to comparable Merlin-engined Mustangs like the [[P-51D-5]] and [[P-51D-20-NA]] and is slightly better than them in some respects. Its main weaknesses lie in its armament: only four wing-mounted M2 Browning machine guns leave something to be desired, though the access to late-war belts helps somewhat with damage output, and the suspended ordnance is nothing special. Overall, it is still a competitive aircraft and offers a good learning opportunity for later USAF propeller fighters.

== General info ==
=== Flight performance ===
{{Specs-Avia-Flight}}

Unlike its Rank II predecessors, the [[P-51]] and [[A-36]], this plane performs well not only at low altitudes but also above 3,000 m because of the new Merlin engine and two-stage supercharger instead of one in the Allison powered models. Level speed is exceptionally good at all altitudes compared to the opposition at similar battle ratings. In Realistic Battles, it can reach 610 km/h at sea level and 705 km/h at 7,300 m of altitude. Acceleration is also above average in level flight. The climb rate is good, especially when compared to the other American planes, and is noticeably better than the P-51D-5 and P-51D-20. At low altitude, it is slightly above 20 m/s and the plane can reach 6,000 m alt in about 7 minutes. Diving performance is great as usual, its elevator and other control surfaces do not lock up even at 700-800 km/h IAS and can pull 9G at that speed. Medium and high speed manoeuvrability is good enough to keep up with the Bf 109 G and similar fighters for a while, and the sustained turn rate has been improved over previous Mustangs. Horizontal energy retention is very good, vertical energy retention is good, but manoeuvring energy retention is somewhat below average (but only in RB because of how the instructor controls the plane). Low speed manoeuvrability is still mediocre. The main issue is its rudder, which can lock up above 300 km/h IAS, albeit not to the extent of the P-51D models since the "razorback" fuselage provides better directional stability. The roll rate is not exceptional, veering into poor territory at low speeds.

If using Manual Engine Controls, it is worth mentioning that the Meredith effect is modeled on Mustangs. The cooling system is designed to generate a slight thrust that partially compensates for the aerodynamic drag caused by the radiators. This means that opening up the radiators even to high percentages only causes little effect on energy retention and top speed while keeping the engine nice and cool on WEP settings. This is definitely convenient considering that many contemporary opponents like the [[Bf 109 F-4]] will cook their engines if they run WEP for more than brief periods of time and tend to have draggy radiators.

When flying with full realistic controls, the plane requires some trimming, positive for the elevator (+ 5-7) and rudder or ailerons to the right (but only below 600 km/h IAS) if you want to keep the plane straight in the level flight, when turning the plane tends to roll to the right side. Stall characteristics are outstanding, and with the fuel set to 30 minutes, it stalls out only when the elevator deflection reaches 90%. However, it does have a high stalling speed at 175 km/h without flaps and 155 km/h with flaps.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="70%"
! rowspan="2" | Characteristics
! colspan="2" | Max Speed (km/h at 7,300 m)
! rowspan="2" | Max altitude (metres)
! colspan="2" | Turn time (seconds)
! colspan="2" | Rate of climb (metres/second)
! rowspan="2" | Take-off run (metres)
|-
! AB !! RB !! AB !! RB !! AB !! RB
|-
! Stock
| 685 || 666 || rowspan="2" | {{Specs|ceiling}} || 22.0 || 22.6 || 12.9 || 12.9 || rowspan="2" | 300
|-
! Upgraded
| 734 || 708 || 20.1 || 21.0 || 20.2 || 16.2
|-
|}

==== Details ====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | Features
|-
! Combat flaps !! Take-off flaps !! Landing flaps !! Air brakes !! Arrestor gear
|-
| ✓ || ✓ || ✓ || X || X
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="7" | Limits
|-
! rowspan="2" | Wings (km/h)
! rowspan="2" | Gear (km/h)
! colspan="3" | Flaps (km/h)
! colspan="2" | Max Static G
|-
! Combat !! Take-off !! Landing !! + !! -
|-
| {{Specs|destruction|body}} || {{Specs|destruction|gear}} || 676 || 676 || 433 || ~11 || ~5
|-
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="4" | Optimal velocities (km/h)
|-
! Ailerons !! Rudder !! Elevators !! Radiator
|-
| < 500 || < 300 || < 550 || > 400
|-
|}

=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Avia-Armour}}


The survivability is similar to most other prop fighters. The engine is located in the nose, and the fuel tanks are located behind the pilot's seat and in the wing roots. There is significant armour protection for the pilot, but the pilot is still vulnerable from the top, bottom, and sides. The fuel tanks are also vulnerable, as is the cooling system.

* 38 mm Bulletproof glass - Windshield
* 11.11 mm Steel - Behind pilot's seat
* 6.35 mm Steel - Behind engine, in front of oil cooling system and pilot
* 6.35 mm Steel - In front of upper engine
* Self-sealing fuel tanks

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Avia-Armaments}}
=== Offensive armament ===
{{Specs-Avia-Offensive}}

{{main|M2 Browning (12.7 mm)}}

The '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' is armed with:

* 4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (280 rpg outer + 350 rpg inner = 1,260 total)

As mentioned earlier, the P-51C-10's armament is not its strong suit. Four late-war M2 Brownings do not provide much burst mass, and the most reliable way of dispatching enemy aircraft is to set them on fire. For this purpose, the Tracer belt has pure M20 API-T rounds. Tougher targets like [[Fw 190 (Family)|Fw 190s]] can shrug off quite a few incoming rounds. Attackers, twin-engined fighters, and bombers with defensive armament tend to be durable and are also challenging to approach and destroy. Focus on knocking out defensive gunners and igniting engines for best results, though these targets are more easily dealt with by friendly [[P-61C-1|P-61 Black Widows]] and [[P-63 (Family)|P-63 Kingcobras]]. The ammunition supply of ~300 rounds per gun is good, allowing for some spray-and-pray.

Since the guns are mounted in the wings, gun convergence should be considered. Anywhere between 400-800 m should work well, but note that more distant convergence settings will make close range shooting more difficult, especially considering the low volume of fire.

=== Suspended armament ===
{{Specs-Avia-Suspended}}

{{main|AN-M30A1 (100 lb)|AN-M57 (250 lb)|AN-M64A1 (500 lb)}}

The '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

* Without load
* 2 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (200 lb total)
* 2 x 250 lb AN-M57 bombs (500 lb total)
* 2 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs (1,000 lb total)

The P-51C-10 has the same suspended ordnance as the [[A-36|A-36 Apache]], minus the infamous gunpods. The only loadout worth taking is the twin 500 lb bombs. They drop as a pair and have enough power to take out a target or two if dropped with some precision, though they are certainly less impressive than the twin 1,000 lb bombs carried by later Mustangs with their reinforced hardpoints. Do not engage other fighters while carrying bombs, as they are mounted on the wings and contribute significant amounts of drag, weight, and inertia.

== Usage in battles ==


The P-51C-10 has outstanding performance compared to other planes that can meet in the same bracket (Enduring Confrontation 3, BR 3.7-4.7). Level speed is higher at all altitudes than the vast majority of things that it can face, so it can easily escape from anything when it finds itself in trouble. This plane, like all other Mustangs, does not overheat when the radiator is set to 90-100%, it also does not slow down the plane, so it can always cruise with enabled WEP, which is not limited, always engage other planes with tremendous speed advantage and make use of very good mid and high-speed manoeuvrability. The sustained climb rate is worse than that of the [[Bf 109 F-4]] or [[Bf 109 G-2|G-2]] by 2-4 m/s. Escaping from them by climbing away should be avoided, but it still allows the plane to get to 3,000 to 5,000 m; also, the zoom climb is very good.

One issue that the plane has is quite disappointing armament. It takes some time to shoot down the enemy fighters. It is even worse against bombers and attackers with higher durability, but attacking with a speed advantage and surprising the enemy should solve it.

The other issue is the unsatisfactory turn rate at low speed, engaging other fighters in dogfight should be avoided (instantaneous turn rate is reasonable when the plane has lots of energy to spare), especially the Bf 109 F-4, [[G.55 sottoserie 0|G.55]] or Yaks, and anything that can turn better than them, the speed advantage should be used instead to beat them.

Because of these points, the preferable tactics for this plane should be Boom and Zoom and other manoeuvres that do not purely depend on turn rate and more on the plane's speed. Dogfighting can work to some extent and against some planes like the [[Fw 190 (Family)|Fw 190 A]] (which does not really stand a chance against the razorback Mustang) but while doing that the player will be forced to sacrifice speed advantage and make the plane vulnerable to attacks from slower planes with far better turn rates. A common mistake that many new P-51C-10 players do is that they always assume they can just climb away after a Boom and Zoom attack. Zoom climbing should only be done when you are 100% sure that you have a very large energy advantage over your opponent. If the enemy's energy is somewhat equal, you should use the speed you gained from the dive to run away because your speed will stay almost unrivaled in a straight line. After getting some separation, you can then proceed to climb back to safety.

The plane, when it is upgraded, can also be used as a starter plane in the higher bracket (Enduring Confrontation 4, BR 5.0-6.3), where it should not have any issues with beating tier 4 German, Japanese and Italian fighters, most of them that can be meet there have very similar performance and the P-51C is even better than the D-5 version in some ways.

=== Manual Engine Control ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! colspan="7" | MEC elements
|-
! rowspan="2" | Mixer
! rowspan="2" | Pitch
! colspan="3" | Radiator
! rowspan="2" | Supercharger
! rowspan="2" | Turbocharger
|-
! Oil !! Water !! Type
|-
| Not controllable || Controllable Not auto controlled || Controllable Auto control available || Controllable Auto control available || Separate || Not controllable 2 gears || Not controllable
|-
|}

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Very fast at all altitudes, especially in a shallow dive
* Fantastic top speed and acceleration
* Outstanding Boom & Zoom capability
* Great performance at altitude
* Very agile at high speeds
* Decent cockpit visibility
* Large fuel capacity (1 hour 45 minutes maximum flight time)

'''Cons:'''

* 4x 12.7mm M2 Browning machine guns with late war belts, while generally adequate, may sometimes be lacking, especially against armored or large aircraft
* High stall speed and mediocre medium to low speed manoeuvrability
* Roll rate, while not terrible, is not sufficient enough to shake enemy planes off or force overshoots
* Rolls off center when performing dives, very hard to aim when Boom and Zooming a maneuvering fighter
* Only light bomb options; not very good at ground attack
* Not very durable
* The climb rate is not the best compared to other planes at the same BR

== History ==

{{main|P-51 (Family)|l1=History of the P-51 Mustang}}

The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was successfully tested on a P-51 Mustang in late 1942, resulting in the production of P-51B Mustangs fitted with the Packard V-1650, a license-produced Merlin. North American Aviation's (NAA) plant in Inglewood, California, was maxing out production of the P-51B, so a new plant was opened up in Dallas, Texas, to increase production. The Mustangs produced in the Dallas plant were designated as the P-51C even though they were identical in all other regards to the P-51B. It was decided during the P-51B and C production run that the aircraft would no longer leave the factory with an olive drab paint, but would instead leave in the unpainted metal finish.

Deliveries of the P-51C to the US Army Air Force (USAAF) began in August 1943, much later than those of the P-51B due to the Dallas plant being in the construction process when the P-51B entered production at Inglewood. A total of 1,750 P-51C Mustangs were built by NAA during the war.

P-51B and C Mustangs began arriving in Europe in August and October of 1943, equipping fifteen fighter groups of the 8th and 9th Air Forces in England as well as the 15th Air Force in Italy. P-51C Mustangs, along with their P-51B brethren, were used by the USAAF 8th Air Force to escort B-17 Flying Fortress bombers on daylight raids across the English Channel: the long range of the P-51B/C Mustang made it ideal for that type of mission. The 9th Air Force used them in the fighter-bomber role. In addition to European operations, P-51C Mustangs were used in the China Burma India Theater (CBI). Even by the end of the war many of the P-51s still in service with the USAAF were of the P-51B and C models, not having been fully replaced by the P-51D and K models but instead only supplemented.

In addition to serving with the USAAF, 636 P-51B and C Mustangs were used by the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war, where they were designated as the Mustang Mk.III. P-51C Mustangs were also used by the Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) during the Second World War.

=== P-51C Variants ===
'''Combat Variants: 1,750 built'''

* P-51C-1-NT - Original production model with V-1650-3 engine; 350 built.
* P-51C-3-NT - Added an 85 gallon fuel tank behind the pilot's seat; unknown number converted from P-51C-1-NT.
* P-51C-5-NT - Used the more powerful V-1650-7 engine; 450 built.
* P-51C-10-NT - 823 built.
* [[P-51C-11-NT (Japan)|P-51C-11-NT]] - 127 built.

'''Non Combat Variants'''

* [[F-6C-10-NA|F-6C-NT]] - Reconnaissance conversion with added cameras, armament retained; 20 converted from P-51C-10-NT.
* TP-51C - Two-seat trainer conversion; 5 converted during WW2, 1 converted in 2000s.

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=p-51c-10-nt Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

== See also ==
''Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:''

* ''reference to the series of the aircraft;''
* ''links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.''

== External links ==


* [https://forum.warthunder.com/index.php?/topic/497252-p-51-c10/ Official data sheet - more details about the performance]

{{AirManufacturer NAA}}
{{USA fighters}}

P-51C-10

2024-10-03T23:54:42Z

U146473601: /* Details */

M4A1

2024-09-18T22:08:22Z

U146473601: /* Ammo racks */

{{About
| about = American medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| other
| usage-1 = other M4 Shermans
| link-1 = M4 Sherman (Family)
| usage-2 = other uses
| link-2 = M4 (Disambiguation)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=us_m4a1_1942_sherman
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''M4A1 Sherman''' is the first variant of the early-generation [[M4 Sherman (Family)|Medium Tank M4 (Sherman) family]]. The M4 Sherman medium tank, named after the great American Civil War general William T. Sherman, was one of the Allies' most iconic fighting vehicles during World War II, and one of the most famous tanks in history. However, while this historic distinction was achieved partly owing to its inherent virtues, it was also due to the sheer quantity of them supplied, which was only topped by the Soviet Union's [[T-34 (Family)|T-34]], with a staggering 50,000 units produced. During World War II, it was by far the most commonly utilized tank in the Allies. It developed into many different variants and had a long postwar service that lasted well into the Cold War. It was frequently compared to the T-34 and had the opportunity to engage several during the Korean War. The M4A1 was the first major variant to be introduced, in February 1942. The upper hull was entirely cast and rounded. The standard M4A1 variant was produced in 6,281 units until December 1943, when it was superseded by the late-generation [[M4A1 (76) W]] variant, which received a more powerful 76 mm M1 tank gun. Until March 1945, 3,396 of these improved variants were created. This tank was nearly identical to the [[M4]] (second variant; early-generation), having the same engine, automotive systems, and weaponry. The main distinction was the cast upper hull. The upper hull was a single massive casting. This was a difficult task with the casting technique at the time and something the Germans could not have replicated since they did not possess the advanced technology and equipment required. Everything from hatches to wheels, turrets, and weapons could be swapped between the M4 and different Sherman variants.

Introduced in [[Update 1.45 "Steel Generals"]], the M4A1 supplies the U.S. Army ground forces with the first reliable medium tank capable of engaging enemies. The M4A1 is armed with a 75 mm M3 tank gun in a fully traversable turret and can fire a variety of ammunition depending on the situation. The M4A1 variant is distinguished by its cast hull construction, which results in a curved hull shape. This results in the hull's upper front armour plate having a varied slope angle throughout the upper glacis, but it also introduces various flaws. The first is in the frontal hull and side joints, which have relatively flat angles while angling the tank, and the second is the cast construction, which reduces the overall effectiveness of the frontal hull armour. The last are the view blocks at the frontal hull's top. Nevertheless, its armour is still effective against enemy fire from smaller calibre guns. The 75 mm M3 tank gun is positioned in the M34 gun mantlet with the periscope, a smaller gun mount than the future M34A1 gun mantlet in which all future 75 mm M4 Sherman variants will be installed. This reduces the general protection of the frontal turret but also presenting a slightly greater gun depression by -2° than future M34A1 mantlet.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

'''Armour type:'''

*Cast homogeneous armour (hull, turret, cupola)
*Rolled homogeneous armour (hull side - bottom)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 19.5 mm (63-84°) ''Front glacis - Upper section'' 50.8 mm (48-63°) ''Front glacis - Centre section'' 34 + 25.4 mm (spherical) ''MG port'' 38.1 mm (spherical) ''Front glacis - Sides'' 50.8 mm (cylindrical) ''Transmission housing'' || 38.1 mm (1-24°) ''Top'' 38.1 mm ''Bottom'' || 38.1 mm ''Upper plate'' 38.1 mm (13°) ''Lower plate'' 38.1 mm (50°) ''Lower glacis'' || 50.8 mm (27-39°) ''Front glacis'' 19.5 mm (0-28°) Turret area'' 19.5 mm (7°) ''Engine bay - centre'' 19.5 mm (20-24°) ''Engine bay - sides
|-
| Turret || 50.8-76.2 mm (18-71°) ''Turret front'' 50.8 + 76.2 mm (cylindrical) ''Gun mantlet'' || 50.8 mm (cylindrical) || 50.8 mm (4°) || 25.4 mm
|-
| Cupola || colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | 50.8 mm (spherical) || 50.8 mm (spherical) ''Outer ring'' 25.4 mm ''Centre''
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while bogies are 10 mm thick and tracks are 20 mm thick.
* Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick.
* A small patch on the turret front right side is thinner (50.8 mm) than the rest (76.2 mm).
* Bolt edges on the transmission housing are 101.6 mm thick.

Taking out the M4A1 Sherman is not an incredibly difficult task. Any gun with 100+ mm of penetration will go through the front plate. Panzer III users, however, would have some trouble penetrating the sloped frontal armour, even the later Panzer III models with the 50 mm KwK39 cannon. The T-34 with the L-11 cannon can also have a difficult time penetrating the front armour. Instead, use your speed and mobility to flank the Sherman, and a shot to the 38 mm thick side armour will most likely cause an ammo detonation, destroying the Sherman. If you are forced to face a Sherman head-on, aim for the flat spot around the vision blocks at the top of the front plate. They are extremely thin and upon penetration will destroy or heavily disable the Sherman.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=620|rbMinHp=354}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

At this rank, the difference between a stock tank and an upgraded one are quite minimal as the M4 Sherman still has adequate firepower and mobility to make a difference on the front-lines. The most notable traits would be sluggishness due to the engine and general inaccuracy over long ranges.

Focus on the survival parts, and then move on towards the M61 shot module, which will improve instant destruction upon penetration.

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|M3 (75 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M3 (75 mm)|75 mm M3]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 90 || rowspan="2" | -12°/+18° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | {{Annotation|Vertical|up to 24 km/h}} || 22.8 || 31.6 || 38.4 || 42.5 || 45.2 || rowspan="2" | 6.50 || rowspan="2" | 5.75 || rowspan="2" | 5.30 || rowspan="2" | 5.00
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.3 || 16.8 || 20.4 || 22.6 || 24.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
When discussing {{PAGENAME}} shells, one always has to account for the fact that it's a medium tank. This means short to medium engagement range, so realistically it can benefit more from its short-range penetration figures than long-range sniping tanks would.

* M72 shot - {{Annotation|AP|Armour-Piercing}} - Solid shot, stock shell. Acceptable penetration, poor post-penetration damage.
* M48 shell - {{Annotation|HE|High-Explosive fragmentation shell}} - Low-velocity shell useful against soft targets, in particular when hitting an open-topped vehicle. Harmless against any vehicle with more than 10 mm of armour.
* M61 shot - {{Annotation|APCBC|Armour-Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped}} - This shell has a better penetration than the M72 thanks to its ballistic cap and a good post-penetration damage thanks to its explosive filler.
* M89 smoke shell - Useful to blind enemy vehicles that are too remote for you to disable so that you can progress towards objectives.

{{:M3 (75 mm)/Ammunition|M72 shot, M48 shell, M61 shot, M89}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
|| '''90''' || 82 ''(+8)'' || 75 ''(+15)'' || 72 ''(+18)'' || 70 ''(+20)'' || 54 ''(+36)'' || 38 ''(+52)'' || 22 ''(+68)'' || 1 ''(+89)'' || Yes
|-
|}
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]
'''Notes''':

* The visual discrepancy concerns rack 8: 28 shells are modeled but it contains only 21 shells.
* Racks disappear after you've fired all shells in the rack.
* Flanks and turret empty: 22 ''(+68)'' shells.
* Turret empty: 68 ''(+22)'' shells.
{{Clear}}

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|3}}

{{main|M2HB (12.7 mm)|M1919A4 (7.62 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M2HB (12.7 mm)|12.7 mm M2HB]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Pintle || 600 (200) || 577 || -10°/+22° || ±60°
|-
|}
The roof-mounted M2HB .50 cal heavy machine gun is very good at knocking out tracks, punching through lightly armoured vehicles and shooting down low-flying aircraft. Use it sparsely because of its low ammo count.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm M1919A4]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 3,000 (250) || 500 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}
The small calibre of the M1919A4 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a range-finding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.

== Usage in battles ==


The M4A1 Sherman is a very capable medium tank. The 75 mm M3 cannon is capable of destroying nearly all armoured targets at its own battle rating. Combined with the very fast turret traverse rate, fast reload time of 6.5 seconds and a vertical gun stabilizer, this tank is suited to an aggressive playstyle due to the M4A1's ability to react quickly and fire relatively accurately without coming to a full stop. The gun depression of -12° also makes this tank excel in hull-down positions, unlike any other tank. One must take into account its very thin side armour which comes in at 38.1 mm, meaning that anti-tank weaponry of any kind or rank will be capable of penetrating the flanks of this tank.

Beware of this tank's very poor reverse speed as it only has one reverse gear. This affects the tank's ability to play in a defensive role. In addition, this tank is very prone to an engine fire, so the FPE is a modification that should be prioritised. Also, be sure not to let the enemy get sight of the driver and radio operators hull viewports. A single decent shot, even from 20 to 30 mm guns, can easily take the M4A1 out of the fight.

When it comes to armour, it may save you from time to time, but should not be relied on. Do not angle this tank because the rounded edges of the upper frontal plate are very thin, causing any rounds to hit this area at an angle to successfully penetrate. It is advised to keep in mind that your biggest advantage is the combination of good mobility, capable gun, and decent armour.

The M4A1 Sherman plays best in an aggressive role. Firing on the move is easily achievable due to the installation of a vertical stabiliser. This stabiliser also allows the tank to perform a brake shot, which is when the tank brakes and comes to a sudden halt upon contact with an enemy, which quickly engages the stabiliser, snapping the gun to where the gunner's sight is pointed at.

The -12° of gun depression should be exploited to its maximum potential when possible by hulling down on hills or inclines in the terrain.

The tall profile of the tank is both an advantage and disadvantage. In the context of a hull down position, it is an advantage due to the M4A1 being able to angle the turret down over the crest of a hill without having to push further up the hill. The tall profile, however, does make the M4A1 more visible, with the heightened hull making the ammunition a larger target.

Noteworthy enemies at this rank are the Panzer IV F2, the T-34 variants with the F-34 cannon, and the British Churchill infantry tank. All these tanks have guns adequate enough to destroy the M4A1 in a single shot.

Though possible, uptiering the M4A1 leaves its armour significantly more vulnerable to more advanced enemy cannons which can easily overcome the upper-front-plate of the tank.

'''Enemies worth noting:'''

[[M4A2]] / [[M4A4 (1st PTG)|A4]] - These Sherman tanks are widely used by over 3 nations that spread across both the Allied and the Axis side, so no matter which nation you play they can be quite tough to destroy in the hands of a skilled tanker. Given the rather weak penetration of your short 75 mm gun, their hull can be almost impossible to penetrate when angled, hull down or 300 m away. For a M4A4, there are 2 apparent bulges on the upper front plate, a penetration through there can guarantee a knock out most of the times. But in case the opponent covers them up or when it's an M4A2, aim for the centre area of the gun mantlet or the turret armour not shielded by the mantlet, which allows you to disable their means of retaliation. Note that their guns are equally weak against you, so wiggle around to disrupt their aim while you reload, giving you a good chance to bounce some shells.

[[Churchill I]], [[Churchill III]], [[Pz.Kpfw. Churchill (Germany)|Pz.Kpfw. Churchill]] - The Churchills, with their complex hulls and sturdy turrets, can be quite hard to penetrate at range. Again, manoeuvre as close to them as possible, the ideal distance being no more than 200 m. If they are angling their hull but facing their turret at you, only go for the turret. For the Mk I Churchills, aim at the near-vertical part of their rounded cheeks to ensure successful penetrations. For the Mk III and the German Churchill, also aim for their flat turret which is at most 89 mm. The shell should go in easily and knock out most, if not all of the crew. Only when you are facing their hull without any angles should you shoot the hull, otherwise shoot the turret only, as their big tracks can easily get in front of the frontal hull. The side hull have multiple layers of armour, some of which are weirdly angled and can absorb plenty of shells.

[[Pz.IV F2]]/[[Pz.IV G|G]]/[[Pz.IV H|H]]/[[Pz.IV J|J]] - The historical nemesis of any Sherman, the Panzer IV is one of the Sherman's biggest threats at this rank. The long barrel 75 mm gun will easily penetrate the Sherman from the front. The F2 variant is admittedly easy to deal with. A single APCBC to its hull or turret should end it pretty quickly, even at long range. The other variants are slightly harder to deal with. They have thicker hull armour, at 80 mm, which will be much harder to penetrate with the APCBC over 500 m. Luckily the turret armour remains the same at 50 mm, so aim at the turret if at longer ranges.

[[StuG III F]]/[[StuG III G|G]] - Another historical nemesis of the Sherman, and another big threat. The StuG III packs the same punch as the Panzer IV line with its long barrel 75 mm gun, whilst losing the turret, which turns out to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Lacking a turret means that it will have to traverse the whole vehicle to target an enemy, but it also means that it has a lower profile. The StuG's armour profile is also more complex than the Panzer IV, with less flat areas. Certain areas are sloped and very bouncy. Luckily, there is a big weak spot. There are two flat plates on the front of the hull. The flat plate on the right is the drivers port. Shoot that and you are able to knock out the driver, gunner and loader in one go. This is a very efficient way to destroy this vehicle. With the F variant, you can use APCBC to instantly knock out this vehicle with a single shot. With the G variant, it is more reliable to use AP at ranges within 500 m to ensure penetration.

[[R3 T20 FA-HS]] - This speedy wheeled vehicle can circle around you with ease and wipe out all your crew with its fast firing 20 mm autocannon. Watch out for your gun barrel, as the R3 can easily destroy it. In a close encounter, never expose your side to it, as the 20 mm will shred through the thin 38 mm plate and detonate your ammo. However, a good thing is that you can rely on your .50 cal to destroy the R3.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Good 75 mm gun, with adequate damage and a decent rate of fire
* Frontal glacis offers good armour at its rank and tend to make rounds ricochet
* Very fast turret traverse speed
* Thick gun mantlet, and overall very good sloped turret armour
* Very strong when in a hull down position
* Excellent gun depression -12 degrees
* Very mobile once acceleration kicks in
* Pintle-mounted HMG provides an anti-aircraft defence and can shoot down lightly armoured targets
* Fitted with a vertical stabilizer, allowing more accurate fire on the move compared to other tanks, as well as better usage of shoot-n-scoot tactics

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is not as strong against up-gunned vehicles like the [[Pz.IV F2]] and the [[T-34 (1942)]]
* The 38.1 mm side armour is vulnerable to even Rank I anti-tank fire and anti-aircraft guns
* Narrow tracks offer poor ground flotation, thus poor off-road capabilities
* Prone to damage by artillery barrages, tracks can be hit and the fuel supply can be ignited
* Ammunition storage is vulnerable to cooking off
* May tip over when travelling across steep inclines
* A shot through hull vision blocks can set off turret's ammo supply and hull sponson ammo and a lucky shot might even knock the M4A1 out
* Has a high profile especially when compared to other medium tanks
* The cast hull creates frontal weak spots with very little effective thickness, e.g. the triangles between upper front plate and the side, and the curved hull hatches

== History ==

===Development===
The Battle of France in 1940 proved to America that their current tank arsenal would not be able to withstand a German assault. The only tanks in their inventory at that time was the [[M2A4|M2 Light Tanks]] and the [[M2|M2 Medium Tank]], both are inadequate against the German [[Pz.III F|Panzer IIIs]] and the [[Pz.IV F1|Panzer IVs]]. The US Army, in response, ordered for a tank armed with a 75 mm gun. While a 75 mm gun was available for use, a turret able to mount the gun was not. So while the turret and tank design underwent development, the 75 mm would be mounted on the stopgap design, the [[M3 Lee|M3 Lee]] tank in a sponson mount. This interim design put the 75 mm on a lower and limited traverse mount that restricted its firing angle, but it did give the Allies a tank with the gun, so it was issued by the thousands until a better design could be made.

During the M3's development, the designs of the 75 mm armed vehicle were being drawn up and submitted by the Ordnance Department. Specifications on the tank design were strict, with restrictions made on the tank's height, width, and weight in order to make it able to be transported over bridges, roads, railroads, and on ships. These specifications would help the army by making the tank be very flexible on strategic, logistical, and tactical grounds. On April 1941, the Armored Force Board chose the simplest of the designs, which was a redesigned M3 hull and chassis with a turret mounting the 75 mm gun designated the ''T6'', completed in September 1941. This tank would then designated the '''Medium Tank M4''' in American service. The tank would become the most used Allied tank during World War II as it was lent out by the thousands in the Lend-Lease program to the Allied countries. The British called the M4 the "Sherman", which coined into the tank's name '''M4 Sherman''' that it would be known as in history. The production for the Shermans began on October 1941 and would continue to be produced until the end of the war in 1945 with around 50,000 units produced, making it the second most-produced tank in World War II before the [[T-34 (1942)|T-34 tank]].

===Design===
Many variants of the Shermans were produced, but they all followed a similar layout. The driver and bow gunner sat in the front driving compartment, the fighting compartment in the middle housed the turret its three crew member, and in the back was the engine compartment. The Sherman used many features present in previous American tank designs, the vertical volute suspension system (VVSS) and radial engine from the M2 light tanks, and the sloping armour of the M2 Medium. This became a contributing factor on the Sherman's reliability on the field, as most of the design flaws were ironed out with the previous tank designs. The tank-mounted the [[M3 (75 mm)|75 mm M3 gun]], giving the tank very good AP and HE capabilities. The Sherman's turret traverse speed was very fast, able to traverse a full 360 degrees in only 15 seconds, which is considerably faster than the traverse speed on most German tanks. Another unique feature on the Sherman was the installation of a [[Gun stabilizer|gyroscopic stabilizer]] on the gun and sight, making the Sherman one of the first produced tanks to incorporate those features. While the stabilization was only done for the vertical plane, it kept the gun stable enough to be able to shoot on the move effectively, with a study showing a 70 % hit probability on an enemy 300 to 1,200 yards away when moving at a speed of 15 mph. However, this feature was controversial among the crew and experiences with it vary.

The '''M4A1 Sherman''' model ran on a gasoline Continental R975C-1 radial engine and was one of the first models of the Sherman developed. The model in-game features the early M38 telescopic sight in the M4 periscope with no zoom, which was later replaced with an M55 telescopic sight in the gun mantlet by recommendation from the British.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT1">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "Baptism Of Fire"</ref> The tank's hull was fully cast, giving the tank a distinctive rounded slope front and sides. Though the rounded shape gave the frontal armour uneven angling, it provided adequate protection up to 100 mm in thickness in certain areas. Casting the hull took fewer man hours to perform, but suffered from the limited capability of most American factories and was hard to repair on the field. Thus, welding was prioritized as the primary manufacturing method in the other Sherman variants.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT3">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "The School of Tank Technology"</ref> Nevertheless, up to 6,281 M4A1s were produced from February 1942 to December 1943, out of the 49,234 Sherman units produced in the war.

===Combat usage===
====European theater====
The Shermans first saw combat in the North African Campaign in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 in the hands of the British. It was much quicker to reinforce the British armoured divisions with the more than 300 M4 Shermans sent to North Africa than it was to create new American ones. It proved much better than the German [[Pz.III F|Panzer IIIs]] and [[Pz.IV F1|Panzer IVs]], able to eliminate them at distances more than 2,000 yards away. The Americans received their first Shermans in the next month in Operation Torch. However better the Shermans were to the German tanks at the time, the Allied armoured units still suffered casualties against the German tanks and anti-tank guns, most notably in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. In Italy, the Shermans proved much more mobile than the German Panzers, able to travel cross-country on the hilly terrain with ease. However, it was at this stage that the Sherman's shortcoming began to take face in the advent of the newer German tanks, the [[Tiger H1|Tiger Is]] and [[Panther D|Panthers]]. These two tanks featured armour that proved impenetrable when fired at the front, and with guns that could take out the Shermans from farther than the Sherman's effective combat range. The Shermans have to hit the side of these tanks for penetration and at ranges that were considered suicidal. Although programs were initiated to [[M4A1 (76) W|up-gun the Sherman with a 76 mm gun]], American leaders determine that the Panther and Tigers would not be produced in large quantities and were not as great as a threat as these two vehicles could still be destroyed by the 75 mm gun and standard anti-tank equipment.

During the Invasion of France, it was clear that the Sherman's current build with a 75 mm gun was no longer going to cut it against the German armoured forces. While the Sherman was adequate against what little Panzer III and IVs the Germans have left and against infantry and fortifications with the 75 mm gun, the Panthers and Tigers were in much large quantity than expected, and proved better in armour and firepower to the Shermans. Though in the bocage country of France, the Allies lost more tanks to hidden anti-tank guns and infantry weapons than to tanks. Despite these losses, the mass production of M4 Sherman back in the United States ensured that enough tanks were available for the Allied Forces as they spearhead through France, plus the lack of any other capable tanks meant they had to use the Shermans for the time being. The large quantities of Shermans produced during the war gave the Allied armoured units a major advantage of being fully equipped as the German panzer divisions were rarely in full strength, with some US infantry divisions having more tracked vehicles than some of the panzer divisions. Due to the high attrition rates, tank crews sometimes add [[Add-on Armor|improvised armour]] onto their Shermans in the form of sandbags and logs in hopes of increased survival, but these were determined to be ineffective from evaluations. A more effective method was to have metal armour welded on in improvisation, and an official project was made for such "assault tanks" that ended with the [[M4A3E2|M4A3E2 "Jumbos"]] with 250 made for the Battle of Normandy. During the Battle of Normandy, the first 76 mm Shermans on the M4A1 were put into combat in Operation Cobra in limited numbers. The Allies continued to primarily use the 75 mm Shermans until the Battle of the Bulge in Winter 1944, when the commanders request only 76 mm Shermans to be brought into Europe as the battle showed the intense armour disparity with the German's large numbers of [[Panther G|Panthers]] and [[Tiger II (H)|Tiger IIs]]. While new units arriving in Europe were armed exclusively with 76 mm armed-Shermans, the veteran units kept the 75 mm Shermans, to which it continued to do well against softer targets with little threat from German armour due to their extreme declining numbers.

====Pacific theater====
The M4 Sherman's importance in the Pacific theatre was less than that of the European theatre due to the different tactical doctrine established from the amphibious nature of combat. Only about 20 tank battalions fielded by the US Army were sent to support the Pacific theatre of operations, compared to the total 16 armoured divisions and 70 tank battalions they have in service. The low priority in tanks was due to the following reasons. Firstly, the jungle terrain on most of the islands fought for against the Japanese were unsuitable for the deployment of large-scale armoured units, relegating armour support to light tanks such as the [[M3 Stuart|M3 Stuarts]]. Secondly, the Japanese forces' armoured units were rather inferior to the American tank forces by 1943. While the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tank was comparable to the M2A4 light tank, the Shermans out gun these tanks by a large margin. Such a large margin that the tank crew prefer to use high-explosive shots against the Japanese tank than regular armour-piercing as the AP rounds would penetrate straight through without causing much damage in the interior of the tank. The Japanese developed the Type 3 Chi-Nu and the Type 4 Chi-To to fight back the Shermans, but these two never saw combat as they were kept at the Japanese Homeland for the defence against the Allied invasion.

The Shermans, when deployed, were superior to most of the Japanese anti-tank equipment and often were essential to some of the Marine's advances on some of the island assaults. In 1945, the equipping of flamethrower Shermans known as ''M4A3R3'', nicknamed "Zippos", were a significant boost to the infantry's firepower in having a very long range of fire compared to the standard infantry-modelled flamethrowers with the benefit of being in an armoured vehicle. The Zippos are able to flush out enemy combatants from within heavily fortified bunkers and caves that would be dangerous for even flamethrower infantry to take out. The Japanese solution against the Shermans, other than with their 47 mm anti-tank guns, were often suicidal tactics ranging from placing satchel charges right onto the tank, using pole-mounted anti-tank mines to reach and destroy the tank or even simply throwing oneself underneath a tank with mine or other explosive and triggering it manually.

====Lend-Lease====
The Sherman tank was given out in large numbers to American Allies during World War II under the Lend-Lease policy. While America retained about 20,361 Shermans in the Army and Marine Corps, 17,184 went to Britain (about 34% of Shermans produced and 78% of Shermans given out) and the Soviet Union obtained 4,102 Shermans.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT2">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "The British Sherman"</ref> China obtained 812 Shermans, Brazil with 53, and New Zealand and Australia for 153 Shermans total. Other countries using the Shermans were Poland, Free France, and Czechoslovakia. The British deployed the Sherman among their armoured squadrons in such a large number to become the standard tank of their armoured forces. The increased threat of German tanks in the European theatre also provoked the British to up-gun the M4 Sherman with a more capable gun, resulting in the [[Sherman Firefly|Firefly]].

====Post-War====
After the war, the Shermans continued serving America and its allies as the [[M4A3 (76) W|M4A3E8]] with a new suspension and 76 mm gun. The [[M26|M26 Pershing]] that was introduced late in World War II was phased out for the Shermans due to its unreliability, and the Sherman stayed until the [[M46|M46 Patton]] was introduced. After being phased out of American service, many other countries still used the Sherman as their main tank, mainly Israel where they up-gun the tank with the much powerful post-war French [[SA50 (75 mm)|75 mm]] and [[CN-105-F1 (105 mm)|105 mm]] gun as the [[M4A4 (SA50)|M-50]] and [[M-51]] respectively (nicknamed "Super Shermans"). These proved successful as they were able to fight against the Soviet-supplied [[T-54 (1947)|T-54 tanks]] and [[T-34-85]]s in Middle East service, proving the Sherman as a successful and adaptable design for many years to come.

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
The M4A1 was an M4 medium tank with a cast hull, cast turret, and the 350 hp Continental R-975, a gas-powered radial engine. The M4A1 went into full-fledged production in February 1942, with 6,281 rolling off the lines between then and January 1944. The hull's front plate initially had viewing slits cut out, though later it was made from one piece. The front section of the gear compartment was made out of three pieces, subsequently becoming a single section. The M34 cannon mantlet was replaced with the M34A1 by 1943.

M4A1 tanks were shipped to Great Britain as part of Lend-Lease. The Sherman's baptism by fire came in North Africa, where the British thought the new American tanks played a fairly significant role in the victory at El Alamein. M4A1s also served in Italy.

The tank enjoyed a strong reputation in battle, quickly replacing the M3 as the Americans' main medium tank. The M4 turned out to be best for desert combat, a conclusion confirmed by post-war experience as well. The flat, wide open spaces in Africa were a perfect natural environment allowing it to exploit its reliability, high speed, comfortable interior, excellent field of view, and radio communications. The tank's range suffered, but the Allies handled that issue by streamlining their supply lines. In addition, tankers often carried along with extra fuel in canisters. A high silhouette made the M4 easy to target, and its armament was made obsolete in 1943 with the appearance of the German Pz.V and Pz.VI tanks. The M4's weaknesses were an engine, ammunition, and fuel tanks prone to fire and explosions due to its relatively light armour.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=us_m4a1_1942_sherman Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|WER1vaO-y8w|'''M4A1 - Tank Review''' - ''Napalmratte''|48O5JUtPqtU|'''Tank Chats #39 Sherman M4A1 "Michael"''' - ''The Tank Museum''}}

== See also ==


;Other M4A1 vehicles in the game

* [[M4A1 (76) W]] - American version with a [[M1 (76 mm)|76 mm gun]]
* [[Sherman II]] - A version in the British tech tree
* [[M4A1 (France)]] - A version in the French tech tree
* [[M4A1 (FL10)]] - A premium version with an [[AMX-13]] turret placed on it; located in the French tech tree
* [[M4A1 (75) W (China)]] - A version with a T23 turret, but with a 75 mm gun, in the Chinese tech tree

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/devblog/current/711|[Devblog] Developers about M4A1]]
* [[wikipedia:M4_Sherman|[Wikipedia] M4 Sherman]]
* [https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/M4_Sherman <nowiki>[Tanks Encyclopedia]</nowiki> Medium Tank M4 Sherman]
* [https://flyingheritage.org/Explore/The-Collection/United-States/M4A1-Sherman-Medium-Tank.aspx <nowiki>[Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum]</nowiki> M4A1 Sherman Medium Tank]

=== References ===

;Bibliography
<references />

{{USA medium tanks}}

M4A1

2024-09-11T22:52:46Z

U146473601: /* Ammo racks */

{{About
| about = American medium tank '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
| other
| usage-1 = other M4 Shermans
| link-1 = M4 Sherman (Family)
| usage-2 = other uses
| link-2 = M4 (Disambiguation)
}}
{{Specs-Card
|code=us_m4a1_1942_sherman
|images={{Specs-Card-Image|GarageImage_{{PAGENAME}}.jpg|ArtImage_{{PAGENAME}}.png}}
}}

== Description ==

The '''M4A1 Sherman''' is the first variant of the early-generation [[M4 Sherman (Family)|Medium Tank M4 (Sherman) family]]. The M4 Sherman medium tank, named after the great American Civil War general William T. Sherman, was one of the Allies' most iconic fighting vehicles during World War II, and one of the most famous tanks in history. However, while this historic distinction was achieved partly owing to its inherent virtues, it was also due to the sheer quantity of them supplied, which was only topped by the Soviet Union's [[T-34 (Family)|T-34]], with a staggering 50,000 units produced. During World War II, it was by far the most commonly utilized tank in the Allies. It developed into many different variants and had a long postwar service that lasted well into the Cold War. It was frequently compared to the T-34 and had the opportunity to engage several during the Korean War. The M4A1 was the first major variant to be introduced, in February 1942. The upper hull was entirely cast and rounded. The standard M4A1 variant was produced in 6,281 units until December 1943, when it was superseded by the late-generation [[M4A1 (76) W]] variant, which received a more powerful 76 mm M1 tank gun. Until March 1945, 3,396 of these improved variants were created. This tank was nearly identical to the [[M4]] (second variant; early-generation), having the same engine, automotive systems, and weaponry. The main distinction was the cast upper hull. The upper hull was a single massive casting. This was a difficult task with the casting technique at the time and something the Germans could not have replicated since they did not possess the advanced technology and equipment required. Everything from hatches to wheels, turrets, and weapons could be swapped between the M4 and different Sherman variants.

Introduced in [[Update 1.45 "Steel Generals"]], the M4A1 supplies the U.S. Army ground forces with the first reliable medium tank capable of engaging enemies. The M4A1 is armed with a 75 mm M3 tank gun in a fully traversable turret and can fire a variety of ammunition depending on the situation. The M4A1 variant is distinguished by its cast hull construction, which results in a curved hull shape. This results in the hull's upper front armour plate having a varied slope angle throughout the upper glacis, but it also introduces various flaws. The first is in the frontal hull and side joints, which have relatively flat angles while angling the tank, and the second is the cast construction, which reduces the overall effectiveness of the frontal hull armour. The last are the view blocks at the frontal hull's top. Nevertheless, its armour is still effective against enemy fire from smaller calibre guns. The 75 mm M3 tank gun is positioned in the M34 gun mantlet with the periscope, a smaller gun mount than the future M34A1 gun mantlet in which all future 75 mm M4 Sherman variants will be installed. This reduces the general protection of the frontal turret but also presenting a slightly greater gun depression by -2° than future M34A1 mantlet.

== General info ==
=== Survivability and armour ===
{{Specs-Tank-Armour}}

'''Armour type:'''

*Cast homogeneous armour (hull, turret, cupola)
*Rolled homogeneous armour (hull side - bottom)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Armour !! Front (Slope angle) !! Sides !! Rear !! Roof
|-
| Hull || 19.5 mm (63-84°) ''Front glacis - Upper section'' 50.8 mm (48-63°) ''Front glacis - Centre section'' 34 + 25.4 mm (spherical) ''MG port'' 38.1 mm (spherical) ''Front glacis - Sides'' 50.8 mm (cylindrical) ''Transmission housing'' || 38.1 mm (1-24°) ''Top'' 38.1 mm ''Bottom'' || 38.1 mm ''Upper plate'' 38.1 mm (13°) ''Lower plate'' 38.1 mm (50°) ''Lower glacis'' || 50.8 mm (27-39°) ''Front glacis'' 19.5 mm (0-28°) Turret area'' 19.5 mm (7°) ''Engine bay - centre'' 19.5 mm (20-24°) ''Engine bay - sides
|-
| Turret || 50.8-76.2 mm (18-71°) ''Turret front'' 50.8 + 76.2 mm (cylindrical) ''Gun mantlet'' || 50.8 mm (cylindrical) || 50.8 mm (4°) || 25.4 mm
|-
| Cupola || colspan="3" style="text-align:center" | 50.8 mm (spherical) || 50.8 mm (spherical) ''Outer ring'' 25.4 mm ''Centre''
|-
|}
'''Notes:'''

* Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while bogies are 10 mm thick and tracks are 20 mm thick.
* Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick.
* A small patch on the turret front right side is thinner (50.8 mm) than the rest (76.2 mm).
* Bolt edges on the transmission housing are 101.6 mm thick.

Taking out the M4A1 Sherman is not an incredibly difficult task. Any gun with 100+ mm of penetration will go through the front plate. Panzer III users, however, would have some trouble penetrating the sloped frontal armour, even the later Panzer III models with the 50 mm KwK39 cannon. The T-34 with the L-11 cannon can also have a difficult time penetrating the front armour. Instead, use your speed and mobility to flank the Sherman, and a shot to the 38 mm thick side armour will most likely cause an ammo detonation, destroying the Sherman. If you are forced to face a Sherman head-on, aim for the flat spot around the vision blocks at the top of the front plate. They are extremely thin and upon penetration will destroy or heavily disable the Sherman.

=== Mobility ===
{{Specs-Tank-Mobility}}


{{tankMobility|abMinHp=620|rbMinHp=354}}

=== Modifications and economy ===
{{Specs-Economy}}

At this rank, the difference between a stock tank and an upgraded one are quite minimal as the M4 Sherman still has adequate firepower and mobility to make a difference on the front-lines. The most notable traits would be sluggishness due to the engine and general inaccuracy over long ranges.

Focus on the survival parts, and then move on towards the M61 shot module, which will improve instant destruction upon penetration.

== Armaments ==
{{Specs-Tank-Armaments}}
=== Main armament ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|1}}

{{main|M3 (75 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="100%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M3 (75 mm)|75 mm M3]] || colspan="5" | Turret rotation speed (°/s) || colspan="4" | Reloading rate (seconds)
|-
! Mode !! Capacity !! Vertical !! Horizontal !! Stabilizer
! Stock !! Upgraded !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
! Stock !! Full !! Expert !! Aced
|-
! ''Arcade''
| rowspan="2" | 90 || rowspan="2" | -12°/+18° || rowspan="2" | ±180° || rowspan="2" | {{Annotation|Vertical|up to 24 km/h}} || 22.8 || 31.6 || 38.4 || 42.5 || 45.2 || rowspan="2" | 6.50 || rowspan="2" | 5.75 || rowspan="2" | 5.30 || rowspan="2" | 5.00
|-
! ''Realistic''
| 14.3 || 16.8 || 20.4 || 22.6 || 24.0
|-
|}

==== Ammunition ====
When discussing {{PAGENAME}} shells, one always has to account for the fact that it's a medium tank. This means short to medium engagement range, so realistically it can benefit more from its short-range penetration figures than long-range sniping tanks would.

* M72 shot - {{Annotation|AP|Armour-Piercing}} - Solid shot, stock shell. Acceptable penetration, poor post-penetration damage.
* M48 shell - {{Annotation|HE|High-Explosive fragmentation shell}} - Low-velocity shell useful against soft targets, in particular when hitting an open-topped vehicle. Harmless against any vehicle with more than 10 mm of armour.
* M61 shot - {{Annotation|APCBC|Armour-Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped}} - This shell has a better penetration than the M72 thanks to its ballistic cap and a good post-penetration damage thanks to its explosive filler.
* M89 smoke shell - Useful to blind enemy vehicles that are too remote for you to disable so that you can progress towards objectives.

{{:M3 (75 mm)/Ammunition|M72 shot, M48 shell, M61 shot, M89}}

==== [[Ammo racks]] ====
[[File:Ammoracks_{{PAGENAME}}.png|right|thumb|x250px|[[Ammo racks]] of the {{PAGENAME}}]]

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! Full ammo
! 1st rack empty
! 2nd rack empty
! 3rd rack empty
! 4th rack empty
! 5th rack empty
! 6th rack empty
! 7th rack empty
! 8th rack empty
! Visual discrepancy
|-
|| '''90''' || 82 ''(+8)'' || 75 ''(+15)'' || 72 ''(+18)'' || 70 ''(+20)'' || 54 ''(+36)'' || 38 ''(+52)'' || 22 ''(+68)'' || 1 ''(+89)'' || Yes
|-
|}
'''Notes''':

* The visual discrepancy concerns rack 8: 28 shells are modeled but it contains only 21 shells.
* Racks disappear after you've fired all shells in the rack.
* Flanks and turret empty: 22 ''(+68)'' shells.
* Turret empty: 70 ''(+20)'' shells.

=== Machine guns ===
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|2}}
{{Specs-Tank-Weapon|3}}

{{main|M2HB (12.7 mm)|M1919A4 (7.62 mm)}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M2HB (12.7 mm)|12.7 mm M2HB]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Pintle || 600 (200) || 577 || -10°/+22° || ±60°
|-
|}
The roof-mounted M2HB .50 cal heavy machine gun is very good at knocking out tracks, punching through lightly armoured vehicles and shooting down low-flying aircraft. Use it sparsely because of its low ammo count.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width="50%"
|-
! colspan="5" | [[M1919A4 (7.62 mm)|7.62 mm M1919A4]]
|-
! Mount !! Capacity (Belt) !! Fire rate !! Vertical !! Horizontal
|-
| Coaxial || 3,000 (250) || 500 || N/A || N/A
|-
|}
The small calibre of the M1919A4 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a range-finding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.

== Usage in battles ==


The M4A1 Sherman is a very capable medium tank. The 75 mm M3 cannon is capable of destroying nearly all armoured targets at its own battle rating. Combined with the very fast turret traverse rate, fast reload time of 6.5 seconds and a vertical gun stabilizer, this tank is suited to an aggressive playstyle due to the M4A1's ability to react quickly and fire relatively accurately without coming to a full stop. The gun depression of -12° also makes this tank excel in hull-down positions, unlike any other tank. One must take into account its very thin side armour which comes in at 38.1 mm, meaning that anti-tank weaponry of any kind or rank will be capable of penetrating the flanks of this tank.

Beware of this tank's very poor reverse speed as it only has one reverse gear. This affects the tank's ability to play in a defensive role. In addition, this tank is very prone to an engine fire, so the FPE is a modification that should be prioritised. Also, be sure not to let the enemy get sight of the driver and radio operators hull viewports. A single decent shot, even from 20 to 30 mm guns, can easily take the M4A1 out of the fight.

When it comes to armour, it may save you from time to time, but should not be relied on. Do not angle this tank because the rounded edges of the upper frontal plate are very thin, causing any rounds to hit this area at an angle to successfully penetrate. It is advised to keep in mind that your biggest advantage is the combination of good mobility, capable gun, and decent armour.

The M4A1 Sherman plays best in an aggressive role. Firing on the move is easily achievable due to the installation of a vertical stabiliser. This stabiliser also allows the tank to perform a brake shot, which is when the tank brakes and comes to a sudden halt upon contact with an enemy, which quickly engages the stabiliser, snapping the gun to where the gunner's sight is pointed at.

The -12° of gun depression should be exploited to its maximum potential when possible by hulling down on hills or inclines in the terrain.

The tall profile of the tank is both an advantage and disadvantage. In the context of a hull down position, it is an advantage due to the M4A1 being able to angle the turret down over the crest of a hill without having to push further up the hill. The tall profile, however, does make the M4A1 more visible, with the heightened hull making the ammunition a larger target.

Noteworthy enemies at this rank are the Panzer IV F2, the T-34 variants with the F-34 cannon, and the British Churchill infantry tank. All these tanks have guns adequate enough to destroy the M4A1 in a single shot.

Though possible, uptiering the M4A1 leaves its armour significantly more vulnerable to more advanced enemy cannons which can easily overcome the upper-front-plate of the tank.

'''Enemies worth noting:'''

[[M4A2]] / [[M4A4 (1st PTG)|A4]] - These Sherman tanks are widely used by over 3 nations that spread across both the Allied and the Axis side, so no matter which nation you play they can be quite tough to destroy in the hands of a skilled tanker. Given the rather weak penetration of your short 75 mm gun, their hull can be almost impossible to penetrate when angled, hull down or 300 m away. For a M4A4, there are 2 apparent bulges on the upper front plate, a penetration through there can guarantee a knock out most of the times. But in case the opponent covers them up or when it's an M4A2, aim for the centre area of the gun mantlet or the turret armour not shielded by the mantlet, which allows you to disable their means of retaliation. Note that their guns are equally weak against you, so wiggle around to disrupt their aim while you reload, giving you a good chance to bounce some shells.

[[Churchill I]], [[Churchill III]], [[Pz.Kpfw. Churchill (Germany)|Pz.Kpfw. Churchill]] - The Churchills, with their complex hulls and sturdy turrets, can be quite hard to penetrate at range. Again, manoeuvre as close to them as possible, the ideal distance being no more than 200 m. If they are angling their hull but facing their turret at you, only go for the turret. For the Mk I Churchills, aim at the near-vertical part of their rounded cheeks to ensure successful penetrations. For the Mk III and the German Churchill, also aim for their flat turret which is at most 89 mm. The shell should go in easily and knock out most, if not all of the crew. Only when you are facing their hull without any angles should you shoot the hull, otherwise shoot the turret only, as their big tracks can easily get in front of the frontal hull. The side hull have multiple layers of armour, some of which are weirdly angled and can absorb plenty of shells.

[[Pz.IV F2]]/[[Pz.IV G|G]]/[[Pz.IV H|H]]/[[Pz.IV J|J]] - The historical nemesis of any Sherman, the Panzer IV is one of the Sherman's biggest threats at this rank. The long barrel 75 mm gun will easily penetrate the Sherman from the front. The F2 variant is admittedly easy to deal with. A single APCBC to its hull or turret should end it pretty quickly, even at long range. The other variants are slightly harder to deal with. They have thicker hull armour, at 80 mm, which will be much harder to penetrate with the APCBC over 500 m. Luckily the turret armour remains the same at 50 mm, so aim at the turret if at longer ranges.

[[StuG III F]]/[[StuG III G|G]] - Another historical nemesis of the Sherman, and another big threat. The StuG III packs the same punch as the Panzer IV line with its long barrel 75 mm gun, whilst losing the turret, which turns out to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Lacking a turret means that it will have to traverse the whole vehicle to target an enemy, but it also means that it has a lower profile. The StuG's armour profile is also more complex than the Panzer IV, with less flat areas. Certain areas are sloped and very bouncy. Luckily, there is a big weak spot. There are two flat plates on the front of the hull. The flat plate on the right is the drivers port. Shoot that and you are able to knock out the driver, gunner and loader in one go. This is a very efficient way to destroy this vehicle. With the F variant, you can use APCBC to instantly knock out this vehicle with a single shot. With the G variant, it is more reliable to use AP at ranges within 500 m to ensure penetration.

[[R3 T20 FA-HS]] - This speedy wheeled vehicle can circle around you with ease and wipe out all your crew with its fast firing 20 mm autocannon. Watch out for your gun barrel, as the R3 can easily destroy it. In a close encounter, never expose your side to it, as the 20 mm will shred through the thin 38 mm plate and detonate your ammo. However, a good thing is that you can rely on your .50 cal to destroy the R3.

=== Pros and cons ===


'''Pros:'''

* Good 75 mm gun, with adequate damage and a decent rate of fire
* Frontal glacis offers good armour at its rank and tend to make rounds ricochet
* Very fast turret traverse speed
* Thick gun mantlet, and overall very good sloped turret armour
* Very strong when in a hull down position
* Excellent gun depression -12 degrees
* Very mobile once acceleration kicks in
* Pintle-mounted HMG provides an anti-aircraft defence and can shoot down lightly armoured targets
* Fitted with a vertical stabilizer, allowing more accurate fire on the move compared to other tanks, as well as better usage of shoot-n-scoot tactics

'''Cons:'''

* Armour is not as strong against up-gunned vehicles like the [[Pz.IV F2]] and the [[T-34 (1942)]]
* The 38.1 mm side armour is vulnerable to even Rank I anti-tank fire and anti-aircraft guns
* Narrow tracks offer poor ground flotation, thus poor off-road capabilities
* Prone to damage by artillery barrages, tracks can be hit and the fuel supply can be ignited
* Ammunition storage is vulnerable to cooking off
* May tip over when travelling across steep inclines
* A shot through hull vision blocks can set off turret's ammo supply and hull sponson ammo and a lucky shot might even knock the M4A1 out
* Has a high profile especially when compared to other medium tanks
* The cast hull creates frontal weak spots with very little effective thickness, e.g. the triangles between upper front plate and the side, and the curved hull hatches

== History ==

===Development===
The Battle of France in 1940 proved to America that their current tank arsenal would not be able to withstand a German assault. The only tanks in their inventory at that time was the [[M2A4|M2 Light Tanks]] and the [[M2|M2 Medium Tank]], both are inadequate against the German [[Pz.III F|Panzer IIIs]] and the [[Pz.IV F1|Panzer IVs]]. The US Army, in response, ordered for a tank armed with a 75 mm gun. While a 75 mm gun was available for use, a turret able to mount the gun was not. So while the turret and tank design underwent development, the 75 mm would be mounted on the stopgap design, the [[M3 Lee|M3 Lee]] tank in a sponson mount. This interim design put the 75 mm on a lower and limited traverse mount that restricted its firing angle, but it did give the Allies a tank with the gun, so it was issued by the thousands until a better design could be made.

During the M3's development, the designs of the 75 mm armed vehicle were being drawn up and submitted by the Ordnance Department. Specifications on the tank design were strict, with restrictions made on the tank's height, width, and weight in order to make it able to be transported over bridges, roads, railroads, and on ships. These specifications would help the army by making the tank be very flexible on strategic, logistical, and tactical grounds. On April 1941, the Armored Force Board chose the simplest of the designs, which was a redesigned M3 hull and chassis with a turret mounting the 75 mm gun designated the ''T6'', completed in September 1941. This tank would then designated the '''Medium Tank M4''' in American service. The tank would become the most used Allied tank during World War II as it was lent out by the thousands in the Lend-Lease program to the Allied countries. The British called the M4 the "Sherman", which coined into the tank's name '''M4 Sherman''' that it would be known as in history. The production for the Shermans began on October 1941 and would continue to be produced until the end of the war in 1945 with around 50,000 units produced, making it the second most-produced tank in World War II before the [[T-34 (1942)|T-34 tank]].

===Design===
Many variants of the Shermans were produced, but they all followed a similar layout. The driver and bow gunner sat in the front driving compartment, the fighting compartment in the middle housed the turret its three crew member, and in the back was the engine compartment. The Sherman used many features present in previous American tank designs, the vertical volute suspension system (VVSS) and radial engine from the M2 light tanks, and the sloping armour of the M2 Medium. This became a contributing factor on the Sherman's reliability on the field, as most of the design flaws were ironed out with the previous tank designs. The tank-mounted the [[M3 (75 mm)|75 mm M3 gun]], giving the tank very good AP and HE capabilities. The Sherman's turret traverse speed was very fast, able to traverse a full 360 degrees in only 15 seconds, which is considerably faster than the traverse speed on most German tanks. Another unique feature on the Sherman was the installation of a [[Gun stabilizer|gyroscopic stabilizer]] on the gun and sight, making the Sherman one of the first produced tanks to incorporate those features. While the stabilization was only done for the vertical plane, it kept the gun stable enough to be able to shoot on the move effectively, with a study showing a 70 % hit probability on an enemy 300 to 1,200 yards away when moving at a speed of 15 mph. However, this feature was controversial among the crew and experiences with it vary.

The '''M4A1 Sherman''' model ran on a gasoline Continental R975C-1 radial engine and was one of the first models of the Sherman developed. The model in-game features the early M38 telescopic sight in the M4 periscope with no zoom, which was later replaced with an M55 telescopic sight in the gun mantlet by recommendation from the British.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT1">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "Baptism Of Fire"</ref> The tank's hull was fully cast, giving the tank a distinctive rounded slope front and sides. Though the rounded shape gave the frontal armour uneven angling, it provided adequate protection up to 100 mm in thickness in certain areas. Casting the hull took fewer man hours to perform, but suffered from the limited capability of most American factories and was hard to repair on the field. Thus, welding was prioritized as the primary manufacturing method in the other Sherman variants.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT3">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "The School of Tank Technology"</ref> Nevertheless, up to 6,281 M4A1s were produced from February 1942 to December 1943, out of the 49,234 Sherman units produced in the war.

===Combat usage===
====European theater====
The Shermans first saw combat in the North African Campaign in the Second Battle of El Alamein in October 1942 in the hands of the British. It was much quicker to reinforce the British armoured divisions with the more than 300 M4 Shermans sent to North Africa than it was to create new American ones. It proved much better than the German [[Pz.III F|Panzer IIIs]] and [[Pz.IV F1|Panzer IVs]], able to eliminate them at distances more than 2,000 yards away. The Americans received their first Shermans in the next month in Operation Torch. However better the Shermans were to the German tanks at the time, the Allied armoured units still suffered casualties against the German tanks and anti-tank guns, most notably in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. In Italy, the Shermans proved much more mobile than the German Panzers, able to travel cross-country on the hilly terrain with ease. However, it was at this stage that the Sherman's shortcoming began to take face in the advent of the newer German tanks, the [[Tiger H1|Tiger Is]] and [[Panther D|Panthers]]. These two tanks featured armour that proved impenetrable when fired at the front, and with guns that could take out the Shermans from farther than the Sherman's effective combat range. The Shermans have to hit the side of these tanks for penetration and at ranges that were considered suicidal. Although programs were initiated to [[M4A1 (76) W|up-gun the Sherman with a 76 mm gun]], American leaders determine that the Panther and Tigers would not be produced in large quantities and were not as great as a threat as these two vehicles could still be destroyed by the 75 mm gun and standard anti-tank equipment.

During the Invasion of France, it was clear that the Sherman's current build with a 75 mm gun was no longer going to cut it against the German armoured forces. While the Sherman was adequate against what little Panzer III and IVs the Germans have left and against infantry and fortifications with the 75 mm gun, the Panthers and Tigers were in much large quantity than expected, and proved better in armour and firepower to the Shermans. Though in the bocage country of France, the Allies lost more tanks to hidden anti-tank guns and infantry weapons than to tanks. Despite these losses, the mass production of M4 Sherman back in the United States ensured that enough tanks were available for the Allied Forces as they spearhead through France, plus the lack of any other capable tanks meant they had to use the Shermans for the time being. The large quantities of Shermans produced during the war gave the Allied armoured units a major advantage of being fully equipped as the German panzer divisions were rarely in full strength, with some US infantry divisions having more tracked vehicles than some of the panzer divisions. Due to the high attrition rates, tank crews sometimes add [[Add-on Armor|improvised armour]] onto their Shermans in the form of sandbags and logs in hopes of increased survival, but these were determined to be ineffective from evaluations. A more effective method was to have metal armour welded on in improvisation, and an official project was made for such "assault tanks" that ended with the [[M4A3E2|M4A3E2 "Jumbos"]] with 250 made for the Battle of Normandy. During the Battle of Normandy, the first 76 mm Shermans on the M4A1 were put into combat in Operation Cobra in limited numbers. The Allies continued to primarily use the 75 mm Shermans until the Battle of the Bulge in Winter 1944, when the commanders request only 76 mm Shermans to be brought into Europe as the battle showed the intense armour disparity with the German's large numbers of [[Panther G|Panthers]] and [[Tiger II (H)|Tiger IIs]]. While new units arriving in Europe were armed exclusively with 76 mm armed-Shermans, the veteran units kept the 75 mm Shermans, to which it continued to do well against softer targets with little threat from German armour due to their extreme declining numbers.

====Pacific theater====
The M4 Sherman's importance in the Pacific theatre was less than that of the European theatre due to the different tactical doctrine established from the amphibious nature of combat. Only about 20 tank battalions fielded by the US Army were sent to support the Pacific theatre of operations, compared to the total 16 armoured divisions and 70 tank battalions they have in service. The low priority in tanks was due to the following reasons. Firstly, the jungle terrain on most of the islands fought for against the Japanese were unsuitable for the deployment of large-scale armoured units, relegating armour support to light tanks such as the [[M3 Stuart|M3 Stuarts]]. Secondly, the Japanese forces' armoured units were rather inferior to the American tank forces by 1943. While the Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go tank was comparable to the M2A4 light tank, the Shermans out gun these tanks by a large margin. Such a large margin that the tank crew prefer to use high-explosive shots against the Japanese tank than regular armour-piercing as the AP rounds would penetrate straight through without causing much damage in the interior of the tank. The Japanese developed the Type 3 Chi-Nu and the Type 4 Chi-To to fight back the Shermans, but these two never saw combat as they were kept at the Japanese Homeland for the defence against the Allied invasion.

The Shermans, when deployed, were superior to most of the Japanese anti-tank equipment and often were essential to some of the Marine's advances on some of the island assaults. In 1945, the equipping of flamethrower Shermans known as ''M4A3R3'', nicknamed "Zippos", were a significant boost to the infantry's firepower in having a very long range of fire compared to the standard infantry-modelled flamethrowers with the benefit of being in an armoured vehicle. The Zippos are able to flush out enemy combatants from within heavily fortified bunkers and caves that would be dangerous for even flamethrower infantry to take out. The Japanese solution against the Shermans, other than with their 47 mm anti-tank guns, were often suicidal tactics ranging from placing satchel charges right onto the tank, using pole-mounted anti-tank mines to reach and destroy the tank or even simply throwing oneself underneath a tank with mine or other explosive and triggering it manually.

====Lend-Lease====
The Sherman tank was given out in large numbers to American Allies during World War II under the Lend-Lease policy. While America retained about 20,361 Shermans in the Army and Marine Corps, 17,184 went to Britain (about 34% of Shermans produced and 78% of Shermans given out) and the Soviet Union obtained 4,102 Shermans.<ref name="ZalogaArmorT2">Zaloga Steven. ''Armored Thunderbolt: The U.S. Army Sherman in World War II'' Stackpole Books, 2008, "The British Sherman"</ref> China obtained 812 Shermans, Brazil with 53, and New Zealand and Australia for 153 Shermans total. Other countries using the Shermans were Poland, Free France, and Czechoslovakia. The British deployed the Sherman among their armoured squadrons in such a large number to become the standard tank of their armoured forces. The increased threat of German tanks in the European theatre also provoked the British to up-gun the M4 Sherman with a more capable gun, resulting in the [[Sherman Firefly|Firefly]].

====Post-War====
After the war, the Shermans continued serving America and its allies as the [[M4A3 (76) W|M4A3E8]] with a new suspension and 76 mm gun. The [[M26|M26 Pershing]] that was introduced late in World War II was phased out for the Shermans due to its unreliability, and the Sherman stayed until the [[M46|M46 Patton]] was introduced. After being phased out of American service, many other countries still used the Sherman as their main tank, mainly Israel where they up-gun the tank with the much powerful post-war French [[SA50 (75 mm)|75 mm]] and [[CN-105-F1 (105 mm)|105 mm]] gun as the [[M4A4 (SA50)|M-50]] and [[M-51]] respectively (nicknamed "Super Shermans"). These proved successful as they were able to fight against the Soviet-supplied [[T-54 (1947)|T-54 tanks]] and [[T-34-85]]s in Middle East service, proving the Sherman as a successful and adaptable design for many years to come.

{{break}}
{{Navigation-Start|{{Annotation|Archive of the in-game description|An archive of the historical description of the vehicle that was presented in-game prior to Update 1.55 'Royal Armour'}}}}
{{Navigation-First-Simple-Line}}
The M4A1 was an M4 medium tank with a cast hull, cast turret, and the 350 hp Continental R-975, a gas-powered radial engine. The M4A1 went into full-fledged production in February 1942, with 6,281 rolling off the lines between then and January 1944. The hull's front plate initially had viewing slits cut out, though later it was made from one piece. The front section of the gear compartment was made out of three pieces, subsequently becoming a single section. The M34 cannon mantlet was replaced with the M34A1 by 1943.

M4A1 tanks were shipped to Great Britain as part of Lend-Lease. The Sherman's baptism by fire came in North Africa, where the British thought the new American tanks played a fairly significant role in the victory at El Alamein. M4A1s also served in Italy.

The tank enjoyed a strong reputation in battle, quickly replacing the M3 as the Americans' main medium tank. The M4 turned out to be best for desert combat, a conclusion confirmed by post-war experience as well. The flat, wide open spaces in Africa were a perfect natural environment allowing it to exploit its reliability, high speed, comfortable interior, excellent field of view, and radio communications. The tank's range suffered, but the Allies handled that issue by streamlining their supply lines. In addition, tankers often carried along with extra fuel in canisters. A high silhouette made the M4 easy to target, and its armament was made obsolete in 1943 with the appearance of the German Pz.V and Pz.VI tanks. The M4's weaknesses were an engine, ammunition, and fuel tanks prone to fire and explosions due to its relatively light armour.
{{Navigation-End}}

== Media ==


;Skins

* [https://live.warthunder.com/feed/camouflages/?vehicle=us_m4a1_1942_sherman Skins and camouflages for the {{PAGENAME}} from live.warthunder.com.]

;Videos
{{Youtube-gallery|WER1vaO-y8w|'''M4A1 - Tank Review''' - ''Napalmratte''|48O5JUtPqtU|'''Tank Chats #39 Sherman M4A1 "Michael"''' - ''The Tank Museum''}}

== See also ==


;Other M4A1 vehicles in the game

* [[M4A1 (76) W]] - American version with a [[M1 (76 mm)|76 mm gun]]
* [[Sherman II]] - A version in the British tech tree
* [[M4A1 (France)]] - A version in the French tech tree
* [[M4A1 (FL10)]] - A premium version with an [[AMX-13]] turret placed on it; located in the French tech tree
* [[M4A1 (75) W (China)]] - A version with a T23 turret, but with a 75 mm gun, in the Chinese tech tree

== External links ==


* [[wt:en/devblog/current/711|[Devblog] Developers about M4A1]]
* [[wikipedia:M4_Sherman|[Wikipedia] M4 Sherman]]
* [https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/M4_Sherman <nowiki>[Tanks Encyclopedia]</nowiki> Medium Tank M4 Sherman]
* [https://flyingheritage.org/Explore/The-Collection/United-States/M4A1-Sherman-Medium-Tank.aspx <nowiki>[Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum]</nowiki> M4A1 Sherman Medium Tank]

=== References ===

;Bibliography
<references />

{{USA medium tanks}}