M4A4 (1st PTG) (China)

␗M4A4 (1st PTG)

␗M4A4 (1st PTG)

China

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.7	3.7	3.7

Class:

PREMIUM

Medium tank

Purchase:1 300

STORE

Description

The ␗Medium Tank M4A4 Sherman (1st PTG) is a gift rank II Chinese medium tank with a battle rating of 3.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".

General info

Survivability and armour

The hull is very similar to the American M4 Sherman, with a 50.8 mm thick upper glacis and protruding hatches interrupting the glacis ( augmented with applique armour). Weak spots here include the machine gun port and ventilator on the right side. The hull sides feature applique armour plates covering the ammunition storage racks. The turret is also very similar but lacks the applique armour on the right cheek, leaving a small weakened zone in that area. Frontal protection is quite good for its rank and shots from smaller anti-tank guns can generally be shrugged off, particularly when hull down. However more powerful guns such as the Panzer IV F2's long 75 mm can destroy the tank easily, so care should be taken.

Guns with good penetration against sloped armour, such as those on the YaG-10 (29-K) and SU-85 are particularly threatening as they are more than capable of penetrating your frontal armour without much issue. There are also a number of weak spots, notably, the flatter armour in front of the driver and machine gunner, the hull machine gun, the round section of armour in front of the right ammo rack, the rounded area in front of the transmission, and a thin square-shaped section of armour on the front of the turret to the right of the main gun. The side armour is only 38.1 mm thick and can be easily penetrated by just about any anti-tank gun, even many anti-aircraft guns, but the applique armour on this model can help if the tank is angled.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	45	6	32.2	620	811	19.25	25.19
Realistic	41	5		354	425	10.99	13.2

Armaments

Main armament

75 mm M3
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
97			-10°/+25°	±180°	Vertical
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	22.85	31.62	38.40	__.__	45.18
Realistic	14.28	16.80	20.4	22.60	24.00
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
6.50	5.75	5.30	5.00

 Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M72 shot	AP	90	88	78	66	57	49
M61 shot	APCBC	101	99	88	76	66	57
M48 shell	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10

Shell details
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
							0%	50%	100%
M72 shot	619	6.3	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°
M61 shot	618	6.79	1.2	20	63.7	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M48 shell	463	6.3	0.4	0.5	666	+0°	79°	80°	81°

Smoke characteristic
Ammunition	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Screen radius in m	Screen time in s	Screen hold time in s:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):
M89	259	3	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks 

Machine guns

The M4A4 is armed with both a pintle-mounted 12.7 mm M2HB .50 cal machine gun and a coaxial 7.62 mm M1919A4 .30 cal machine gun. The latter is useful as a secondary machine gun to supplement the larger 12.7 mm machine gun, both increasing the volume of fire you can put out in a burst of your machine guns and providing a backup machine gun in case your .50 cal gunner runs out of ammo or is knocked out. The 12.7 mm machine gun is more useful as it does more damage and has more penetration. It can swivel independently of the main gun, but not a full 360 degrees around so you will still need to traverse the turret to follow moving targets. Both can be used to shoot at aircraft and unarmored spots on enemy vehicles, and the .50 cal specifically is capable of damaging vehicles with very light armour due to the penetration.

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
600 (200)				576	-10°/+25°	±60°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Coaxial mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
3,000 (250)				500	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

Pros:

• Excellent gun depression of -10° plus the angled frontal turret allows it to utilise hills very well
• Great penetration and post-penetration damage when using M61 shells; can frontally penetrate and one-shot most opponents like the T-34, Crusader, M4 and others
• Vertical stabiliser allows it to fire on the move, or, in a sudden encounter, fire before the enemy which is critical
• Well angled frontal armour; when angling the hull it can deflect some low calibre / low-penetrating shells like the Stuarts' 37 mm, 75 mm M1, 76 mm F-34 / Zis-5 and others
• Adequate top speed allows it to get to positions in time, or to do tactical manoeuvres like flanking
• Rather fast reload speed for follow up shots
• Plenty of reserve ammunition for prolonged fighting without replenishing at captured points
• Due to it being a part of the German tech tree, you will not have to face the long barrel 75 mm (RB/SB) which increases its survivability quite a bit

Cons:

• Large profile and weak side armour; flankers like the M24 Chaffee can easily see and penetrate it
• Frontal armour is still inadequate, will get frontally penetrated and one-shot by tanks like Achilles, M10 and T-34-57
• The best M61 shell struggles to penetrate heavy targets like KV-1 (ZiS-5), Churchill Mk.III or even the T-34 and M10 when angled
• Trajectory is curved and velocity is low due to its short barrel, thus distant/moving targets are hard to shoot at
• Hull traverse is quite slow, making it sluggish in a turn
• Roof armour of 19.5 mm thick is vulnerable to airstrikes with AP cannons. For example the widely used M2 Browning

History

Vehicle background

The M4A4 (1st PTG) was one of many M4 medium tanks armed with a 75 mm gun provided by the U.S to China through the lend-Lease program in April 1944. It saw service during World War 2 (1939-45) in China against the Japanese and went on to serve in the China civil war (1946-49) where it was destroyed by China communist forces in 1949. The tank had a "Tiger face" painted on it's manlet and "claws" painted on the armoured plate in front of the driver. The top of the tank was painted yellow in order for it to be recognized by the allied air unit.

Media

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See also

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

External links

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• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
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China medium tanks
ZTZ59	Type 59 · ZTZ59A · ZTZ59D1
ZTZ69	Type 69 · Type 69-IIa
ZTZ88/96	ZTZ88A · ZTZ88B
	ZTZ96 · ZTZ96A · ZTZ96A (P)
ZTZ99	ZTZ99-II · ZTZ99-III
ZTZ99A	ZTZ99A · WZ1001(E) LCT
Export series	MBT-2000 · VT4A1
ROC	CM11
Other	Т-34-85 Gai · Object 122MT "MC"
Bangladesh	T-69 II G
Japan	␗Chi-Ha · ␗Chi-Ha Kai
Pakistan	Al-Khalid-I
USA	␗M4A4 · ␗M4A4 (1st PTG) · ␗M4A1 (75) W · ␗M48A1 · ␗M60A3 TTS
USSR	␗T-34 (1943) · ␗Т-34-85 (S-53) · T-34-85 No.215 · Т-62 №545