Spiney M-4

[ikar]

I used to have a book that contained a picture of a Sherman half submerged in a crater. The top of the turret was covered with spikes someone had welded on to prevent someone from prying open the hatches, or so I would think. Has anyone else seen this photo? I've tried looking but so far, no luck.

[Tank]

The 'hedgehog' is welded nails that the 5th Marines used on Iwo to prevent explosives being attached to the hatches and ventilator. The rest of the hull top was covered with sand bags. Also common with the 5th was adding saw tooth cut sheet metal on the sides on top of and between the wood sides and the hull. They also added wood boards along the bogies. 5th tanks were mostly tan and brick red over forest green. The brick red looked like random clouds.

The late David Harper has a great book called Tank Warfare on Iwo Jima, it has lots of photos and info about Marine shermans. Sherman's on Iwo were very colorful, especially 4th tanks with a number of tanks sporting a 4 color camo scheme. They used chicken wire cages in place of the nail spikes used by the 5th.

HTH

[Netz]

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