Sherman Firefly Hybrid IC - Walkaround - 11th Armoured Division Monument.

Sherman Firefly Hybrid IC - Walkaround - 11th Armoured Division Monument - Monument Weduwe Van Enschodtbrug.

The Sherman M4 would have had a cast nose, turret and a welded hull, with a 75mm cannon.
It would have had applique armour weldedin front of the crew positions and additional armour welded to the sides.
(Early Composite Sherman tanks would not
have the applique armour)

The original Sherman design included both cast and welded upper hulls. In the rush to increase production,
Because cast hulls could be manufactured cheaper and faster than welded hulls and since the front is where a good deal of the welding man-hours were spent the development of a new cast front started a front that
offered a partial solution to the higher cost of the all welded upper hull.

The Americans would call this M4 the Composite
The British designated them as Sherman I Hybrid.

From from August 1943 until January 1944 1676 M4 Composites would be produced.

The Sherman at Klein Willebroek has no historical information.
it has Serial Number 44434, and was built by Chrysler in October, 1943.
After the war it was placed on the target range and you can still see the damaged on the tank today.
it was salvaged and placed here as a monument to the
11th Armoured Division and and Robert Vekemans.

On September 4, 1944, the Germans were preparing to thoroughly destroy
the port of Antwerp. The Allies were preparing a attack on the Bridges at Boom. Robert Vekemans, which was a lieutenant
with the Engineer of the Belgian Army in 1940,
suggest that the Allies could cross the Rupel along an old and less guarded toll bridge. between Klein-Willebroek and Boom.

Because of the actions of Robert Vekemans the Allies could
attack the large boulevard bridge in Boom from both sides and liberate Antwerp.

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■ Information obtained from several sites.
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■ preservedtanks
■ pantser.net
■ the.shadock.free.fr/Tanks_in_France

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