3. The Sherman Tank
The US and other Western Allies favored these reliable and easily-mobile battle tanks. The Medium Tank (M4) Sherman was cheap to produce, so they were readily available due to a greater number of them being made than any other tank. This tank, named by the British in honor of the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, was distributed by the thousands through the Lend-Lease Program to the British Commonwealth, as well as the Soviet Union. The M4s were also vastly superior to other tanks because they could bypass transport restrictions and limitations posed by some roads, bridges ports, etc. due to their smaller size and mobility.
Originally manufactured to replace the M3 “Grant/Lee” medium tank, the first Shermans were produced in 1942. Some early productions of this tank saw combat in North Africa in 1943. Even though thoroughly outclassed by the Tiger, Panther, and King Tiger tanks, this model proved itself superior and effective against the German Mk II and Mk IV Panzers. They were notorious for their flammability thus nicknamed “Ronsons” after a lighter with the slogan “lights every time.”