24. Shermans Outclassed German Panzers When First Introduced
The anti-M4 myth claims that Shermans were routinely outclassed by German panzers. However, when Shermans entered service in 1942, they outclassed the German tanks then in service: they were better armed and more heavily armored. The main German battle tank of the time was the Panzer III, and its standard antitank gun was 37mm, whose shells the Sherman shrugged off. When Panzer IIIs were upgunned to 50mm, they still had to get very close to inflict damage. In the meantime, the Sherman’s 75mm gun could kill anything the Germans fielded until the arrival of the Tiger.
Shermans got an unfair rap for being poor tanks, mainly because they did not perform well when fighting the heavier Tigers and Panthers that were introduced later in the war. However, Tigers and Panthers represented only a small fraction of German tanks and fighting other tanks represented only a small fraction of the Shermans’ workload – a fraction that the Shermans had never been intended to perform.