Nonetheless, several unofficial attempts were made to improve the firepower of the Sherman. These two tanks-and their successors, the Comet and the Centurion, which were already on the drawing board-were to replace the Sherman in British service, and so the prospect of diverting resources to mount the 17-pounder on the Sherman seemed undesirable. The second was the A30 Challenger, which was based on the Cromwell but with the even more powerful 17-pounder gun. First, there was the Cromwell tank, which was expected to use the Vickers high velocity 75 mm gun this gun would have had superior anti-tank performance to the US 75 mm and 76 mm guns that were mounted in the Sherman. Although the British Army had made extensive use of the American-built Sherman tank, it was intended that a new generation of British tanks would replace it in the anti-tank role. The idea of fitting a 17-pounder gun into a Sherman tank had initially been rejected by the Ministry of Supply's Tank Decision Board. Between 2,100 and 2,200 were manufactured before production wound down in 1945. Because the Firefly had a visibly longer barrel, crews tried to camouflage it so the tank would look like a normal 75 mm-gun Sherman from a distance. In recognition of this, German tank and anti-tank gun crews were instructed to attack Fireflies first. It soon became highly valued, as its gun could almost always penetrate the armour of the Panther and Tiger tanks it faced in Normandy, something no other British Army tank could reliably do at that time. This proved fortunate, as both the Cruiser Mk VIII Challenger and Cruiser Mk VIII Cromwell tank designs experienced difficulties and delays.Īfter the difficult problem of getting such a large gun to fit in the Sherman's turret was solved, the Firefly was put into production in early 1944, in time to equip Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group for the Normandy landings. Though they expected to have their own tank models developed soon, the previously rejected idea of mounting the 17-pounder in the Sherman was eventually accepted, despite initial government resistance.
Originally conceived as a stopgap until future British tank designs came into service, the Sherman Firefly became the most common vehicle mounting the 17-pounder in the war.ĭuring the war, the British Army made extensive use of Sherman tanks. It was based on the US M4 Sherman, but was fitted with the more powerful 3-inch (76.2 mm) calibre British 17-pounder anti-tank gun as its main weapon. The Sherman Firefly was a tank used by the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth and Allied armoured formations in the Second World War.
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