Sherman

Town and administrative headquarters of Grayson County, northeast Texas, USA; population (2000) 35,100. It is located 88 km/55 mi north of Dallas, near Lake Texoma (the Red River), and 24 km/15 mi south of the Oklahoma state line. It is a processing and shipping centre for agricultural products; textiles, electronics, and machinery are manufactured. Austin College (Presbyterian) was founded in Sherman in 1849.

Settled in 1846, it developed as a stage line stop in the 1850s. In the 1870s the railway reached the town; Sherman today remains a freight line centre. A distribution point for regional oil, crops, and livestock, it developed industrially after World War II.

Sherman

A US army World War II Sherman tank. The Sherman tank was used extensively by the Allied forces during World War II.

A camouflaged Sherman tank photographed in Italy in 1944. Sherman tanks were manufactured in the USA from 1942 to 1946, and used by Allied forces throughout World War II.

US Medium Tank M4. It was used by all Allied armies in World War II, and although no match for the German Tiger or Panther until given a heavier gun, it proved reliable, easy to operate and maintain, and a suitable basis for several variations such as rocket-launchers, mine-clearers, swimming tanks, and self-propelled guns. In its basic form it weighed 32 tons, had a speed of 40 kph/25 mph, and a crew of five.

After putting the Medium Tank M3 Grant into production the US Army took the basic hull and chassis design and added a new turret with a 75 mm gun. This became the M4 Sherman, standardized 5 September 1941. Mass production began March 1942 and 49,234 were built between then and June 1945.