Allied Tanks in Normandy 1944 by Steven J. Zaloga & Felipe Rodriguez

Author:Steven J. Zaloga & Felipe Rodriguez
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2020-11-21T00:00:00+00:00

A Sherman V of the 10th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Fort Garry Horse) near Faubourg de Vaucelles in July 1944 around the time of Operation Atlantic. (LAC)

A Sherman V leads a column of tanks of the 11th Armoured Division through the ruins of Flers on August 17, 1944.

This led to a new program to adapt the existing towed 17-pdr antitank gun as a tank gun. In December 1943, the Royal Ordnance Factory was awarded a contract for the conversion of 2,100 Sherman Vs to carry the 17-pdr; in the event, other versions were also converted, principally the Sherman I. Conversion of Sherman tanks to carry the 17-pdr gun began in January 1944. The modified tanks were designated with a “C” suffix in their designation, for example, Sherman VC. The 17-pdr version was eventually nicknamed as the Firefly. There were 342 Fireflies in service with the 21st Army Group in June 1944, about 13 percent of Sherman strength. In the first phase, the Sherman 17-pdr was issued on a scale of one per troop, with a plan to gradually increase this. Some regiments concentrated their four 17-pdrs in a single troop rather than spreading them out. The need for a larger proportion of 17-pdr Shermans became a more pressing issue after widespread contact with large numbers of German Panther tanks in Normandy in June 1944.

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