Do you know this Tank? Help Battlefield Vegas learn more about their combat vet M4A3 Sherman!

An M4A3 75W Sherman Tank disabled on Iwo Jima. This tank is now in Las Vegas!

Update!

Battlefield Vegas is getting very close to having a fully operational Sherman! I wanted to get an update up with a few new pics. Unfortunately, I had a computer failure, and that lead to some trouble getting everything back up and running. I am now up and running, and almost where I was, before the failure.

As you can see in the images below, the M4A3 at Battlefield Vegas is also about ready to go. It runs, drives and will shoot soon enough.

In this image, you can see the tank is nearly ready to roll. The wood mounted to the sides was used to keep the Japanese from sticking magnetic explosive charges to the tank. The planks over the suspension to keep them from stuffing satchel charges against the suspension and weaker lower hull armor. Also note the water tank on the back, these tanks were carried so Marine infantry could get water from the tankers.
The outside of the late-model M4 75mm Turret. You can see the little stuff all over the commander’s cupola were steel spikes had been added by the Marines. These spikes were to keep explosives from being placed directly on weak spots, like the periscopes, and the hatches themselves.
The turret basket, ready to go into the tank. This basket is almost 100% fabricated since the original stuff was rusted well beyond use.

This is the gun mount. It has to be restored, to mount the 75mm M3 gun they have for the tank. I have no doubt, after seeing how far the tank has come from when Battlefield Vegas got it, that the mount will look nearly perfect when done.

What’s left of the gun mount, after seven or so decades in a tank with no maintenance, that was used as a target.
This should give you an idea of what it should look like.

That’s all for now, I should have more updates, with pictures and stories on this tank soon! 7/28

Do you know this Tank?

Do you know an Iwo Jima vet, or are you one? Very little is know about this M4A3, it saw combat on Iwo, but was repaired before that. You can see the distinctive repair on the co-drivers side of the hull. You can see the plate added on, and the very noticeable notch at the top. They know the tank was with the 5th USMC Tank Battalion, and it was disabled on Iwo. Not much is know about the repair, or why it was needed, or even what damaged the tank on Iwo.

The tank today, well on the way back to life, the original repair in place.

As you can see in the image above, the tank is being restored. This has been a real bear of a Job since the tank spent some time as a range target and was a little rusty.

You can see how rough and rusty the tank was when it arrived. The interior looked as bad as the outside. Much progress has been made and it runs and drives today.

I wanted to get this page up tonight, but we are far from finished with this story. I have more images, and stories on the restoration to share, and more info on the men doing it. Watch this page in the coming days for updates!

Here’s a short video of the tank moving under is own power!

If you have any info or comments, email me at :
theshermantank.com@gmail.com