Achtung Panzer - Oosterbeek's guardian

Preserved at the Airborne Museum Hartenstein in Oosterbeek is a single M4A4 Sherman tank. 

Market Garden

The Airborne Museum Hartenstein tells the history of the Battle of Arnhem, part of operation Market Garden in 1944. Market was the airborne operation with British and US paratroopers capturing certain bridges all the way up to Arnhem. Garden was the ground offensive by XXX Corps that was tasked with relieving the paratroopers and create a corridor to invade Germany's Ruhr area, bypassing the Siegfried line. Whilst the bridges at Grave and Nijmegen were captured and secured the bridge at Arnhem could not be captured. Stiff German opposition prevented both the taking of the bridge by the paratroopers - the Battle of Arnhem - and XXX Corps reaching Arnhem in time to relieve the paratroopers. So while Shermans were deployed by XXX Corps no Shermans fought in the Battle of Arnhem. That would change in 1945 when Canadian armoured units using Shermans fought to liberate the Veluwe area.

Sherman V

This Sherman tank was built by Chrysler as an M4A4 model fitted with a 75mm cannon. Through Lend-Lease Shermans were delivered to British, Canadian and other Commonwealth forces. In British and Commonwealth service the M4A4 was known as the Sherman Mark V, Sherman V for short.

The Mark V differed from other Shermans in that is was a tid bit longer. Chrysler fitted all their M4A4 Shermans with their A57 multibank petrol engine and this engine needed more space than was available in a standard Sherman chassis. 

This also meant that the tracks were longer than usual for a Sherman, 83 'shoes' instead of 79. Attached to the shoes are extended end connectors, commonly known as duck bills. The extended end connectors were usually (retro)fitted to Shermans with the E9 suspension modification. There are still traces on the hull that show that the E9 suspension was fitted, however, it has been removed during restoration. British and Commonwealth forces did receive the duck bills though and used them on their regular Shermans.

Markings

Let's take a look at the markings on this Sherman. This particular Sherman V is displayed in Canadian markings. These markings show that this tank was part of the Fifth Canadian Armoured Division.

This triangle shows that this tank was attached to A Squadron. The colour and number indicate that it served with the 4th Troop of the Reconnaissance unit of A Squadron.

This tank is named Argyle. That this name starts with an A is no coincidence, all tanks of A Squadron had names beginning with an A. Visible in the photo above are connector points (left and right of the name) used for the E9 upgrade.

The number 51 indicates the Unit Serial, the red square indicates that this is an armoured unit.

The number 5964 is the manufacturer serial number or construction number. This unique number identifies this single tank. Its corresponding US Army serial number is 3057774. 

When a tank was shipped to the Canadians it would have received a War Department number, starting with a T. This the tank no longer carries. However in pre-2011 photos the WD number T-288627 is visible. Somewhere between 2008 and 2011 this tank received a new coat of paint. During this repainting the WD number seems to be forgotten. 

So are the markings on this Sherman accurate? I don't think so. The giveaway is the removed E9 suspension upgrade. During the Second World War only the Americans and the Free French used the E9 suspension. After the war allied nations like the Netherlands received Shermans fitted with the E9 suspension. It is my guess that Sherman 5964 is an M4A4E9 that came from Royal Dutch Army stocks and was painted up in Canadian markings to commemorate the Canadian contribution to liberating the Netherlands.

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