A camouflaged Sherman tank, 1944 (c)

Photograph by Major Wilfred Herbert James Sale, MC, 3rd County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), World War Two, Italy, 1944 (c).

The M4 Sherman had a five man crew and was fitted with a 75 mm gun and a co-axial machine gun. The engine was an air-cooled aircraft radial mounted in the rear of the hull. Shermans had a tendency to catch fire easily, which earned them the nickname of 'Ronson lighters' by their crews and 'Tommy Cookers' by the Germans, but they were the mainstay of the British armoured units until the end of the war, when the Cromwell began to replace them.

From an album containing 241 photographs compiled by Major W H J Sale, MC, 3rd/4th County of London Yeomanry (Sharpshooters), 1943-1944.