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Comments by Dan Fong, Staff:
The above M4A1, armed with a 76mm gun, has
been penetrated and the ammo is cooking off. Bergerhausen was
on the route of Task Force Doan, and presumably the tank was
from the 2nd Bn, 32nd Armored Regiment. There is no available
information on what happened to the crew. The Germans put up
a spirited defense at the town, including counter attacks with
tanks.
The Sherman tank in general was nicknamed
"The Ronson" by some tankers because "it always
lights the first time". In actuality the Sherman's tendency
to catch fire was only slightly worse than any other tank. The
problem goes back to the Sherman being under-armored for the
time frame 1944-1945. When penetrated, there was a good chance
of stowed ammo being hit, especially on earlier versions of the
Sherman. The German Panther had a reputation for catching fire
also, but little has been written about that.
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