Vehicle:M4 ShermanFrom CoH-Stats
TacticsThe Sherman isn’t total rubbish, but it’s no Tiger either this is the key point to keep it mind. While it can take more hits then most light vehicles it will still die quickly in direct battle with enemy Anti-tank units. AT guns are a particular bane as the Sherman lacks the range or power to destroy them quickly or the armor to really tank hits while flanking. Add to this the fact that any player worth his salt probably has shreks nearby to cover said AT gun and this makes charging even more ill advised in most cases. While it’s true of all tanks it’s more so with the Sherman then most, tanks are not disposal they cost allot and if all you do with the Sherman is blindly rush the enemy force an infantry squad or two to fall back and then get blown up it was a waste of money. To break even you need to kill at least 3 or 4 infantry squads or defeat another tank or several light vehicles. The key to using a Sherman is combined arms and tactics while a PE or Wehr player might be able to mass up tanks and vehicles and steam roll his way to victory massing Sherman’s is not really a viable tactic against anything besides AI. (And even then it can turn into a disaster if they mass AT guns which they’re sometimes want to do.) Sherman’s once upgraded with there 76mm can be counted on to counter pretty much anything at or below Panzer 4 level reasonably well it won’t be a curb stomp but with any sort of support they can compete on an even level and win. On that noted the 76mm is VITAL if you intend to attempt to fight tanks with your Sherman the 75mm is utterly inadequate for anything heavier then a Puma. The 76mm won’t turn the Sherman into a Firefly, but it’ll at least give it a pretty even shake against Panzer 4s and Stugs. The cost has been reduced now and I normally try to get the 76mm after my second Sherman, sometimes my first if it looks like I have a fuel advantage and he isn’t fielding allot of vehicles. That said I normally don’t get it before the first Sherman as getting the first real tank out can be a game winner if you beat his armor so I like to try and get at least one tank out first. However even with the 76mm gun things like Panthers, King Tigers, and Tank Destroyers require supporting arms or some luck and skill. The first and golden rule when using Sherman’s is simple, ALWAYS try to flank. Unless flanking involves driving into a field of AT guns and garrisoned panzershreks a Sherman should never try to fight anything head on. The Sherman is fast with good turret rotation and with the right terrain and good micro it can often maneuver around the enemy getting in more shots on his weaker flank armor then it takes in turn. Having several Sherman’s helps three of them with the rest of my army in other units is my preferred end game set up on most medium sized (2vs.2 or 3vs.3) maps. One of the Sherman’s should charge and dance around the enemy trying to draw his attention the other two should hold at a distance but separated a bit from each other with this set up you can normally always expect to be landing some rear armor hits. AT guns can be used to replace the other Shermans earlier in the game (and supplement it later), but these will reduce the mobility of the entire formation. If possible massed armor battles ought to be avoid focused fire takes down Sherman’s at a fairly frightful rate since most hits from any serious AT weapon are going to penetrate and do damage. If possible you ought to try and use the Sherman’s superior speed to draw enemies into ambushes or at least break up the order of there formation so picking them off is easier.
Armored: Armored used to be able to truly spam Sherman’s since war machine meant any losses simply rolled right back to the front, but War Machine has now been nerfed into oblivion and in practice the armored docs Sherman’s aren’t really anymore expendable then others. Armored also used to be able to count on a pair of heavy Pershing tanks for some muscle. The Pershing didn’t get nerfed, but you can only have one and while useful this is a serious hit to this docs armored spearheads. Faster tank production is fairly useless as if you have decent macro you shouldn’t be running the kind of surplus that would allow for rapid production of multiple tanks to begin with, field repair isn’t suck but its expensive and you gain it at the cost of any off map support to break up entrenched AT defenses. Calliopes used to be great, but got nerfed to there point the scatter so much they’re basically useless unless they’re so close the enemy can shot at them, and even then they sometimes managed to miss they also lost there main gun. A recent patch slightly rebuffed them, but they’re still pretty much a joke compared to what they once where. You also have no ranged infantry AT when playing armored while sticky bombs aren’t bad they still cost munitions. Bazooka shells don’t and the later can be fired from the cover of a building or sandbags instead of forcing you to run onto often exposed ground to basically hurl a grenade at a tank. This can be a serious downside when trying to use combined arms against enemy tanks. Infantry: The infantry doctrine has some good stuff for the Sherman user Rangers are hands down some of the best units to have supporting your Sherman’s there fire up ability allows them to charge down AT guns or flank tanks easily and with SMG and Bazookas they can do serious damage to either. They presence of a serious infantry threat also often forces the enemy to invest it counters instead of massing up to hard counter the Sherman’s. Artillery strikes are costly but a great way to break up some annoying AT guns, late game a single howitzer can serve much the same purpose on smaller maps. Really though if you’re taking this Doctrine we all know you’re taking it for the Rangers… and you know what that’s hardly a bad reason at all. As mentioned rangers work great in support of almost anything and by themselves are nearly worth the pick. Airborne: Though you might not think it Airborne actually works well with armor it has a number of powers and units that prove rather nice to have when trying to use armor. Paratroopers have AT weapons though the Recoilless rifles set up can be a nuisance it was improved in a recent patch there reinforce cost was also reduced making them much more viable they can reinforce anywhere which can be a great help supporting armor on the attack in enemy controlled areas, they also vet up considerably faster then Rangers. On the downside they don’t fight infantry all that well and are much weaker in close combat then SMG armed rangers. Airborne also offers air dropped AT guns these can be a god send when confronted by unexpected enemy armor and can allow instant flanking by simply para dropping in behind enemy tanks. You’ll also have a ready supply of anywhere reinforceable paras to re-man them if they’re killed in most cases. The other side of the tree also offers some nice options too strafing runs and bombing runs can both be used to attack AT guns and the later can soften up enemy armor before you move in on it as well. Scouting passes can be nice before moving into a choke point as well and to avoid nasty ambushes. Supply drops used to be awesome, but the new MP cost makes them so-so if you’re running a big MP surplus the extra fuel and munitions can be nice, but it’s rare you have such a surplus and aren’t already winning handily anyway. Overall the Sherman is a fairly adaptable and useful tank and as the only real option in terms of true armor available to a US commander you’re going to use it so you best know how to use it well.
HistoryThe M4 Sherman medium tank was the first truly successful tank design produced by the US in WWII, and remained in use right to the end of the war. Intended for assaulting infantry and exploiting breakthroughs, it was highly mobile and its M3 75mm gun fire an effective high explosive warhead. Against other tanks it proved capable of defeating the Panzer III and IV tanks it faced in North Africa, though struggled against the heavier Tiger I. At the time of the Normandy invasion, many were up-armored, granting them more protection than the Panzer IV H medium tank it often faced. These up-armoured models usually carried the new M1 76mm gun, which had substantially better penetration, and could even punch through the front of a Panther or Tiger I at short range. The M4 Sherman in Company of Heroes is an up-armoured M4A3 model, given its performance against the Panzer IV H tank of the Wehrmacht faction.
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