A Sherman Pic I bought off ebay last week

[dharper]

http://www.harpercastings.com/images/image_posts/Tarawa%20KO'd.jpg

Apparently, according to the caption (which you can't always trust!!) this Sherman ran over a Jap fuel dump and it started a fire. The crew got out but they could not recover the tank in time. The heat was so great that the ammo in the sponson cooked off and the heat had softened the hull side to the point that the ensuing blast peeled the armor back like a banana skin.

That's what it looks like to me. What do you think?

[TreadHead]

Howdy Dave,

First, thx for the pic (can never get enough of them). And, second, it would seem a logical explanation based on the photograph. Looking at the downhill side of the tank, it certainly appears that the tracks are sustantially buried (in sand), and would explain it's being there. The explosion sounds O.K., except, I din't think they stored any rounds that far forward (and certainly not that low) in the hull...

Tread.

[Havoc]

I just came across another picture of what appears to be the same tank on Tarawa, only it is shot from the opposite side! It is on Page 105 of Hammel and Lane's "Bloody Tarawa" the caption reads: "...Cannonball was lost when it was blindly driven into a burning fuel dump..." The book goes on to say that the crew escaped.

Aloha,

Johnny B

[tazz]

nice pics. i lov these pic of all this stuff

[greatbrit]

nice picture,

tread, i think your right, the ammo stowage on the right side is further back due to the radio?

cheers

joe