Sherman Tanks

Hero of the Soviet Union Dmitriy Loza has carefully crafted his World War II experiences with American-provided Sherman tanks into a highly readable memoir. Between the fall of 1943 and August 1945, Loza fought in the Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. He commanded a tank battalion during much of this period and had three Shermans shot out from under him. Commanding The Red Army's Sherman Tanks is the first available detailed examination of the Red Army's exploitation of American war material during World War II and provides firsthand testimony on tactical command decisions, group objectives and how they were accomplished. It took the fall of the Soviet Empire before first-hand information like this could become part of military studies materials here in the west. James Gebhard's translation has made Dmitriy Loza's military memoirs easily accessible to both military professionals, World War II buffs, and nonspecialist general readers alike.

With production in excess of 55,000 the Sherman tank was eventually in service with most Allied armies of the Second World War and by the time of the Normandy landings was the mainstay of Britain's armoured battalions.

Once described as the worst tank that ever won the war , the Sherman tank was never going to be the equal of the German heavies in a direct tank-on-tank confrontation. It was never meant to be.