- Yes.
- No.
- In a future Dutch/BeNeLux techtree.
- In the French BeNeLux sub-tree
- Other (Please explain in the comments).
- I said “No” in the first question.
Hello everyone, I’m on a mission to suggest every single M4 Sherman tank used by the Netherlands!
This is the Dutch M4(105)!
Dutch M4(105) in a field
Source: Foto's
History
Spoiler
A Dutch M4(105) driving through what seems to be a militairy depot/dump
Source: Foto'sAs soon as the second world war had ended, the Netherlands was in a bad shape. Years under German occupation had left it broken and without any kind of Army. Getting the Army up and running again was a top priority for the Netherland leadership.
Luckily when all the allied forces were moving out of Europe they didn’t take everything with them. Many large militairy dumps could be found in various locations. In the Netherlands there were two large onces, one at the Deelen Airbase, and one near Enschede. The Deelen dump was filled with ex-Canadian equipment, and the Enschede dump with both British and Canadian equipment.
The total list of different gun and vehicle types present in those dump is far to much to list here. But during 1946 many of these vehicles were purchased for a cheap price. Everything bought from these dumps were given a class designation R1, R2, D or S.
- R1 stood for simple repair (Within 50 work hours)
- R2 stood for thorough repair
- D stood for disassembly for spare parts
- S stood for demolition.
Any of the vehicles with the R1 or R2 class would end up getting repaired and put in service.
Later it was determined that a total of 7373 vehicles were present in these militairy dumps.
The Bureau of Spoils of War would end up buying 1168 of these for a total of 1 Million Guilders. 253 of these were of the R1 class, 731 were R2 and 184 were of class D or S.That now starts to bring us to the topic of this suggestion. The dump in Enschede was mostly filled with tanks, and most of those were Shermans of various types. The Dutch would, at atleast some point, have every single main Sherman variant in service. From the M4 to the M4A4.
A total of 30 of these where the M4(105). A large number of the Dutch Shermans were used for training schools. And, from what I can find, the same was done with these M4(105)'s. On the handfull of photos we can find of them we always see them in a militairy depot, or on the photo used at the start of this post we see one in what seems to be a training area in the Veluwe.
Some interesting features we can see on these M4(105)'s is their quite clean look. There does not seem to be much equipment carried on the outside of the tank. There are registration names written on the side of the tanks, and even some handwritten things. So simply put, a real training tank.
There are two features seen on the tanks that do have an effect in War Thunder:
- First is the lack of machine guns. There is no roof mounted machine gun. And while the hull machine gun mounting point is still there, I do not see an actual machine guns located in that spot.
- The second thing is the extra welded armour plates on the front of the hull. Welding extra plates on the front like this is standard issue for the older 56° front plate models of the Sherman. But on the 47° front plate models like this M4(105) it’s a little less common.
When the Dutch army started to move on and update their tank force with newer models, like the Centurion tank, the older Sherman tanks were started to be phased out of service. Luckily there is a great number of ex-Dutch Sherman tanks still present in museums and memorial nowadays.
Two M4(105)'s at a depot, note how the one on the left has the Duckbill end connectors fitted to the tracks
Source: tankdozer2
Specifications
Spoiler
Mass: 30.6 tons
Crew: 5Powerplant: Continental R-975 C1 radial engine
Engine horsepower: 400 hp
Max speed: 39 km/h
Suspension type: Vertical Volute Spring System (VVSS)
Track extensions available: Duckbill end connectors on the outside of the tracksArmour:
Hull: (47°, Large Hatch, Late 1-Piece Differential Cover)
- Front: 63.5 mm at 47° + 25.4 mm welded plates in front of the hull crew
- Sides: 38.1 mm at 0°
- Rear: 38.1 mm at 22°
- Roof: 19.5 mm
Turret: (105mm D78541 turret)
- Mantlet: 88.9 mm
- Front: 76.2 mm
- Sides: 50.8 mm
- Rear: 50.8 mm
- Roof: 25.4 mm
Armament:
- 1 x 1 105 mm M4 howitzer
- Ammunition storage: 66 rounds
- 1 x 1 7.62 mm M1919 coaxial machine gun
- Ammunition storage: 3000 rounds
Hull and roof mounted machine guns are not present on this model for the Dutch
Ingame
Spoiler
I know what you might say, it’s just another M4 Sherman. And you’d be right! Normally the vehicles I suggest are unique vehicles I’d want to see ingame. But in this case it’s just a M4 Sherman.
The reason I’m suggesting this, and all other Dutch operated Sherman tanks, is because I feel that they are still a necessary part of a potential independent BeNeLux techtree (Not the sad sub-tree we have now). ← Written on the 23rd of Januari 2025The Sherman tank was the backbone of the Dutch Army just after the second world war, so they do have some historical value to the Dutch.
Ofcourse the BeNeLux has been added to France, so this is now the only option where Dutch vehicles will go to. But it must be said that the Netherlands and France have nothing in common, and do not make sense to combine together ingame.
Front view of a Dutch M4(105)
Source: Foto's
That would be all for today, see you next time!
Sources
Spoiler
Main source:
- “Wiel en Rups, Voertuigen van de landmacht 1945-2015” book by Sander Ruys
Extra sources:
Photos: