Welcome Pieter, nice site, & a fascinating question, which I must confess has got me stumped...

Cheers,
Adam

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Very well spotted Pieter. I have studied the British DD tanks in detail and these 'stacks' do not appear anywhere else. I can only assume that these were a local modification for the Sherman DD's that assaulted Omaha.
They don't appear to be used on the Utah DD's either.

It might be to do with the particular model of M4 that were used. The British and Canadians used 3 types of Sherman modified with the Canvas skirt on 6/6/44. The M4A1 (Sherman II), M4A2 (Sherman III) and the M4A5 (Sherman V). The cast hulled M4A1's were of the earlier 'small hatch' variety.

The Americans used mainly the later 'large hatch' M4A1.

The air intakes and exhaust systems were obviously different on each model because the three types used different engines. M4A1-Rotary, A2-Diesel, A4-Multibank

It is possible that these exhaust chimney stacks were used due to particular problem of fume inhalation suffered by the 741st/743rd Battalions encountered while training. Most DD crews preferred to stay outside the tank during the run in, especially during training, the exception being the poor drivers. Commanders were provided with a platform with a compass in a binnacle and a tiller so that they could see over the screen and steer the vessel. But the co-driver, loader and gunner would generally be on the engine deck.

Very interesting pictures, thanks for pointing them out.

Here is a US DD that made it to Germany before being destroyed.

Attached Images

Overtuned DD tank.JPG (92.8 KB, 9 views)

Welcome to the forum, Pieter. Excellent stuff - I'm fascinated. Was it possible that the 741st fitted their Shermans for both roles (DD and wading) so as to switch them around as the situation required (last-minute breakdowns, etc)?

Klive

Interesting. I just checked Hunnicutt's and didn't see anything. I wish that photo was a little clearer.

nice website, lots of info

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