Originally posted by Bodhi
Gear,
The only reason the M-26 was employed in small numbers was because Patton fought so damn hard to keep the Sherman production up and the Pershing production down. His (Patton's) theory was that American armour should be fast and manueverable, and that tanks should not fight tanks, just exploit break throughs. It was this "doctrine" that held up the Pershing's production when it could have been available in large numbers to combat the far superior German tanks.
Some in the army felt that Patton should have been held accountable for the deaths of so many of his tankers owing to his flawed doctrine. His death at the end of the war stopped any further action against him, and a legend was allowed to form, while in reality, many who served under him hated him for the pompous, arrogant, egotistical arse he was.
Somebody has been reading "Deathtraps" by Belton Cooper. The kindest thing that can be said about that is that it is full of crap. Patton, a field commander, had NO influence at all on tank development and deployment. And the doctrine wasn't his, it was McNair's baby if anyones.
The T20 series was in development from sometime in '43, and there is no way that the T25/26 could have been operational much sooner than it was. Besides, the US didn't get exposed to the Panther until 1q '44, and the Tiger was seen as a limited production, limited role heavy tanks, and rightly so.
Given the success of the M4 in N.Africa and Italy there wasn't any obvious need for a better protected tank prior to Normandy. Lack of better armament is less excusable, but the upcoming 76mm was felt to be adequate, unfortunately it wasn't. A 90mm armed M4 would have been ideal, it might have been possible to shoehorn the 90mm into the T23 developed turret, and an M4 with a T26 turret was considered. But a properly developed 90mm tank, the T25/26 would have been available just as soon, and M4/90mm would have interfered with their production.
If you want a more accurate history of the M26 development, find "Pershing" by Hunnicut. Cooper is an interesting read for the historical anecdotes. But when he starts up with his hearsay M26/Patton history it rapidly reaches the historical accuracy level of Huckleberry Finn.
Greg Shaw
