[evgen]

This is the sort BS stories that capture the imagination of people who don’t know what they are talking about but are trivially disproven by actual facts and statistics. At US entry to the war the Sherman has equivalent tank and crew losses due to fire as similar tanks from other countries and by the end of the war The Sherman was the _least_ likely tank to suffer an ammunition fire of all the major tanks fielded in the war by a very large margin. The biggest tell for this if you look at the stats is to compare vehicle losses and crew losses (e.g. a penetrated Sherman frequently lost one crew member while a T-34 with a similar hit that causes a loss of the tank frequently only had one survivor.) Oh, and the erroneous derogatory term popularized by Belton Cooper's widely discredited book was "Tommy Cooker" and not Ronson.

The T-34 was fit for purpose for certain, as long as the purpose was to leave a trail of broken-down tanks from factory to battlefield. Prior to 1944 more T-34s were lost to mechanical problems than to enemy action.

[willyt]

Tommy Roaster is the translation from German for their nickname for British tanks. The German tanks were much better than the British tanks according to this primary source[0]. I don't know about Sherman tanks.

[0] https://soundcloud.com/historyhit/captain-david-render-tank

[what-the-grump]

Did the US engage the Germans in heavy armor combat similar to that of the Russia’s e.g when Hitler was trying to take Moscow?

[evgen]

Infrequently. The US were early proponents of combined arms tactics. Find heavy armour? Call in artillery or air support -- one of the advantages of owning the airspace over the battlefield.

Oh, and the only Tiger tanks that got close to Moscow are the captured ones on display at Kubinka.

[isk517]

The US Shermans were equipped with cannons that had weaker armor penetration by design so that they could fire more potent high energy rounds that would take out infantry since they were expect to meet very little tank resistance. I think part of the 5:1 myth is from the fact that out of a platoon of 5 Shermans only 1 would be equipped with a gun that could penetrate a Tiger from the front.

[evgen]

Correct. US pre-war tank doctrine was that enemy armor should be taken out with AT guns and dedicated tank destroyers (e.g. M10 & M36) while the Shermans were infantry support and to create and take advantage of breakthroughs to flank the enemy or take out supply and ammo depots. For US units all tanks in the platoon of four tended to be the same, but UK tank corps that had Sherman Fireflys available (a Sherman with a British 17 lb gun stuffed into the turret) would often run one Firefly per platoon since the 17 lb gun could engage and destroy at range any German tank it encountered. This was why the longer barrel on the Firefly tank was often camouflaged to look like a short 75/76mm gun to reduce the chance that it would be identified and targeted.