America's Tiger, the M6 Heavy | Cursed by Design

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Scrap metal...

Considering the size, crew layouts and especially the costs, it was a much better idea to leave them state side and keep the cheaper and more usable M4 Sherman series in combat operations.

The "Jumbo" was the only Sherman (Lee/Grant) variant not specifically designed to kill it's crew. Their propensity to burn/explode very easily was acceptable considering the very low cost and speed of manufacture. Replacing the dead crews was also cheap and simple. The super- tanks were all a total waste of time and money. None ever saw combat.

Ordnance designed the M6 and M4 at the same time. The Army felt they would need one to face bunkers head-on and take on heavier tanks the Germans probably were working on. The crews hated it due to their cramped working conditions. The petro-electro drive showed promise so was set aside to use in the M4'S replacement the T series. The larger Wright radial powered a fluid drive that used kerosene as the hydraulic fluid. It was less problematic than the electric drive yet required more maintenance than the Army wanted to deal with. The new HVSS suspension held up but they had a constant problem with the tracks breaking from the weight. The armor commanders said they didn't need a slow heavy tank so the Army cancelled its production and used those on hand to test different turret designs for the M4 chassis, T series and the Heavy T26.

All WT players rn

"virtually every other nation" Which nations fielded significant numbers of heavy tanks? USSR. Germany. Not the U.S., U.K., Japan, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Greece, France, Finland, Norway, China, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Canada, New Zealand, Australia. Do facts matter?

The tank museum in the UK has one.

Cone, I thought the Army had moved all of the items on display from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds to Ft. Lee.

You might want to double check.

Whoops, just noticed,...this video is apparently 2 years old, so the may have happened after you made this.

Heavy tanks just don't suit the USA's extremely aggressive fighting style

A great video. I found a 3D printed model of this tank from Germany. US M4s and their tank destroyer derivatives performed well against German tanks, so I can understand why the Army didn't use the M6 operationally. While all allied nations experimented with heavy tank types towards the end of the war and in the late 40s. Each nation went back to the medium tank concept. The Red Army with the T54/55 series, the Brits with the Centurion and the US with the M46/47 and 48 series. While German heavy tanks were impressive with their firepower and as feats of engineering, they were over-engineered and did nothing turning the tide of the war. US tanks were built with the best steel as well. A T.34 was sent to the Aberdeen Proving Ground and US technicians were appalled at the poor quality of Soviet steel, which had a tendency to spaul on impact. Please keep the videos coming, thank you!

Seeing as what happened in Korea. If they didn’t have any perishing tanks to send them North and South Korea would just be Communist Korea today. Without the assistance of the Pershing’s to the failing South Korea defense (before the push to the north) the North Koreans might have even won the war and took the capital. That being said had the tank been invented in a different country like France with the same money to actually put it to use it might have saw service. It just wasn’t cut out for combat. Would have been really cool to see.

The Pershing was definitely a better design and compromise between the M4 Sherman and M6. We also need to remember there were some variants of the Sherman that were affective as slightly more powerful heavier tanks like the M4A3E8.

In the central park scene there is a Tiger Tank in the background. Any info on that Tiger?

The m4 sherman was already a good tank because it was tested and performed excellent unlike the m6. And the price of 1 m6 tanks we could get 2 or 3 shermans. So i guess the Americans were right for discontinuing the project.

Thanks for a very informative video about two of my favourite tanks in War Thunder, the T1E1 and the M6A1. It surprised me that, despite their chequered history in reality, they make such very effective tanks in-game.

I love M6 heavy tank in world of tanks

As a kid, after we moved from the Midwest to the east coast, My dad took us to Aberdeen proving grounds, back when all of the tanks were outside. The non-US vehicles were all arranged in a field, while the US vehicles were all on the road meridian.

It was utterly cool because my dad and older brother lifted me into one of the Marders, and while Rusty you could see all the operating details. Over the years they snuck me onto a couple of the other open topped AFVs, and while some of them were rested in place - some you could still operate the horizontal and vertical azimuth wheels. It was awesome.

I think the M6 could have had its moment in the sun during the Italian Campaign of '43-'45. It still would have been a niche assignment, with only a handful of vehicles needed, but the one thing I think this tank could have done better than any other US tank (including the Jumbo and 105mm-armed Shermans) is griding through mountain pass defenses.

Assuming the up-armored model could defeat the later-war heavy Pak88's, then simply cutting out some of the extraneous guns (including the coax 37mm) and making sure the tanks had constant infantry support could have given the US a sort of "rolling roadblock" formation. Give the tank a more reasonably-sized 105mm and make it clear that it is only there to destroy bunkers, not fight tanks, and you would have created the right number of true "breakthrough" tanks for the right front at the right time and at little ongoing cost, considering the things were just sitting there by '44.

This also assumes that the army would only deploy them along mountain roads they could actually navigate--I would NOT want to be in that thing on some winding coastal road or something.

I just love the fact that the background music for this really informative video is the Hearts of Iron IV Soundtrack :)

imperial huard rogal doene tank

A circus vehicle from day 1 and got worse. Just a moving target for the Axis troops to have target practice on and this piece of junk wasn't worth shit at returning fire against Rommell's troops in the desert or wherever. How could the US DOD ever have issued such a laughable pos to our troops, that was criminal as far as I see it

As a former tank soldier, I shudder to think of how complex crewing and commanding this vehicle would be, let alone a full platoon.

However, if they'd started from a simpler design, without the needless excess guns and crew, this vehicle could easily have been a winner on the battlefield. Other countries successfully fielded heavy tanks in WW2, and if they'd thought to upgun it sooner, I think that it could have been very successful on the battlefield, working alongside the more numerous Shermans. With a smaller crew, the 90mm gun and a coax MG, this machine would have been as dangerous and feared as any other heavy WW2 tank.

It seems to me that the Americans didn't really "get" tank design in the early stages of the war and their doctrine was obviously lacking the insights that the Germans and Russians had brought to the table. Without a sound doctrine, or understanding of how you intend to use a weapon on the battlefield, you simply aren't going to be designing anything useful. For example, with proper infantry support, there simply isn't a need for rear facing guns, or so many forward facing machine guns. This cost them significantly in terms of time and muddled design. By the time they had things figured they had wasted time that they simply didn't have.

I do regard the Sherman as one of the best (if not the best), designs of the war, easily being the equal of any other nations tanks. If they'd gotten their shit together sooner, I don't doubt that the US would have come up with a quality design (the automatic transmission would have been a game changer - manually changing gears on a heavy would be exhausting) that probably would have been regarded as one of, if not the best tanks of the war. We'd talk about it in the same terms as we talk about the Tiger.

With respect to cost, if any country had the resources to develop the "perfect" heavy tank for WW2, it was the US. Just look at their navy and the millions of dollars (billions in today's money), of equipment that they provided free to allied countries.

They moved from Aberdeen proving grounds

The mutant still brings a laugh.

NGL I'd watch tank monster jam

They could have developed it much easier if they had just concentrated on the armour thickness, heavy gun, and a reliable engine. They lacked focus, time and money.

Ah yes our first and (misclassifying the M26 aside) only production heavy tank. If only Mexico or Canada had invaded, because we sure weren't shipping it to Europe.

Kinda based

Thanks or t... Shame to just let sit
Thought I knew more

The war was nearing its end and with the arrival of the Pershing Tank, there wasn't much need for these at the time.

Too many Sherman's we're destroyed easily w/crews against most German tanks,let alone the big Tigers!
The bigger guns would finished the war sooner, with
less men wasted 🤪

Love the US Army's thinking about a heavy tank. Reminds me of my 24 years in. They saw no need. Yet the M4A3E8 Jumbo was much desired. Leading to field modifications. Damn near treason that a 1940 design Sherman went 5 years with no significant armor increase.

No need for intensive details

Oh, undoubtedly it's a silly idea as opening up a whole new supply train for an overweight tank that has no real tactical niche seems very wasteful if not even problematic. It would be expected to be less reliable than tanks half its weight anyway and then there is the whole surrounding infrastructure that probably would be lacking like bridges, cranes, towing vehicles or transport when it can't roll on its own, be it trucks or flatcars...
focusing on as few models as possible has tended to be the best choice and make for the easiest supply solution.

I have an original newspaper talking about the release of the m6 heavy

The fact really is that the M4A3E2 is just a much better heavy tank in just about every single way. Plus its basically just a M4A3 with some extra plates welded onto it plus a slightly different turret so it basically shares part commonality with the Sherman. Like really the jumbo is reportedly faster, has MUCH better effective armor, is nearly half the weight, has less crew, has a smaller profile, wet ammo storage, And it just looks like a regular Sherman so most of your enemies wont even know that, that particular Sherman is frontally immune to everything but the long 88. When you look at the two side by side its almost absurd that the M6 was even remotely considered. Granted the jumbo is a much later invention at 1944, but if this concept was thought of earlier, well its not like its particularly complex, there were some suspension issues, and the turret was re designed but really there is nothing overly special about the jumbo compared to a regular Sherman so I can easily imagine a alternate reality where the jumbo rolled off the assembly line as just another variant of the sherman at the very start of the war

thumbs down foe the ad

Should've sent the 90mm & 105mm versions, they could've helped a lot vs the Tiger & KingTiger

The m6a2e1 is my favorite tank.

they should have kept some, heavy tanks would always be useful to protect the home land. and actually it is possible to transport heavy tanks across the ocean it just takes more time. still worth it as you have something that can take a hit just have to hold long for it to arrive.

The HOI4 music used made me chuckle, enjoyable video though

What did I think?
It's fuggin ugly. WAY TOO tall. Too many vertical surfaces. Turret is too small.

The 40s B movie feel is strong with this one! Gotta love the version with the twin 50cals sticking out the front and the MG sticking out the rear of the turret. If this had seen service, it just might be my favorite tank.

Your name is really " coneOfArc"....?

Ah yes. The giant pillow with 2 guns. (In war thunder)