ET / Cairo, Citadel - the Army Museum

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Kuno

Many thanks for this explanation, Hanno. I guess that these tanks were delivered by France to Egypt some when in the 1950ies. Would you actually know, if France used them as well or if they were only made for export or even particularly for Egypt?

Hi Kuno,

Yes, these Sherman tanks were designed and modified in France as an answer to the Egyptian requirement to improve the Sherman's firepower. The engines were replaced as virtually no spares were available for the Chrysler Multibank originally fitted to the M4A4 hull. The completed tanks were then exported to Egypt.

Roughly around the same time (1954-1956), French engineers were working with the Israeli military on the same requirement. The Sherman's automotive platform was widely available and reliable, but the standard US 75mm gun was lacking in AT capabilities. The French-Israeli solution to this requirement was to fit the 75-mm CN 75-50 gun (a development of the German 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70, used in the Panther tank) from the AMX-13 tank in the Sherman turret. This modified Sherman was known as the M50. Recorded history is not clear where the modifications were carried out, but as far as I can ascertain the first batch of 25(?) was converted in France and then shipped to Israel, just in time for the 1956 war. Israel later carried out this modification (and others) itself, supplied with parts (gun, castings) from France.

And so it happened the Israeli Sherman M50 battled against the Egyptian M4A4 with FL-10 turret, both equipped with the same gun from the same supplier...

HTH,
Hanno
Sherman Register