page_title: Super Sherman
section_title: Service history
hierarchical_section_title: Super Sherman / Service history
caption_attribution_description: Description: Captured Egyptian M4 Sherman tank with AMX-13 tank turret in Yad la-Shiryon Museum, Israel. 2005. The tank seems to combine a hull of early production M4A4 and an engine of M4A2. Source: Photo by me, User:Bukvoed.
context_page_description: The Sherman M-50 and the Sherman M-51, both often referred abroad as the Super Sherman, were modified versions of the American M4 Sherman tank that served with the Israel Defense Forces from the mid-1950s to early 1980s. The M-51 was also referred to as the Isherman. However, the designations "Super Sherman" and "Isherman" were never used by the Israeli Defense Forces.
context_section_description: The first 25 M-50s were finished just in time for Operation Kadesh – the Israeli 29 October 1956 invasion of the Sinai – against the Egyptian Army (which also employed its own up-gunned version of the M-4 Sherman, fitted with the French AMX-13 turret, making it equal to the M-50 in firepower).
  In 1964, Israel neared completion of its National Water Carrier to divert water from the Sea of Galilee as allocated in the multinational 1955 Unified (Johnston) Plan. The Arab nations were in uproar, and Syria began a project to divert water into Jordan (the Headwater Diversion Plan). Maj General Israel Tal had trained Israeli tank gunners to shoot beyond 1,500 metres (1,600 yd) and, on March 6, 1965, an M-50, commanded by Tal, engaged a Syrian recoilless rifle that had killed an Israeli tractor driver; Tal personally destroyed the recoilless rifle at long range. A few days later, General Tal, with an M-50 and a Centurion Mk III tank, was waiting for a chance to fire upon the Syrian water diverting project. When Syrian gunners fired on a border patrol, Tal's M-50 and the Centurion fired on eight tractors 2,000 metres (2,200 yd) away, and destroyed them all in two minutes with 10 shots – Tal destroyed 5 tractors with his M-50's 75 mm gun, and the Centurion destroyed the remainder.
  Both the M-50 and M-51 saw combat in the Six-Day War that left the Golan Heights, the West Bank, and the Sinai peninsula in Israeli hands, often fighting against Soviet World War II-era armor like the T-34-85 (for example at the Battle of Abu-Ageila). Both were also employed in the 1973 Yom Kippur War alongside and against much more modern tanks. The use of such seemingly obsolete tanks was necessary given the desperate nature of the fighting.
  In combat against the Arab armies, the M-51 proved itself capable of fighting newer, heavier tanks like the Soviet-built T-54/55/T-62. The M-51's 105 mm gun could penetrate these adversaries using HEAT ammunition. The M-51 served well during its time, and is regarded as an excellent example of how an obsolete tank (the Sherman) can be upgraded beyond the limits of its original capabilities.
  The M-50 Continentals were retired by 1972. The M-50 Cummins and M-51 were gradually phased out in late 1970s to early 1980s. During the Lebanese Civil War, some 75 M-50s were given as aid to the Israeli-supported Lebanese Christian militias – Kataeb Regulatory Forces (19), Tigers Militia (20), Guardians of the Cedars (1), the Lebanese Forces (40), and the South Lebanon Army (35) – in 1976; two tanks were later captured by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which employed them in the defense of West Beirut during the June 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
  About 100 of the remaining tanks of this model were sold to Chile in the late 1980s. Some of those were fitted with the IMI-OTO 60 mm Hyper Velocity Medium Support (HVMS) gun, and were often referred to as M-60. This variant was never used by the IDF. Chile used its Shermans until 1999, when they were replaced by the Leopard 1. The few M-51s that Israel retained were converted into engineer vehicles and self-propelled artillery.
caption: Captured Egyptian M4A4 with FL-10 Turret.
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