Bomb (tank)
Bomb is a Canadian Army Sherman Tank of the 27th Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment) which landed at D-Day and fought across northwest Europe until the end of World War II, one of the few Canadian tanks that fought without interruption from D-Day to VE Day. Today "Bomb" is preserved at the William Street Armoury in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Origins. "Bomb" was built at General Motors' Fisher Tank Arsenal in Flint, Michigan as an M4A2 Sherman Tank, serial number 8007, the 898th vehicle built at the arsenal. It was shipped to England where it was issued  with the War Department number T-152656. The tank was assigned to B Squadron of the Sherbrooke Fusiliers as the regiment converted from older training tanks to new Shermans in preparation for the invasion of France as part of the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. The tanks of B Squadron all had names that started with "B" such as "Barbara" and "Be Good". The name "Bomb" was inspired by the cap badge of the fusiliers which features a stylized grenade. The original crew was led by crew commander Sergeant Harold Futter. The driver was Lance-Corporal Rudy Moreault with co-driver Trooper  Red Fletcher. The gunner was Trooper A.W. Rudolph and Trooper J.W. (Tiny) Hall was the loader. Battle service. "Bomb" landed at Juno Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944, with the Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment at Bernières-sur-Mer and was almost immediately involved in fighting at Authie and Buron where the Fusiliers destroyed 41 tanks in their first two days of fighting. Even more intense tank battles followed in Normandy, as German Panzer and SS units tried to crush the Allied beachhead, while the Allies sought to break out. The tank fought in the actions around Caen, including the costly  fighting on Bourguébus Ridge, and the capture and clearing of the city of Falaise. The tank started with the call sign 22, but in July the Fusilier tank troops were re-organized and "Bomb" became a troop command tank with the call sign 21 painted on the turret. Following the Allied breakout, "Bomb" travelled across northwestern Europe, helping to liberate northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Sergeant Futter, the crew commander and Trooper Red Fletcher, the driver, were wounded by shell fragments in Normandy in July 1944 and were replaced by Lieutenant Paul Ayriss and Trooper Ken Gerow. A month  later, Lieutenant J.W. Neill replaced Ayriss as commander of the tank, and was later awarded the Military Cross. In the Netherlands, Walter White of West Gore, Nova Scotia, took command of the tank and led B Squadron of the Sherbrookes from "Bomb". After fighting in the Hochwald Forest in Germany, White led a reconnaissance to the banks of the Rhine River. The Fusiliers improvised an amphibious capacity by sealing all openings on the tanks and wrapping them with compressed air hoses to achieve buoyancy. German units on the others side of the Rhine were taken by surprise when the tanks  suddenly appeared behind them. Lieutenant White was injured by shrapnel in his leg a few weeks later during fighting in Deventer. Lieutenant Ernest Mingo, from Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, took command of the tank. The regiments and its tanks cleared German army units along the IJsselmeer and through the northern Netherlands and pushed into Germany. The tank fought off fanatical German attacks in the final days of the war, as German frontal attacks left the fields in front of the Fusiliers covered with the bodies of German troops. Finally, in the border town of Emden, Lieutenant Mingo received news from the  tank's radio, "Unload, clear guns, the war is over." By VE Day, the tank had fired 6,000 rounds in battle. It survived two hits from enemy shells and was quickly repaired by its own crew, never missing a day of action. "Bomb" was one of the few Canadian tanks to fight without interruption from D-Day to VE Day. The tank and crew members Rudolph, Moreault and Hall were the subject of a Canadian Army Film and Photo Unit short documentary made in 1945 entitled "The Green Fields Beyond" (number 2090) in 1945. Preservation. "Bomb" was rescued from a  Belgian scrapyard to be shipped to Canada. It was one of four Canadian tanks shipped from service in Northwestern Europe to preservation in Canada, along with "Forceful III" in Ottawa and "Holy Roller" in London, Ontario. The tank was on display at the Champs de Mars Park in Sherbrooke, Quebec, and later moved to the front lawns of the William Street Armoury. The armoury was the base of the Sherbrooke Regiment, one of the two militia units that had mobilized the 27th Armoured Regiment. After the Sherbrooke Regiment and the 7th/11th Hussars amalgamated in 1964, the tank has been looked  after by its successor unit, the Sherbrooke Hussars. For many years, Ernest Mingo, the tank's last commander, would make an annual visit to Sherbrooke from his home in Nova Scotia to visit "Bomb" and comrades from the Fusiliers, while Dutch families, grateful for the tank's role in liberating the Netherlands, sent an annual gift of tulip bulbs to Mingo and Walter White at his home in West Gore, Nova Scotia. The tank was restored in 2011, receiving plaques to reflect its battle service and a paint scheme that reflected its wartime appearance. Technical description of "Bomb". The following  paragraphs describe the present-day elements of "Bomb" in the context of scholarship to describe its place among the 49,234-odd M4 tanks manufactured between 1941 and 1945. By examining high resolution photographs of each component against recognized technical chronologies, an informed statement is possible to identify where and when a part was made. Model builders and technical historians take note; casual readers may have difficulty following the flow. The two principal references are Pierre-Olivier Buan, Joe DeMarco and Leife Hulbert on “Sherman Minutia Website”, and Chris Conners’ American Fighting Vehicle Database. Nomenclature. The essential stepping off identification is  that British War Department registration number T152656 was an M4A2, according to the American naming conventions, and according to British naming conventions a Sherman III. History now knows the tank as "Bomb" and it was made by Fisher Tank Division of General Motors, at the Grand Blanc Plant on South Saginaw Street, Flint, Michigan. It was assigned hull Serial Number 8007, and a registration number believed to be 3063256. It was one of 432 tanks produced in November 1942, with serial numbers between 7769 and 8200. The United States had thrown its production might into the war effort, and in  late spring 1942 issued US Ordnance production order T-3195 for another 2000 tanks. This was the second of four orders to Fisher between April 1942 and February 1944, and spanned August 1942 to March 1943. "Bomb" is one of over 4600 M4A2s made by Fisher in 25 months. Whether the order was intended for US service or Lend-Lease delivery to the British is unknown. However, in June 1942 President Roosevelt offered anything British Prime Minister Churchill needed for the North African campaign. Over the late summer there was an emergency dispatch of over 400 tanks and self-propelled artillery  to Africa. The Sherman’s combat debut came with the British at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late October 1942. "Bomb" was constructed the month after; no doubt by workers who recognized the importance of their jobs. From the factory, serial number 8007 was equipped with a General Motors (GM) 6046 twin inline-six diesel engine. That engine was removed when "Bomb" returned to Canada. This was one of four standardized powerplants, which included the original Continental 9-cylinder R975 radial aircraft engine, the Ford GAA gasoline V8, and a 30-cylinder Chrysler multibank of five engine blocks  on one crankcase. Each was an interesting engineering answer to the constantly increasing demand for tank engines. The GM 6046 consisted of two off-the-shelf GM 6-71 diesel truck engines connected with a transfer case to a single drive shaft. Unlike other models of Sherman which have doors on the rear hull, this engine was serviced from the top through large doors on the engine deck. With the exception of 490 M4A2 diesels issued to the US Marines, all diesel Shermans were shipped to Britain, Free French forces or the Soviet Union as Lend-Lease. The explanation was  simple: the US military had standardized on gasoline as a fuel, and did not want vehicles with non-standard fuel. The main tank fuel capacity of the M4A2 . Those tanks are located on the left and right rear hull sponsons, above the tracks. As "Bomb" sits on display, the latest restoration removed all fuel, grease and oil in its tanks and components. Hull details. On the continuum of M4A2 tanks, "Bomb" is considered late production, and has small grille engine deck plates. It has the Fisher-fabricated-style bullet splash guard at front of the engine deck doors under rear  lip of the turret. The exhaust stacks are across the rear of the hull below the line of the upper armour. The rear upper hull is sloped, and has the Fisher simplified six-bolt rear engine deck plates configuration. There are welding scars where various fittings like the tail lights and fuel can holders were removed over time. In the extreme left and right upper corners of the rear sponsons are two small storage compartments intended for extra track grousers. Their cover doors have been welded shut. Moving forward, the Quick-Fix appliqué armour plates on the sidewalls indicate dry -stowage ammunition racks inside. The front glacis plate is the early 57° angle. The driver and co-driver have small hatches, and the characteristic cast "narrow" drivers' hood with direct vision slots but no additional Quick-Fix driver’s hood additional front armour. Review of photos indicates the equilibrator springs on front hatches are missing. However, there are remnants of the fixtures for the "driver's hatch hood and windshield." The bow M1919A4 machine gun canvas dustcover’s slot-style fitting is still present, although the ball mount itself has been removed and the opening plated over for display . The base for the high control radio antenna is present, and likewise blanked over. It has a one-piece rounded nose drawing E 4186 differential housing with the characteristic mid-production shot-defection lip for the bolt heads. Missing from the front glacis are the headlights and guards, and siren. However, there are welding scars and remnant bars on the front glacis, which correspond to where extra track sections were attached in Normandy to defeat German tank and anti-tank guns projectiles. The lifting eyes are the padded style, and the tow hooks themselves are missing. The running gear is  US-made Sherman not Canadian-made Vertical Volute Spring System (VVSS), with rear offset return rollers. It appears to have its original M4 bogies, and are the early configuration of swing arms without adjustment wrench holes. These are the early return roller assembly with horizontal return roller brackets, and mid production or asymmetric return skids. A keen eye will spot that the return rollers were never retrofitted with the 1" spacer risers. There is a mix of welded spoke and pressed spoke roadwheels, which suggest field repairs where the originals were damaged. However, for a wartime survivor, the rubber is  in very good condition, which suggests postwar replacement versus wartime repairs. The rear idler wheels are welded six-spoke style. The right-side sprocket is a cast style with dimples. The left-side sprocket is a plate steel WW2 simplified pattern. There is no way to tell if either or none are original, but the sprocket notches wear out as the track mileage increases. There is a mixture of track types, including ‘T62 Steel, rolled sections chevron grouser riveted’ with the characteristic rounded rivet heads, and ‘T54E1 Steel, fabricated, chevron grouser’ with the characteristic central tab on the long edge . The end connectors are various types, many showing signs of broken grousers. Turret and armament. The turret is drawing number D 50878, serial number 303, cast by Continental-Wheeling, the heat treatment lot not visible, and several original tie-down loops are present. The 75 mm gun was likely produced by GM Oldsmobile Division. It is mounted on an early-pattern rotator M34 gun mount. Several features are notable including the gun shield lifting rings are positioned close to rotor shield. "Bomb" does not have the later M34A1 with characteristic ears on the sides of the barrel. The gun-mount  bolts are exposed, not protected behind the outer edges of mount. It is the so-called low turret bustle. There is a pistol port and door on the left side of turret. The crew commander’s hatch has the low-profile split hatch cupola. The external fittings on the hatch are missing, including any hatch lock mechanisms. The .50-calibre Browning anti-aircraft mount is damaged. Since two crew members were wounded and evacuated in June 1944 when an enemy shell impacted the anti-aircraft machine gun, it is an unanswered question whether the mount was ever returned to original  condition. This model turret did not have a loader’s hatch. The single roof vent is located central and forward. The gunner’s vane sight is present, but no spot light base or periscope sight remain. The typical high-mounted turret lifting eyes are located around the sides. Final words. Tank "Bomb" SN 8007 was built as US registration number 3063256. In Canadian service she was War Department CT 152656. It fought from D-Day to VE Day in B Squadron, 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (Sherbrooke Fusilier Regiment), 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. Bomb was a combat tank with enemy kills , was hit and damaged by enemy fire but never knocked out. She suffered crew casualties, earned crew honours, and has the rare distinction of improbably surviving so much combat. War Department CT 152655 number immediately preceded "Bomb". That tank was christened "Holy Roller", and she landed on D-Day with Regimental Headquarters Squadron, 1st Hussars, and served with from D-Day to VE Day as well. "Holy Roller" was a commander’s tank, and although effective leaders lead from the front, "Holy Roller" does not have the same combat record as "Bomb".