Sherman I Composito (Italy)

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Rank IV USSR | Premium | Golden Eagles
Tu-1 Pack
This page is about the premium medium tank Sherman I Composito (Italy). For other M4 Shermans, see M4 Sherman (Family). For other uses, see M4 (Disambiguation).
▄Sherman I Composito
it_sherman_75_37.png
GarageImage Sherman I Composito (Italy).jpg
▄Sherman I Composito
AB RB SB
3.7 3.7 3.7
Purchase:1 300 Specs-Card-Eagle.png
Show in game

Description

The Carro Armato Medio «Sherman» Tipo I (Composito) is a premium rank III Italian medium tank with a battle rating of 3.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Starfighters".

General info

Survivability and armour

Smoke grenades
Creation of a smoke screen in front of the vehicle
Armourfront / side / back
Hull63 / 38 / 38
Turret76 / 50 / 50
Crew5 people
Visibility108 %

Armour type:

  • Rolled homogeneous armour (hull sides, rear and roof)
  • Cast homogeneous armour (front glacis, transmission housing, turret, gun mantlet)
Armour Front (Slope angle) Sides Rear Roof
Hull 50.8 mm (54-57°) Front glacis
50.8 mm (43-48°) Viewports
38.1 (spherical) + 50.8 mm MG port
50.8 mm (cylindrical) Transmission housing
50.8 mm (8°) Truncated glacis over the tracks
50.8 mm (7°) Front part
38.1 mm
38.1 + 25.4 mm Ammo racks
38.1 mm (10°) 50.8 mm (0-48°) Front glacis
19.5 mm Turret area
19.5 mm (7°)
Engine bay - centre
19.5 mm (23°)
Engine bay - sides
Turret 76.2 mm (7-65°) Turret front
50.8 mm (7-25°) Turret front - gunner side
38.1 + 38.1 mm (cylindrical) Gun mantlet
50.8 mm (1-4°) Turret sides
50.8 mm (58-66°) Roof radius
50.8 mm (2-4°) Sponson
50.8 mm (61-66°) Roof slope
25.4 mm
Cupola 50.8 mm (16°) 25.4 mm

Notes:

  • Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 20 mm thick and bogies are 10 mm thick.

The hull is very similar to the US M4A1 with a 50.8 mm frontal sloped armour but with a front glacis welded on the rest of the hull instead of a cast one. Protruding viewports and truncated corners interrupt the sloped armour of the glacis and thus are weak spots easy to target for the enemy when up close. The hull sides feature appliqué armour plates covering the ammunition stowage racks. The turret is also very similar but lacks the M4's appliqué armour on the right cheek (gunner side), leaving a small weakened zone in that area. Frontal protection is quite good for its rank and shots from smaller anti-tank guns can generally be shrugged off, particularly when hull down. However more powerful guns such as the Pz.IV F2's long 75 mm can destroy the tank easily, so care should be taken. The side armour is only 38.1 mm thick and can be easily penetrated by just about any anti-tank gun if not angled.

Mobility

Speedforward / back
AB43 / 6 km/h
RB and SB39 / 6 km/h
Number of gears5 forward
1 back
Weight31.5 t
Engine power
AB763 hp
RB and SB400 hp
Power-to-weight ratio
AB24.2 hp/t
RB and SB12.7 hp/t
Game Mode Max Speed (km/h) Weight (tons) Engine power (horsepower) Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
Forward Reverse Stock Upgraded Stock Upgraded
Arcade 43 6 31.5 620 763 19.68 24.22
Realistic 39 6 354 400 11.24 12.7

Based on the chassis of the M4A1, the Sherman I Composito (Italy) has the same good all-round mobility: the tank accelerates quickly and is able to reach a maximum speed of 42 km/h in a dozen of seconds. The brakes are powerful and will make the M4 Hybrid skid rather than slow down when driving at maximum speed. The violent braking also causes the hull to wobble, but your vertical stabilizer will fully compensate this effect as soon as your is slower than 20 km/h. The reverse speed is rather poor: it won't get you out of a dangerous situation quickly enough. The lack of neutral steering makes turning on the spot slow (2 km/h): make sure to build a little speed before turning and you'll turn much faster (11 km/h). Turning in reverse is equally slow (-2 km/h) Turning at full speed doesn't make you lose much speed as your acceleration is good. The offroad mobility is good: the Sherman I Composito (Italy) reaches 19 km/h when fording, 17 km/h when driving uphill with some speed built-up but a mere 10 km/h uphill from a stop start. The tracks are large and grant you a decent mobility on hard (solid ground, roads) and soft terrain (mud, snow, sand). Light and medium obstacles (fences, posts, bushes and small trees) are not a problem but large obstacles will reduce your mobility: avoid them.

Modifications and economy

Repair cost
AB624 Sl icon.png
RB709 Sl icon.png
SB1 446 Sl icon.png
Crew training10 000 Sl icon.png
Experts67 000 Sl icon.png
Aces330 Ge icon.png
Research Aces570 000 Rp icon.png
Reward for battleAB / RB / SB
Talisman.png 2 × 60 / 90 / 120 % Sl icon.png
Talisman.png 2 × 136 / 136 / 136 % Rp icon.png
Modifications
Mobility Protection Firepower
Mods new tank traks.png
Tracks
Mods new tank suspension.png
Suspension
Mods new tank break.png
Brake System
Mods new tank filter.png
Filters
Mods new tank transmission.png
Transmission
Mods new tank engine.png
Engine
Mods tank tool kit.png
Improved Parts
Mods extinguisher.png
Improved FPE
Mods tank reinforcement it.png
Crew Replenishment
Mods smoke screen.png
Smoke grenade
Mods new tank horizontal aiming.png
Horizontal Drive
Mods tank cannon.png
Adjustment of Fire
Mods tank ammo.png
75mm_usa_APCBC_ammo_pack
Mods new tank vertical aiming.png
Elevation Mechanism
Mods art support.png
Artillery Support

Armaments

Main armament

Vertical stabilizer
Reduces the swing of the gun in one plane while moving
Ammunition97 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
6.5 → 5.0 s
Vertical guidance-10° / 25°
Main article: M3 (75 mm)
75 mm M3 Turret rotation speed (°/s) Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode Capacity Vertical Horizontal Stabilizer Stock Upgraded Full Expert Aced Stock Full Expert Aced
Arcade 78 -10°/+25° ±180° Vertical 22.8 31.6 38.4 42.5 45.2 6.50 5.75 5.30 5.00
Realistic 14.3 16.8 20.4 22.6 24.0

Ammunition

When discussing Sherman I Composito (Italy) shells, one always has to account for the fact that it's a medium tank. This means short to medium engagement range, so realistically it can benefit more from its short-range penetration figures than long-range sniping tanks would.

  • M72 shot - AP - Solid shot, stock shell. Acceptable penetration, poor post-penetration damage.
  • M48 shell - HE - Low-velocity shell useful against soft targets, in particular when hitting an open-topped vehicle. Harmless against any vehicle with more than 10 mm of armour.
  • M61 shot - APCBC - This shell has a better penetration than the M72 thanks to its ballistic cap and a good post-penetration damage thanks to its explosive filler.
Penetration statistics
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
10 m 100 m 500 m 1,000 m 1,500 m 2,000 m
M72 shot AP 91 88 78 67 57 49
M48 shell HE 10 10 10 10 10 10
M61 shot APCBC 104 101 90 78 68 59
Shell details
Ammunition Type of
warhead
Velocity
(m/s)
Projectile
Mass (kg)
Fuse delay
(m)
Fuse sensitivity
(mm)
Explosive Mass
(TNT equivalent) (g)
Ricochet
0% 50% 100%
M72 shot AP 619 6.3 N/A N/A N/A 47° 60° 65°
M48 shell HE 463 6.3 0.4 0.5 666 79° 80° 81°
M61 shot APCBC 618 6.79 1.2 14 63.7 48° 63° 71°

Ammo racks

Full
ammo
1st
rack empty
2nd
rack empty
3rd
rack empty
4th
rack empty
Visual
discrepancy
78 67 (+11) 59 (+19) 41 (+37) (+77) No

Note:

  • As they are modeled by sets of 2, shells disappear from the rack only after you fire both shells in the set.

Machine guns

Ammunition400 rounds
Belt capacity200 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
10.4 → 8.0 s
Fire rate575 shots/min
Vertical guidance-10° / 25°
Horizontal guidance-60° / 60°
Ammunition3 000 rounds
Belt capacity250 rounds
Reloadbasic crew → aces
10.4 → 8.0 s
Fire rate500 shots/min
12.7 mm M2HB
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Pintle 300 (200) 577 -10°/+25° ±60°

The roof-mounted M2HB .50 cal heavy machine gun is very good at knocking out tracks, punching through lightly armoured vehicles and shooting down low-flying aircraft. Use it sparsely because of its low ammo count.

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount Capacity (Belt) Fire rate Vertical Horizontal
Coaxial 3,000 (250) 500 N/A N/A

The small calibre of the M1919A4 machine gun makes it largely ineffective against all armoured vehicles but the ones with an open compartment. It still can be used to ping targets as a rangefinding help or to mow down minor obstacles blocking your line of sight.

Usage in battles

The M4 Sherman is an effective medium-range combat tank. Equipped with a fast-firing 75mm gun and with good handling characteristics, the M4 can be an extremely useful asset in most battles.

In battle the M4 performs well as an all-rounder; the thick turret front and 10 degrees of gun depression make the tank ideal for taking hull-down positions which protect the thinner hull armour from being penetrated by enemy fire. The sloped front upper glacis, when angled, also provides good protection against enemy fire. An unusual - and useful - difference is that the upper glacis is sloped at 56 degrees rather than the standard 45 degrees, making it more of a threat and more powerful due to improving the chances of a round ricochet. The only downfall may be the 2 crew member position in the front that protrudes out to form a flat surface, but both are covered with an additional 20 mm plate. The reasonable mobility of the Sherman makes flanking a viable tactic. The main weakness of the M4 is the side armour - not only is it vertical and thin, but behind it most of the ammunition is stowed. The tall silhouette of the tank also makes finding suitable cover difficult. Overall, the M4 Sherman can be considered as an armoured jack-of-all-trades - it will serve a tanker well, however it will not excel in any particular role.

In battle, try to use terrain as cover. Hull-down positions are especially strong in the M4 Sherman, as it has a good 10 degrees of gun depression. The gun mantlet and turret are reasonably strong, but avoiding shots is still the best strategy. In this respect, a hull-down position hides the vulnerable hull. If this is not available, then angling the hull armour to present a greater slope is often a good idea, as this can bounce some low-powered cannon at any range and at longer ranges, render the hull impenetrable.

Another way to play the M4 Sherman is to tap into its traditional cavalry role, its mobility. The M4 Sherman is a great flanker as it is fast enough to get the jump on the enemy's side. Defeat the enemy at their weak front lines or go around the entire enemy force. Once in position at their sides or rear, ambush them. Ideally, the enemy should be too busy focusing on allies attacking in the front to notice the M4 instantly. Take out the weaker light or medium tanks, the 75 mm gun is not very ideal against heavy tanks like the KV-1 so take out its friends to allow allies more room to outmanoeuvre the KV tank. An organized attack will increase the M4 chances on the battlefield and success.

Enemies worth noting:

M4A2 / A4: these Sherman tanks are widely used by over 3 nations that spread across both the Allied and the Axis side, so no matter which nation you play they can be quite tough to destroy in the hands of a skilled tanker. Given the rather weak penetration of your short 75mm gun, their hull can be almost impossible to penetrate when angled, hull down or 300m away. For a M4A4, there are 2 apparent bulges on the upper front plate, a penetration through there is a guaranteed kill most of the times. But in case the opponent covers them up or when it's a M4A2, aim for the middle parts of the gun mantlet or the turret armor unprotected by the mantlet, you can at least make them defenseless. Note that their guns are equally weak against you, so wiggle around to disrupt their aim while you reload, you have a good chance of bouncing some shells.

Churchill Mk I, Churchill Mk III:

The Churchills, with their complex hulls and sturdy turrets, can be quite hard to kill at range. Again, maneuver as close to them as possible, the idea distance being no more than 200m. If they are angling their hull but facing their turret at you, only go for the turret. For the Mk I Churchills, aim at the near-vertical part of their rounded cheeks to ensure successful penetrations. For the Mk III, also aim for their flat turret which is at most 89mm. The shell should go in easily and knock out most, if not all of the crew. Only when you are facing their hull without any angles should you shoot the hull, otherwise shoot the turret only, as their big tracks can easily get in front of the frontal hull. The side hull have multiple layers of armor, some of which are weirdly angled and can absorb plenty of shells.

KV-1 (ZiS-5):

A vehicle that the M4 Sherman will have trouble against is the KV-1. While the L-11 is underpowered, the ZiS-5 is potent enough to punch through the Sherman's front, and the Sherman is unable to penetrate the KV-1's thick armour especially with its dd-on armor plates. If this heavy tank is encountered frontally, aim at the vertical area on the round gun mantlet as it is only 90mm thick. You can knock out its gunner this way. Or shoot at the vertical part where the gun mantlet doesn't cover to disable its turret ring and gunner / loader. Note: do not shoot at the frontal hull as it is too thick for the M61 shell. Of course, the best way is to shoot at its sides and rear without any angle, where its armour is unsloped, though it will still have to be at a close range to penetrate the armour. In addition, shots to the sides will most likely hit fuel tanks or ammunition storage, causing a fire or ammunition detonation and at best, time to reassess the situation.

R3 T20 FA-HS (AB / mixed RB):

This speedy wheeled vehicle can circle around you with ease and wipe out all your crew with its fast firing autocannon. In a close encounter, never expose your side to it, and do not even angle your hull. Face your hull directly to the R3, because on each side of the cast hull, above the inducer wheel there is a triangular area that blends and connects the upper front plate to the side. By angling the hull, this triangle becomes unangled to the R3, making it easily penetrated, and the driver / gunner will usually get knocked out first. It is harder for the R3 to penetrate your unangled hull thus giving you more time to react and destroy it.

Pros and cons

Pros:

  • Excellent gun depression of -10° plus the angled frontal turret allows it to utilise hills very well.
  • Great penetration and post-penetration damage when using M61 shells; can frontally penetrate and one-shot most opponents like the Pz.IV F2, Chi-Nu and T-34.
  • Great turret traverse speed allows it to deal with multiple threats easily.
  • Well angled upper front plate can bounce quite some shells when properly angled.
  • Adequate top speed allows it to get to positions in time, or to do tactical manoeuvres like flanking.
  • Pintle-mounted HMG provides an anti-aircraft defence or anti-tank duty against tank destroyers like Marder III.
  • Fitted with a vertical stabilizer, allowing more accurate fire on the move compared to other tanks, as well as better usage of shoot-n-scoot tactics

Cons:

  • Large profile and weak side armour; flankers like the Sd.Kfz.234/2 can easily see and penetrate it.
  • The cast hull creates frontal weak spots with very little effective thickness, eg. the triangles between upper front plate and the side, and the curved hull hatches
  • Frontal armour is still inadequate, will get frontally penetrated and one-shot by tanks like Pz.IV F2/G, StuG III F/G, M10.
  • The best M61 shell struggles to penetrate heavy targets like KV-1 (ZiS-5), Churchill III or even the T-34 and M10 when angled.
  • Trajectory is curved and velocity is low due to its short barrel, thus distant/moving targets are hard to shoot at.
  • Hull traverse is quite slow, making it sluggish in a turn.
  • Roof armour of 19.5 mm thick is vulnerable to aircraft equipped with AP cannons like the M2 Browning.

History

In America the first M4 Hybrid was built on the 28th Aug of 1943 by the company Chrysler, the tank consists of, a hull of M4 Sherman (M4 hull (RHA)) welded with a frontal hull of M4A1 (M4A1 UFP) basically is a mixture of casting, soo they have only modified the hull but the rest was the same, after the tanks were modified with better guns with these changes, would lead to various variants showing up around the world. (ex. M4 Tipo IC), after that these tanks were send to Pacific and to Europe, they was used by Allies in that time for fighting Germany, Italy and Japan.

Italy 

In Italy was signed the Armistice of september 1943, this ended the Italian armored Troops,  italian tanks would end up captured by the enemy (Germany and Italian Social Republic) or they were demolished, the Italian Armored Troops dislocated in Sardegna and Corsica, were usable, but they were not  authorizated to join the 1° Raggruppamento Motorizzato Italiano, costituited in the 28 September 1943 in the area of puglia, and they were not authorizated to join the Corpo Italiano di Liberazione (C.I.L.) (Italian Liberation Corp) and Gruppi di Combattimento (Fighting Groups), and these corps and groups fought the Axis forces with the Allies from October 1943 to April 1945.

After the war, Italy in 1945 and 1946 were constituted of a minor military command for the territorial defense, the Minor unity was costituited by italian, British and American Tanks.

For example, America and Great Britain would give Italy many Shermans tank variants for free, which they used extensively post war, some tanks that were used are as follows:

Sherman tanks

M4 75/37 (M4 Hybrid, M4A4)

M4 76/55 (M4 Tipo IC, M4 Tipo Vc)

M4 105/22mm (M4A3(105))

These tanks and armored vehicles were given to Italy, the first official armored corps for Italy would be founded on September of 1947, they would be reunited in Roma to create the first post war tankers School.

Italian Shermans would be used from 1948 all the way up to the early 1950's, the last ones being officially put out of service in 1952.

Media

Skins
Videos

See also

Vehicles equipped with the same composite hull

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

  • topic on the official game forum;
  • encyclopedia page on the tank;
  • other literature.


Italy medium tanks
  Italy
M13/40  M13/40 (I) · M13/40 (II) · M13/40 (III)
M14/41  M14/41 · M14/41 (47/40)
M15/42  M15/42
M16/43  Celere Sahariano
P26/40  P40 · P40 "G.C. Leoncello"
OF-40  OF-40 · OF-40 Mk.2A · OF-40 (MTCA)
Ariete  Ariete (P) · Ariete · Ariete PSO · Ariete AMV
Germany  ▄Pz.III N · ▄Pz.IV G · ▄Leopard 1A5
Allied powers  ▄Sherman I Composito · Sherman Ic · ▄Sherman Vc · ▄Sherman V · M26 "D.C.Ariete" · M26A1 · M47 (105/55) · M60A1 "D.C.Ariete"
  Hungary
Turán  Turan I · Turan II · Turan III
Germany  ◔Leopard 2A4 · Leopard 2A7HU
USSR  ◔T-72M1

Italy premium ground vehicles
Light tanks  L6/40 (31 Rgt.) · Toldi IIA · AUBL/74 HVG · VRCC · Centauro RGO
Medium tanks  M13/40 (II) · Turan II · M14/41 (47/40) · Celere Sahariano · P40 "G.C. Leoncello" · ▄Sherman I Composito · ▄Pz.IV G
  M26 "D.C.Ariete" · M60A1 "D.C.Ariete" · OF-40 (MTCA)
Heavy tanks  Tigris
Tank destroyers  Breda 90/53 · M43 "G.C.Leoncello" · Zrinyi I