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Lavishly distributed among Commonwealth troops through the lend-lease program the US "M4 Sherman" tank lacked the punch to engage heavy or advanced medium tanks. To solve that problem, the British replaced its 75 mm with their more powerful 17 pdr. By doing so they created an excellent tank destroyer, renamed "Firefly". With longer range and power to pierce heavy tanks' armor, the Firefly retains most of the Sherman's characteristics in terms of armor, speed and ease of production.

As it is still a speedy tank, with decent armour to be a tank destroyer, and still isn't very expensive, it can be a very good anti-tank unit, but, if it faces infantry, it can be easily destroyed in the blink of an eye. It can be easily destroyed by ambushing, too.

History[]

Hamburg Liberation 04

A Sherman Firefly in central Hamburg during the final days of the Second World War

Production of the Firefly started in early 1944, and by May 31, some 342 Sherman Fireflies had been delivered to Montgomery's 21st Army Group for the D-Day landings. As a result, British tank troops were composed of three regular Shermans and one Firefly. The same distribution occurred in Cromwell units, but this caused logistical problems, as each Cromwell troop now needed to be supplied with parts for two different tanks. Originally, a variant of the Cromwell known as A30 Challenger was to be used, but the design was found to be unsatisfactory due to unacceptably thin armour and reduced mobility, so production was stopped after just 200 units, which were nevertheless used.

After much effort the British mounted a 17-pdr in a modified Sherman, which became the most numerous 17-pdr armed tank in the war. Churchill units received no Fireflies, and as a result often had to rely on any attached M10 or M10 Achilles units to provide increased firepower to deal with tanks their 75mm guns could not eliminate. At the end of the war, a 'Super-Churchill' called 'A43 Black Prince' with improved armour and a 17-pdr had yet to be put into production, and it was cancelled when A41 Centurion appeared.

Overview[]

  • The Firefly is an effective tank, due to it being cheap and powerful, and it is the only other Anti-Tank unit to carry  a turret (not including the Lorriane's moving gun platform) in the in-game other than Americans.
  • In-game, this tank should be built en-masse. It will be more effective against other 1945 vehicles.
  • When sent out against the enemy it is important to maintain air cover - the Skink is preferred, as it has high damage against aircraft and can engage infantry as well.
  • A great way to use it would be sending it with weaker armed tanks such as the Cromwell A27 or Matilda acting as meatshield.
  • They are quite effective against heavy tanks, especially against a King Tiger.

Pros & Cons[]

This section is a stub, so be patient and expand it.

Weapons[]

Weapon Infantrynoicon Engineernoicon Buildingsnoicon Armor1yesicon Armor2yesicon Armor3yesicon Armor4yesicon Armor5yesicon Aircraftnoicon Rangeicon
Cannon4icon
Large cal. AP shell
483 121 60 30 24 15 500m

Gallery[]

See also[]

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