US Fireflys!

[SimonFox]

It may be off topic-but what isn't round here at the moment http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/frown.gif but while researching up some "ammo" for the engineers and explosives thread I came across this interesting snippet of information.

Apparently some time after June 1944 the US army ordered 700 Sherman Fireflys from the British. The order was still standing as of Dec 1944. In all likelyhood the Brits who were hard pressed supplying their own units with the upgrade couldn't supply them. The arrival of the Shermans with the 76mm gun probably had an impact too. Even so I had a bit of a chuckle when I read that one, came from a very good source too.

[Big Time Software]

OK, so now we have proof that the US Army wasn't as stupid as we once thought http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/smile.gif First I have heard about this.

Steve

[SimonFox]

Well it's not the sort of thing you would want to brag about: "Here we'll give you some of our tanks so you can fix them up and give them back" hehe. Tantamount to admitting that you cocked up in the first place. It was from a Royal Armoured Corp document so it should be pretty reliable.

[OSCAR]

Well, HPS has the firefly listed under commonwealth weapons section instead of us weapons section in their encyclopedia published '97... excellent book btw!


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The HPS freak :)

[Scott Clinton]

hmmmm...

I thought that this was fairly well known. From what I remember the 'request' was made BEFORE D-day when it became apparent that the new "silver bullet" ammo for the 76mm guns was not going to be avail in the quantities needed.

I don't think the US 'request' was ever taken seriously really. The shortage of 17pdrs was pretty severe. AFAIK there was no shortage of Shermans and modified turrets...just the 17pdrs to put in them. And as the Brits were the only nation on the planet to ever manufacture the 17pdr they had first call on them :)

They really deserved them too if you consider the poor slobs that had to slug it out from 39-42 with nothing in the turrent but a little'ol 2pdr.

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The Grumbling Grognard

[Big Time Software]

I knew the US was toying with the idea, but I never knew it went so far as them actually placing an order (even if it couldn't be fulfilled). It is probably burried in Hunnicutt somewhere, but DAMN that is a thick book http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/wink.gif

Steve