M-4 with Cement "Armor"

Ain't easy, that. Need to re-tool, re-design, will take 6 months even if it's a crash program. That's the thing--time. Time that the Allies didn't have.

The better solution, the next gen. allied tanks, worked well enough.

 

Therein lies the problem. When extra armor was seen to be a needed thing, it was discovered that the original VVSS suspension of the M4 couldn't carry the weight. Then the HVSS alowed for heavier vehicles, and "duck bill" add-ons appeared for the tracks.

It isn't just add "more armor" at the factory, sometimes those additionas produced unintended requirements. Better suspension, better transmissions, better clutches, better brakes, etc. to accomidate the extrat weight of th extra armor. Just look at how the German armor park began to make their original designs grow in weight, and grow in non-combat failures.

 

On the German side, too, thicker armour needed redesigned vision blocks and machine gun mounts. I'm guessing this is the reason the first Panthers had that ridiculous gun hatch instead of a proper ball mount.

 

Here are some pics of the Third Army "Expedient Jumbo" and add-on armor kits. The first is a simple glacis plate add-on, interestingly installed on the front of an M4A1(76)W. As the M4A1 had a full-cast hull, it was much more difficult to add on a piece of flat steel. Special adapters had to be welded on.
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Second, we have one of the "donor" tanks used for its armor plate. Shot-up tanks (not brewed up, as this would affect the armor quality) and those not serviceable for any reason would be cut up to create the applique plates added by Third Army's Ordnance tech shops.
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Finally, the expedient Jumbo. An M4A3(76)W-HVSS, or "Easy Eight", fitted with the full Third Army applique kit.
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