Sherman MKIII 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, France 1944

Sherman MKIII 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, France 1944

Oxford’s Sherman III is a 1:76 scale replica of the USA produced Medium Tank M4/A2 which the Americans supplied to the Allies during World War II on a lend-lease basis. Produced between 1942 and 1945 in an amazing quantity of over 8000, the majority came over to Europe to assist the British Army and European partners against the enemy. The British re-named the tanks after US Generals, hence the Sherman name for the M4, which came with a 75mm M3 L/40 gun, supplemented by a secondary armament of two Browning machine guns. Powered by a General Motors twin 6-cylinder diesel engine, the MIII had a maximum speed of 48 km per hour and a fuel capacity of 560 litres of fuel.

Our model is as deployed with the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards, which had been formed as early as 1922 as a Cavalry Regiment in India, returning to the UK at the end of the decade. Its World War II deployment commenced in 1939, serving with various Armoured Divisions, including being under the command of the 8th Armoured Brigade. It was during this time that the Guards, using Sherman MkIII tanks, took part in the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944. The Brigade had many notable achievements following D-Day and was the first armoured unit to cross the Seine, ultimately being deployed in Germany itself.

Decorated in dark green with its military number 27 printed on the turret, notice too the insignia of the 8th Armoured Brigade on the vehicle – a red fox on a yellow background. A tooling variation adds a rear turret box for this release, too. The caterpillar tracks are black and a final detail sees the Allied 5-pointed white Star in a white circle painted on the gun turret, visible to Allied aircraft in the air.