M26 Pershing
The winter battles of late 1944 finally demonstrated to the US Army’s high command that the M4 Sherman, though providing excellent service in previous years, was wholly inadequate to confront German heavy armour and anti-tank guns. After reviewing a long series of potential replacements, the M26 Pershing was selected to replace the Sherman.

Armed with an M3 90mm L/50 gun, the same that equipped the M36 'Jackson' Tank Destroyer, the M26 Pershing was a match for German Panther and Tiger tanks. The new tank also sported sloped 4” (102mm) cast frontal armour, dramatically increasing the protection of its crew compared to earlier American tanks.

Fast Moving
The power plant was the same 500 horsepower Ford V8 petrol engine in the latest versions of Sherman. The running gear had six double-bogies per side on a new torsion bar suspension running on a wide track. Together, these improvements gave the M26 Pershing considerable speed for a tank in its weight class.

Famous Namesake
The final production model was given the name Pershing, in honour of General John 'Black Jack' Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force in the First World War. The Pershing provided US tankers with a vehicle that greatly improved on the M4 Sherman.

T26E4 Super Pershing
Pershing’s 90mm gun was powerful, but still lacked the ability to knock out the heavier German tanks, so an experimental long 90mm gun was designed. Two examples of these long guns were mounted in specially-modified Pershings. This was further modified in the field by adding additional armour plates cut from destroyed German Panthers. The result was America’s first superheavy tank of the war.

The Super Pershing engaged the enemy, easily destroying German tanks that it encountered. The war ended before more Super Pershings could be built, but the design was considered successful enough to further develop the M26 Pershing series into a main battle tank.

Duel At Dessau
Its most famous action was a duel with a German Tiger II near the town of Dessau in Germany, In a short but fierce fight, a round from the Super Pershing's long 90mm gun punched through the Tiger II tank's underbelly, setting off a catastrophic explosion.

Experimental 90mm Gun
The long 90mm gun mounted on the Super Pershing was capable of matching the firepower of the Tiger II.

After the conclusion of the war, continued experiments further improved the gun and ammunition cartridge, making rounds easier to load and stow in the turret.

T26E5 Assault Pershing
The T26E5 is an assault tank based on the M26 Pershing heavy tank. It was developed from the same premise as the M4A3E2 Sherman ‘Jumbo’ assault tank, to increase the armour of an existing tank for the role of breaking through enemy defensive lines.

Like the M26, the T26 Pershing assault tank mounted the same 90mm high-velocity gun, originally designed as an anti-aircraft gun capable of hitting high flying bombers.

The increase in armour protection resulted in an additional 5 tonnes of weight, including a counterweight fitted to the rear of the turret to balance out the improved front armour.

Reinforced Protection
New armour castings on the hull, turret, and mantlet gave it a maximum effective frontal armour of 279.4mm (11”), which meant it outclassed even the T29 heavy tank, one of the latest US heavy tanks.

Battlefield Mobility
The Assault Pershing maintained good cross country performance thanks to an improved gear ratio for the 500 horsepower Ford engine. The tracks were also fitted with 5-inch (12.7cm) duckbill extenders to help spread its ground pressure.

THIS BOX CONTAINS:

• 3x Highly Detailed Plastic Pershing Tanks

These miniatures require assembly and are supplied unpainted.