Guide for the M4A3E2 (76) W Jumbo Sherman

Before you were the prey, but now you are the hunter. This is my guide for the 76mm jumbo sherman, the first US tank I consistantly did well in. Before I start I just want to say that I am by no means an expert in this game, I only write this to point out a few tips and raise excitment for this tank.

Tigers are now your food. They are still formidable but you no longer need to fear them, only respect them. For now more often than not your frontal plating and turret mantlet have far too much concentrated FREEDOM for nazi scum and commie pinkos to penatrate. In this guide I will give you pointers on how to survive fights that would leave other lesser shermans a blazing scrape pile. As well as tips on how to defeat different types of enemy armor you will face.

Hope you all enjoy!

Basic Pointers

You must be in the proper state of mind when fighting the enemy. What do I mean by this?
1. You are very hard to kill from the front, but not impossible. Do not be afraid to take hits to your frontal armor.
2. You are more effective with teammates guarding your flanks. So in most cases stay within tactical reach of them.
3. You are most effective within short to medium range. Meaning you are not a sniper tank, usually.
4. You are only slightly more difficult to kill from the sides than other shermans. So point your tank in the direction of the greatest threat.
5. It is almost always better to aim for a sweet spot than to fire randomly.
6. Last but not least, you fight for America baby!!!!

I have been in fights at short range with up to six tigers and won. You can just eat shells from several tanks to the front. All the while carefully placing your shots for maximum effect.

Staying Alive

These are all basic defensive techniques that serve across all the tanks, but I still thought I should mention them.

It is good to have your front to the enemy, but it's better to angle it slightly. This will actually increase the amount of steel that shells will have to travel through to damage you. Below is a picture showing what this should look like on flat ground such as a field or town.

However, what's even better is to position yourself on a hill or behind a ridge so that only your turret is visible. Your turret mantlet is by far the thickest piece of steel on the jumbo. So let that block of SOLID PATRIOTISM do its job!

Remember that a tank who is up hill from his opponent has a advantage in three ways.
1. His position gives him a flatter shot on the enemy's plating, making it easier to penetrate.
2. His position makes his plating more angled to the enemy, making it harder to penetrate.
3. This is the huge one, he may engage and disengage at will by reversing until out of sight.

When facing several tanks at a time think first what you probably should have done differently to avoid the situation. Accept that there may be nothing you can do to survive. The laugh defiantly as the enemy fails to kill you. Angle your hull and point your turret towards the greatest threat when you are waiting for a reload. If an enemy tank has just fired it is temporarily not a threat because he must load his cannon. Therefore point you turret at a tank who is about to fire. Where teammates come in is to guard your flanks and to use their hopfully bigger guns to dish out some damage.

If you are caught in the flank don't panic. I've had a few diferent times where a tiger got behind me and killed my engine but I beat him because he wouldn't move to my side and shoot me there. Always return fire with prcision.

What Shells to Use

1. M62 APCBC - Armor Piercing Capped Ballistic Capped
This is your best all around shell. It does awesome damage once through the armor but not always the best choice when shooting the front of a tiger who is farther out.
2. M42A1 HE - High Explosive
In reality there were these nasty things called infantry but they don't exist in War Thunder, so this shell isn't useful. Don't have any in your tank.
3. M79 AP - Armor Piercing
Slightly better piercing abillity than the M62 but not by much and when it does penetrate its effect leaves you wanting. You'll be getting a lot of assists with this shell.
4. M93 APCR - Armor Piercing Composite Rigid
These are what you should be pushing for right after you get the parts and FPE upgrades. Like the standard AP shells they don't actually do much damage. But, they have a MUCH better penetration abillity. These will allow you to extend your effective range against tanks such as tigers.

So the shell load that I use and recommend would be 40 M62 APCBC, and 31 M93 APCR. Most of the time you should use the M62 and save the M93 for when you're shoot far away or just can't seem to get through someone's armor. A word of warning though, I've said this already but in case you didn't understand. You SHOULD NOT fill your rack with nothing but APCR. Yes it has better penetration but it can be difficult to kill a tank with it. Use it to kill crew and disable the enemy so you can get closer and use APCBC to finish them.

If you can see the full side or rear of an enemy tank use APCBC irregardless of range. You will almost always penetrate and do loads of damage. More often than not you will be rewarded by seeing an EXPLOSION OF CAPITALISM emerge from the enemy vehicle.

Enemy Tanks

Where to shoot in the front. Remember, they are the prey now.

Dirty Nazi's
Tigers: Driver's view port, lower hull plate, and the commander's cupola (round view port thingy on top of the turret.

Panzer IV and lower tiers: doesn't matter APCBC will penetrate just about anywhere.

Panzer D, A, and G: These are trickier than tigers in my opinnion because they have better sloping. Try for the Commander's Cupola, the gap between the turret and the hull, the lower hull plate, and sometimes the sides of the mantlet.

Jagdpanzers: lower baseplate, and far right of upper plate

Soviet Block Junk
T34s and IS-1s/2s: Usually the gap between the turret and the hull is a good bet, also on t34s the upper plate, on the IS the lower plate.

SUs: Upper plate to the right side.

KV2s: either side of that giant brick of a turret, any penetration on the turret will wreak havoc on the crew sinse they are almost all in there.

That's about most of what you'll be facing in this tier. Most of these will have a miserable time getting through your frontal armor but be weary of some of those Russian guns... such as the IS-2 and SU-152.

Flanking Shots

Like I said earlier when you have a chance to make a flanking shot its best to use APCBC for maximum effect.

When facing tanks with turrets hit the side or rear of the turret first two take out the gunnery crew, so they can't fight back. Then shoot the engine, so they can't turn so their front is to you. Then start aiming for ammo racks and the remaining crew. Germans like to place their ammo along the side walls of their tanks just below the turret and in the middle. Russians like to place theirs in the sides and rear of their turrets.

When facing turretless tanks or tank destroyers hit the engine first thing. They can't get away, and they can't fight back because their gun only faces front.

Some tanks will have strips of spare track mounted on the outside. Try not to aim for these spots as they add to their armor thickness. Just aim for the gaps.

Beyond all that I recommend previewing the tanks you face in the hangar and using the X-ray feature to learn where their crew and ammo are located until you can visualize it when looking at them in the field. Know your enemy.

Parting Thoughts

I hope you've enjoyed my guide, and I hope it helps you out. This is my favorite tank so far and I'd like to see as many US players using it as Germans use the Tigers. In my opinnion this tank beats the tiger on average. Before you go don't forget to paint Old Glory all over your Jumbo! Show your patriotism, besides who needs camoflauge when you can stop AP shells with unbridaled FREEDOM!!!

[/aceg/ LoganNS]

Step 1
>Get Firefly
Step 2
>Get 5 kills a game becose germans got autistic
Step 3
>???
Step 4(5)
>Profit

[Citizen Snips]

My SU-100Y says hello.

[SticcestBoi]

Great guide :D

[crossfire]

Dear ResoSketch, I realise that it's been almost a year since your request and I apologise. I you still want to use this guide then go right ahead. Just know that it is most likely no longer valid in whatever the current build is. I don't plan on reinstalling war thunder or updating it.

[crossfire]

OK so it's kinda funny idk if anyone will ever see any of this, but this was a bit of a surprise. For a good long while after I made this it got very few views or comments (which is normal I suppose). So eventually I forgot about it. I glad at least a few people enjoyed it, maybe even learned something. I didn't really go around with the US flag in game it was just keep with the theme of the guide. This was a mostly nice surprise, thank you all for reading!

[crossfire]

Dear Chris, I am well aware that the average German soldier in WWII was just that, a soldier attempting to survive. This is not a comparison to real world events. You seem to have missed the point of this guide. It is a joke, all I wanted was to make people laugh. I do not debate that the Tiger was a superior tank to the Sherman, in most ways. If I've offended you I don't really care because you're just some douche trying to start a flame war and I'm not interested in your hate. I will not take down the guide.

[crossfire]

**DISCLAIMER** I am aware that the jumbo has a weak spot above the turret mantlet (I have been penetrated there myself). As to the shell count listed in this guide, I posted the count that worked well for me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't experiment and find a balance that works for you. I have no idea how this tank compares in the current state of War Thunder since I haven't played for at least a year now. I actually had very few issues being one shot in the ammo rack, maybe people were just poor shots? When this guide was made I was able to combat and defeat tigers consistently at mid range useing APCR to kill crew and cripple systems. Again I have no idea how this fits into the current state of War Thunder.

[MootieFrog]

"So the shell load that I use and recommend would be 40 M62 APCBC, and 31 M93 APCR."
Lmao, loading this much ammo is asking for getting oneshot. Unless you are playing on a silly long range combat centered map like Kursk, load twice less the amount of rounds stated here.

[kachigga my [DATA EXPUNGED]]

'MURICA !

[MasterHaxz]

the russian su 152 = op as fuk