Obscure Shermans: The Sherman Crab

The M4 Sherman Crab

By Sol Mathews


In my previous blog post M4 Sherman The Work Horse of the US Army, I went over the Development of the well-known M4 Sherman. One of the Most Iconic tanks of World War Two but i left out some of the more obscure variants of the M4 series of Tanks. The next few blogs will be focused on some of the obscure variants of the M4 Sherman. This post will go over a now iconic variant of the M4 Sherman called the M4 Sherman crab. The M4 Sherman crab or Crab Tank as the internet calls it is the Allied answer to clearing minefields in 1944.


M4 Sherman crab tank Mine clearing vehicle

The Sherman Crab mine clearing tank used a rotating drum with chains bolted and welded to the rotating drum. If you look on either side of the drum, there are spiked disks. These disks were designed to cut through barbed wire on the battlefield although these disks were never used for that purpose. The M4 Sherman Crab tank was the first of the mine clearing tanks to be powered by the tank's engine. During the use of the rotating drum the max speed of the tank was approximately one and a half miles per hour. during operations of the Flail the cannon is incompatible for use together. During the use of the flail the turret was turned between ninety and 180 degrees from the front to protect the vulnerable parts like the optics and cannon from the flying debris that the flail kicked up during its operation. 

M4 Sherman Cram mine clearing tank in operation

The chains on the flail of the tank are not actually chains but large loops of steel that have been welded and then bolted together. This construction of the chains on the flail was found to have flexed instead of breaking. When the flail would set amine off the boom or arms that held the flail would lift with the force of the explosion. The M4 Sherman Crab mine clearing platform was the most successful Mine clearing tanks platform of World War 2 having a success rate of ninety percent. The ten percent fail rate came from operations where the ground was uneven witch left pits where the flail could not reach the mine.

M4 Crab with the boom raised: Photo Warfarehistorynetwork.com

While the US army used the standard M4A3 Sherman as the basis for the US army the British used M4A3E8 (Easy eight) M4/105 and firefly variants of the M4 Sherman for the chassis of the M4 crab tank. The British also referred to the version of the Sherman Crab as the Sherman Five. I mentioned earlier in the Blog that the M4 crab not being the first of the mine clearing tanks used in World War 2. The earlier version was used in Africa by the British. They Used the Matilda MK. Five heavy tank and later used a Valentine two chassis as a mine clearing tank both versions had a second engine just to power the boom. There was a variant of the M4 crab before the M4 crab tank where the turret was replaced with a second engine. But none of these variants were truly successful as the M4 Sherman crab was.

Valentine Scorpion Mine clearing tank with separate engine in the turret

Matilda MK. five Mine clearing tank with the engine set to the side of the tank.

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