i dont know how many of you read but heres a really great book on ww2 from the eyes of a young ordnanse officer in the 3rd armor div he would travil to the battle feilds and get the numbers and repairs list back so tanks trucks could be repaired very good book,
DEATH TRAPS by stephen e. amrose

The book's foreward was written by Ambrose but the the book was written by Belton Copper.

Linkage:
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Traps-Survival-American-Division/dp/0891416706
Shaun

Cooper's book is enlightening for those who wonder how the tanks were kept running and how wrecks were returned to operable condition during the European campaign. Cooper also oversaw the conversion of the single Super Pershing prototype to its uparmored status (read John Irwin's "Another River, Another Town," for a history of this tank in combat during the war's final weeks). Belton Cooper was an unabashed fan of the M26 Pershing Tank, which he saw as a solution to all the shortcomings of the M4 Sherman. However, bear in mind that he was a very junior officer, and his version of the history of the M26 Peshing's delayed introduction to service is largely scuttlebutt. The tank's production was mainly delayed by General Leslie McNair, not George Patton. Also, Cooper chose to rely on his memory rather than the many published reference works when he discusses the Sherman tank series, and he has mixed up several subtypes (the M4A1 was not the Ford engined version, that was the M4A3). Still, the book is an excellent read, and recommended to all armor fans.

It is a good read. Cooper does kind of beat a dead horse when every few dozen pages, or so it seems, he goes on and on about how bad the Sherman was and how great the Pershing was. Still it is certainly well worth the reading.

I think the reason for Copper's love of the Pershing was he saw way too many Sherman's damaged and destroyed. Can't imagine what it is was like to hose out the contents of a crew from a burned out Sherman. The Pershing was worlds beyond the Sherman - better armor, a way better gun. I'm sure he wasn't the only one wondering why it took to '45 for Pershings to make it to the ETO.

Read,Re-read and am now reading again !.What really struck me is Patton`s insitance that industry be kept turning out Shermans that were clearly not up to the job.
How many Americans (And commonwealth troops for that matter) lost their lives because Shermans were under-armed and under-armoured for the task of taking on the Germans.