Starmer's Armour US & Allied M4 Shermans in Europe 1944-45

by Peter Brown

This sheet will be welcomed by small-scale vehicle modellers interested in late-war Shermans. Clearly printed by Fantasy Printshop, it has all the markings needed for 12 specific vehicles. All items are provided, vehicle serials, names, cartoon logos, bumper codes, unit and tactical signs and even white air recognition stars. Each item is on its own small piece of decal film which makes selecting the items needed easier and they are numbered for easy identification. Colour illustrations show where each item goes, this covers two A4-sized pages and a separate notes page gives background as to where the vehicle was located and the references used to provide the markings. Note that these are not intended to be detailed scale plans, the "M4A2" sets for example are actually M4. They are also not to be taken as accurate colour matches. For modelling purposes other references should be consulted.

There are eight US Army subjects:
M4 "Thunderbolt", one of several tanks used by Col Creighton Abrams, this one is as used in Brittany August 1944
M4 "Intruder II" with 2nd Armored Division June 1944
M4A1 "Aide de Camp" 741st Tank Battalion Omaha Beach on D Day complete with wading trunking still in place
M4A1 "Derby" 32nd Armored Regiment July 1944
M4A1 "Anne" 70th Tank Battalion June 1944
M4A1 "Battlin' Bitch" 31st Tank Battalion August 1944
M4A3 76mm unnamed vehicle of 714th Tank Battalion, January 1945
M4A3 76mm HVSS "Flatfoot Floogie" of 41st Tank Battalion, Germany March 1945

Two subjects are with 1st Polish Armoured Division:
Sherman V "Roktina" OP tank of 1st Motorised Artillery Regiment, August 1944
Sherman IIa "Latajaca Krowa" of 2nd Armoured Regiment in Holland 1944-45 with its flying cow cartoon

The final pair are with French units:
M4A2 "Tarantaise" 12eme Chasseurs d'Afrique complete with a decal for the SOMUA maker's plate seen on this tank
M4A2 "Vesoul" 2eme Regiment de Cuirassiers
Although designed to be applied to specific subjects, many items could be used for other vehicles.

Price is £8.00 plus 50p postage in the UK which is good value for so many subjects

Available direct from Mike Starmer, 18 Hillside Road, Piddington, Northants, NN7 2DB. Email him at mike_starmer@hotmail.com for more details and overseas prices.