Sherman Firefly VC

Miniatures are supplied unpainted and assembly may be required.

The Sherman firefly was arguably the best combat version of the Sherman. Armed with the excellent 17pdr gun it gave the British and Commonwealth armoured forces the ability to destroy even the heaviest German tanks.

The Firefly was originally built as a temporary alternative to the Challenger, an up gunned Cromwell, but was so successful that it overtook the troubled Challenger design as the main tank armed with the 17pdr.

Sherman Firefly tanks accompanied even the Cromwells of the 7th Armoured Division.

The first Firefly tanks were conversions of the M4A4, or Sherman V, the Firefly Vc. The US stopped production of this model in 1943, which led to the British development of the Firefly IC and Firefly IC (Hybrid).

The M4A4 (Sherman V) would have been the most numerous model of Sherman to arrive on the beaches of Normandy in June ’44 under the British and Canadian flags.

Basically this Sherman had a lengthened hull (the extra space between the bogies is most noticeable) by about 6" to accommodate the type of engine fitted. This engine was the Chrysler WC multi bank 370hp, which was 5 automobile engines joined to a common crankshaft! It proved to be very reliable and the British liked them and were most upset when production of this model stopped at the end of 1943.

Over 2000 Shermans were converted to Fireflies by British ordnance factories (the British designation system adds a "c" to denote a 17pdr armed tank, i.e. Sherman Vc). The most common model of Sherman Firefly at first was the M4A4 (Sherman Vc).

The Firefly was issued on the basis of one per troop at first and as more became available you could find up to two per troop. They were also issued to some British armoured units equipped with Cromwell.

The firefly in Flames of War is a great enemy tank killer with an AP of 13 and FP of 3+ but with Armour of 6/4/1 you don’t have that much steel to protect you from rounds coming the other way! The hull MG has been removed to give more stowage for those deadly 17pdr rounds as well.

The Firefly is best used as a long distance tank killer while the 75mm armed Shermans or Cromwells carry out their offensive manoeuvring.

Your late war British, Commonwealth or Allied Sherman or Cromwell tank Squadron will usually have one firefly per troop in North west Europe in 1944 and maybe two per troop in the Sherman equipped Regiments from the end of 1944 onwards.

In Italy they didn’t arrive until quite late in the war and you would be lucky to have enough to give one to each troop.