M26 Pershing

The M26 Pershing is an American tank produced at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant and the Fisher Tank Arsenal, originally classified as a heavy tank before being redesignated a medium tank, and it entered United States service in late 1944 as an intended replacement for the M4 Sherman, seeing only limited combat in the final months of the Second World War in Europe. Weighing just under 42 metric tons and armed with a 90mm Gun M3 alongside two .30 caliber and one .50 caliber Browning machine guns, it was powered by a 450 to 500 horsepower Ford GAF gasoline engine, and it is named for General of the Armies John J. Pershing, who commanded the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during the First World War. The M26 saw its most extensive combat during the Korean War, where its 90mm gun proved capable of defeating the Soviet-built T-34-85 tanks fielded by North Korean and Chinese forces, a task the lighter Sherman had struggled with.