{"id":56177,"date":"2024-06-11T23:42:44","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T21:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=56177"},"modified":"2024-06-17T22:10:52","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T20:10:52","slug":"old-sherman-tanks-from-world-war-ii-that-are-abandoned-in-a-desert-in-chile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/06\/11\/old-sherman-tanks-from-world-war-ii-that-are-abandoned-in-a-desert-in-chile\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Sherman tanks from World War II that are abandoned in a desert in Chile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During World War II, more than 49,000 M-4 Sherman tanks were manufactured, which were produced between 1942 and 1945.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/06\/05\/the-lonely-remains-of-sherman-tanks-that-fought-in-the-battle-of-normandy\/\">The lonely remains of Sherman tanks that fought in the Battle of Normandy<\/a><\/rel><br \/>\n<rel><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2022\/08\/14\/the-m-4-sherman-tanks-submerged-in-the-sea-off-the-coast-of-the-island-of-saipan\/\">The M-4 Sherman tanks submerged in the sea off the coast of the island of Saipan<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n<p>This tank <strong>fought on various fronts and in the ranks of several allied countries: USA, United Kingdom, USSR, Australia, Canada, Poland<\/strong> (it was used by the Polish Army Corps that fought alongside the allies Westerners), <strong>France and New Zealand<\/strong>. After World War II, surplus Sherman tanks were sold to dozens of countries. <strong>Israel obtained several dozen of them to fight in its War of Independence in 1948<\/strong>, when the newborn Jewish State was invaded by its Arab neighbors.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785631315_7686ea4c13_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">An M-50 Super Sherman at the Yad la-Shiryon Tank Museum, Israel (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:M50-Supersherman-latrun-1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bukvoed<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>Israel operated about 300 Sherman tanks<\/strong>, which were improved to the M-50 (about 100, with 75 mm cannons) and M-51 (about 200, with 105 mm cannons) versions. being usually known as Super Sherman. The last Israeli Super Shermans were in service until the early 1980s. <strong>Israel later sold 200 of these tanks to Chile:<\/strong> 50 M-50s and 150 M-51s.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785631300_8580fdfbb4_o.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">An M-60 Sherman of the Chilean Army (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/aminoapps.com\/c\/tanques-de-guerra\/page\/item\/m-60-sherman\/dq6B_KKsaI1qREpzaavE8QX4gabagvEJNE\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Amino<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>Chile had already purchased some Sherman tanks from the US in the 1940s<\/strong>, after the end of the war, specifically 76 M4A1 and 48 M4A1E9. These tanks were in service until the 1970s. <strong>The M-50 Super Shermans purchased by Chile from Israel arrived without the 75 mm guns<\/strong>, so Chile installed 60 mm OTO-IMI guns on them, naming them M-60 Sherman.<\/p>\n<div class=\"foto_piedefoto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785658900_d1954901e6_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"piedefoto\">An M-51 Sherman of the Armored Cavalry Regiment No. 9 \"Vencedores\" of the Chilean Army (Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zona-militar.com\/foros\/threads\/m-3-grant-tank-y-m-4-sherman.63596\/page-10\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">zona-militar.com\/<\/a>).<\/div>\n<p><strong>The last Chilean Shermans were withdrawn from service in 2003.<\/strong> Today some of them are abandoned at a shooting range in the Atacama Desert. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@ExploringtheUnbeatenPath\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Exploring the Unbeaten Path<\/a> <strong>has published a video showing these tanks:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Abandoned TANKS in the DESERT | URBEX\" width=\"665\" height=\"374\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MlCA3G3uO_s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can see some screenshots of this video here. <strong>Here we see one of these old Shermans abandoned in the Atacama Desert<\/strong>, under a starry night. The one in the image looks like an M-50.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785208766_a580553eee_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Two other Shermans in the desert.<\/strong> They are without engines and with their guns cut off.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785423128_18f3ca23d0_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>A vestige of these tanks' Israeli past.<\/strong> It is a word in Hebrew (its meaning is \"superior\") that is engraved on a piece inside the turret of an M-51.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785208751_10469a1c07_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>An M-51 at the Atacama Desert firing range.<\/strong> The M-51 had to be equipped with a counterweight on the back of its turret, as it was a type of tank that was not prepared for a cannon as heavy as the 105 mm.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/53785532529_02441a3d48_b.jpg\" style=\"width:100%; height:auto; border:0px;\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During World War II, more than 49,000 M-4 Sherman tanks were manufactured, which were produced between 1942 and 1945.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19535,11549,16877],"tags":[21945,738,19825,18458,16743,22095],"class_list":["post-56177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exploring-portada-eng","category-military-history","category-ruins","tag-atacama-desert","tag-chile","tag-chilean-army","tag-israeli-army","tag-sherman-tank","tag-super-sherman"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-23 03:05:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}