M51 Super Sherman
Israel's Reinvention of a WWII Legend

Built on a hull that first rolled off American production lines in World War Two, the M51 became one of the most unlikely tank-killers of the Cold War — proving that a determined nation with limited resources could out-think, not just out-gun, its adversaries.

When Israel went looking for a way to keep its aging Sherman fleet relevant against a new generation of Soviet-built armour, it didn't have the luxury of designing a new tank from scratch. Instead, it did something more resourceful: it took a tank the rest of the world considered obsolete and rebuilt it around a gun powerful enough to kill anything the Warsaw Pact could field. The result was the M51 — a vehicle history remembers by a name the Israelis themselves never actually used.

A Nation Rebuilding Its Armour From Scraps

In the years after the 1948 War of Independence, Israel's tank force was a patchwork of surplus and salvaged equipment. American M4 Shermans, delivered from 1950 onward, formed the backbone of the fleet — but as Egypt and Syria began fielding modern Soviet armour, it became clear the standard Sherman's gun could no longer compete.

Israel's answer came in stages. First, engineers married the French AMX-13's 75mm gun to Sherman hulls, creating the M50. It bought time, but not enough. By the early 1960s, Israel set its sights on something far more ambitious: France's powerful 105mm Modèle F1 gun, originally designed for the AMX-30 main battle tank.

Taming a Modern Gun on an Old Chassis

The 105mm F1 gun was too long and too powerful to simply bolt onto a Sherman turret. Engineers shortened the barrel from 56 calibres down to 44 and fitted a muzzle brake after firing trials revealed the recoil shock was more violent than the turret ring could safely absorb. Ammunition was redesigned around a shorter cartridge to fit the tighter turret space.

The hulls chosen for conversion were M4A1s already fitted with reliable Cummins diesel engines and wide-track HVSS suspension — a combination that gave the tank better fuel efficiency and a smoother ride over rough terrain than the original wartime Sherman. Modified M4(76) turrets were married to these hulls, with a counterweight added at the rear to balance the longer, heavier barrel.

The finished vehicle was unveiled to the Israeli public for the first time during the 1965 Independence Day military parade — a deliberate show of strength aimed as much at deterrence as at national pride.

"Super Sherman" and "Isherman" — Names Israel Never Used

Here's the detail almost every documentary, video game, and even some model kit box gets wrong: the Israeli Defense Forces never officially called this tank the "Super Sherman," and certainly never "Isherman." Both nicknames were coined abroad, by foreign observers and later by the media, and simply stuck in the English-speaking world.

Inside Israel, the vehicle was known simply as the M-51. Adding to the confusion, the IDF's only tank that was ever officially designated "Super Sherman" was a completely different, earlier vehicle — the 76mm-armed M4A1 with HVSS suspension, officially named "Super Sherman M-1," which served against T-34/85s in the late 1960s. The M51 inherited a nickname that, technically, belonged to its predecessor.

• Officially known in Israel only as the M-51
• Post-1967, also referred to internally as "Degem Alef" — the first upgraded pattern
• "Isherman" was never used by the IDF — it's a media and hobbyist invention
• The real "Super Sherman" designation belonged to an earlier 76mm variant

Baptism by Fire: 1967 and 1973

In June 1967, nearly every M50 and M51 in Israeli service was thrown into action simultaneously — across the Sinai, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights, facing Egyptian and Syrian T-34/85s and SU-100 tank destroyers.

The Six-Day War was the M51's first true test at scale, and it held its own against armour that, on paper, should have outclassed a rebuilt WWII chassis. But its defining moment came six years later. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel again threw its aging Sherman fleet into battle — this time against far more modern Soviet-supplied T-54s, T-55s, and T-62s.

Losses were heavier than in 1967; the M51 was, by then, genuinely outdated. Yet using HEAT ammunition, its 105mm gun proved capable of knocking out tanks more than a decade newer and better armoured — a testament to how much firepower Israeli engineers had managed to graft onto a chassis the rest of the world had already written off.

Retirement, Export, and a Quiet Afterlife

By the mid-1970s, newer Israeli-operated tanks like the Centurion and later the M60 Patton were taking over front-line duties, and the M51's combat career was winding down. Some were handed to Christian militias during the Lebanese Civil War in 1976; a number of these were later captured and reused by the PLO. Others were sold abroad — Chile rearmed a batch with 60mm guns, while Argentina fitted some with 105mm guns pulled from its own AMX-13 fleet.

By the early 1980s, the last M51s in Israeli service had either been retired outright or stripped of their armament for use in secondary, non-combat roles. What remained was a reputation: proof that clever engineering could squeeze another two decades of relevance out of a design that had first seen combat storming the beaches of Normandy.

Dream Big — Build Small

The M51's distinctive silhouette — a WWII hull carrying a gun that was never meant to fit — makes it one of the most satisfying Cold War subjects to bring to life on the workbench. Every counterweight, every HVSS road wheel, every panel line tells part of the story above.

Creawell DIY Pick

TAKOM 2208 1/35 M51 "Degem Alef"

A historically accurate 1/35 scale rendition of the Israeli-upgraded Sherman, featuring the French CN-105-F1 gun, photo-etched detail parts, a metal gun barrel, HVSS suspension, and marking options for multiple Israeli units. A rewarding build for anyone drawn to the M51's unlikely story.

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