It’s often the simplest of adaptations that can have the largest impact and this WW2 Sherman tank is a prime example.

During the battle of Normandy the occupying German forces were supported by the landscape as the many thick, high hedgerows the area is famous for created natural defences which allowed them to hide and surprise allied tanks making their way through the region’s fields.
The tall hedges funnelled tanks into kill zones and many vehicles, and their crews, were lost.

To combat this, US 2nd Armoured Division sergeant Curtis Culin devised this front-mounted cutting blade created by cutting up and welding steel beach defences.
These Shermans were known as Rhino tanks and were able to smash through the hedges and attack field positions and bunkers away from the predicted kill zones.

This M4 Sherman with its 75mm gun can be seen at the superb Normandy Victory Museum at Catz and was built in Philadelphia in February 1943.

The museum also boasts a number of other unique vehicles including a Ward La France M1A1 Heavy Wrecker truck, Caterpillar bulldozer, a Higgins boat, fuel bowser lorry, and an unusual airfield towed scaper unit used to create runways for the advancing allied forces.