M26 Pershing
Heavy Tank · USA
The US answer to the Tiger: a 90 mm gun, a thick sloped front and a fast power traverse. It is slow off the mark; keep the front towards the fight and let the gun work.
(the vehicle's description in the garage)
At a glance
| Nation | USA |
| Role | Heavy tank (HT) |
| Modelled variant | M26 Pershing |
| Price | 930 credits |
| Team stock | 1 per five-player team (scales with team size) |
| Hit points | 1230 |
| Main gun | 340 damage per AP shot, 6.9 s reload |
| Speed | 40.2 km/h on roads, 18.9 km/h off-road |
| View range | 200 m |
| Ability (B) | Artillery |
| Garage ratings | Armour 4/10 · Firepower 5/10 · Mobility 8/10 · Spotting 6/10 |
History
The M26 Pershing was the US Army's first heavy tank of the war to see combat, later reclassified as a medium. It carried a 90 mm gun and heavy frontal armour on a torsion-bar suspension. Delays in development meant only about twenty reached Europe in February 1945, with more following before VE-Day.
Pershings fought in the last months of the war, most famously at Cologne and in capturing the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. They were the closest American match for the Tiger and Panther. The game includes the M26 as the US heavy tank; it is not part of any map's AI line-up because it arrived after the battles the maps depict.
In Armor Heads
Compared with the other 34 WW2 vehicles, it is top 5 for hull front armour (#4 of 35); top 5 for shot damage (#4 of 35); top 5 for turret / gun traverse speed (#5 of 35); bottom 5 for view range (#31 of 35).
Survivability
- Hit points: 1230. Damage taken multiplier: 0.92 (effective HP 1337).
- Track repair: 12 s.
| Zone | Damage multiplier (lower = thicker) | Raw shell damage to destroy through this zone |
|---|---|---|
| Hull front | 0.49 | 1,705 |
| Hull side | 0.68 | 1,229 |
| Hull rear | 1.3 | 643 |
| Roof | 1.26 | 663 |
| Turret front | 0.55 | 1,519 |
| Turret side | 0.68 | 1,229 |
| Turret rear | 1.3 | 643 |
Main gun
- Mount: turret, 360° traverse at 36°/s.
- Elevation +20° / depression -10°, at 14°/s.
- Reload: 6.9 s.
- Damage per minute (AP): 2,957.
- Accuracy: 0.065° dispersion when settled, aim time 1.68 s, move bloom 0.045.
- Gunner's sight: M71C, 4x (binoculars 6x / 10x / 15x).
| Shell | Type | Damage | Splash | Blast radius | Muzzle velocity | Penetration threshold | Rounds | Crew shock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Armour Piercing | AP | 340 | 30 | 3 m | 853 m/s | 0.47 | 23 | - |
| Heavy High Explosive | HE | 221 | 170 | 6.5 m | 823 m/s | 0.824 | 12 | 1.21 |
| 90 mm M304 HVAP | HVAP | 255 | 15 | 3 m | 1021 m/s | 0.28 | bought (key 3) | - |
The penetration threshold is the thinnest zone multiplier the shell gets through: zones below it stop the shell (10 % damage for AP, 20 % for HE). See how the numbers work.
HVAP (90 mm M304 HVAP) is bought in the garage, not issued: 3 rounds for 200 credits, at most 6 carried, from a team stock of 3 per player for the whole match (never resupplied). It gets through far thicker plate than the AP up close but loses its punch quickly with range:
| Range | AP needs | HVAP needs | AP damage | HVAP damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 m | 0.47 | 0.28 | 340 | 255 |
| 300 m | 0.47 | 0.35 | 313 | 204 |
| 500 m | 0.47 | 0.47 | 286 | 153 |
| 700 m | 0.47 | 0.56 | 272 | 128 |
Matchups (AP against the hull front, square-on, under 100 m)
- Its AP gets through the hull front of 32 of the other 34 vehicles. It is stopped by: Tiger II, IS-2.
- 8 of the other 34 vehicles' AP get through its hull front. Safe from the front against: Tiger I, M4 Sherman, M3A1 Stuart, Panzer II Luchs, Panzer III Ausf. L, T-34/76, T-34-85, Panzer IV Ausf. H, Cromwell, Churchill VII, KV-1, M10 Wolverine, M18 Hellcat, StuG III Ausf. G, ISU-152, M32 TRV, M24 Chaffee, Sd.Kfz. 250/9, T-70M, T-60, Marder III, SU-76M, Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer, M3 Lee, 75 mm GMC M3, Stuart V "Honey".
- Sides, rears and roofs are thinner on every vehicle; see each page's zone table.
Secondary weapons and equipment
- Roof machine gun: .50 cal (M2 Browning), the vehicle's own modelled gun on its turret, 9 rounds/s, 2.5 damage per round, overheats after 48 rounds. It elevates to 70° and can shoot down recon planes.
- Smoke: 1 salvo, each recharges in 60 s.
Mobility
- Running gear: tracks (pivot turns).
- Top speed 40.2 km/h on roads, 18.9 km/h off-road (47 %), reverse 8 km/h, acceleration 2.7 m/s².
- Turn rate 28°/s (17°/s at top speed). Mass 41,900 kg. Engine start 4.5 s.
Special ability (B)
Artillery: an eight-shell barrage on any point within 1,000 m, 8 s after red smoke marks it; the shells hit tank roofs and wreck buildings. Ready 90 s after the round goes live, once per round; another use costs 400 credits.
Where it appears
Players can take it on all seven WW2 maps, on either team. It is not in any map's AI line-up (it did not fight in the battles the maps depict).
Where it ranks (1 = best of 35)
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
| Hit points | 6 |
| Effective HP | 6 |
| Hull front armour (lower multiplier = thicker) | 4 |
| Turret front armour | 6 |
| Road speed | 22 |
| Off-road speed | 22 |
| Shot damage (AP) | 4 |
| Damage per minute | 20 |
| Reload (shortest first) | 25 |
| Accuracy (smallest dispersion first) | 13 |
| Aim time (fastest first) | 19 |
| Turret / gun traverse speed | 5 |
| View range | 31 |
| AP penetration (lower threshold = goes through more) | 6 |
| Price (1 = most expensive) | 6 |
The real vehicle
| Variant | M26 Pershing |
| Length with gun | 8.65 m |
| Hull length | 6.33 m |
| Width | 3.51 m |
| Height | 2.78 m |
Sources used for the model: Wikipedia M26 Pershing (8.649 m gun forward, 6.337 m hull, 3.51 m wide, 2.781 m high, 24 in track) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M26_Pershing ; blueprints the-blueprints.com T26E3/M26 (62960) and M26 (72177), historyofwar.org M26 plans (wheel spacing, turret position, plan shape)
In-game model: 8.7 m long (gun included) × 3.52 m wide × 2.79 m high (antenna excluded), 6,458 triangles, built at true scale.
Images
Renders of the in-game model in a plain nation colour (the game paints its camouflage at runtime).
