Hi. I’m working on my first kit in 50 years, Tamiya’s M4A3 (75) Sherman. Wartime photos of Shermans and many models frequently show a lot of stuff hanging on turrets. My question is, what were all the backpacks, helmets, etc, hanging onto? Photos of turrets on the Sherman Minutia website show the turret sides to be relatively smooth except for sometimes a lift ring. Did Sherman crews in the field weld hooks or some other devices to their turrets so they could have a place to hang things?
They also strung wire from lifting hooks and had maintenance crews weld footman loops and other items like that.
The maintenance crews also welded worn out track blocks as extra armor or plates of armor.
As built, the 75mm gun tank turrets had tie down points on the rear of the turret bustle. That was originally for the vehicle tarp according to the manual, but crews would hang other items there. 