Armoured recovery vehicle
An armoured recovery vehicle (ARV) is typically a powerful tank or armoured personnel carrier (APC) chassis modified for use during combat for military vehicle recovery (towing) or repair of battle-damaged, stuck, and/or inoperable armoured fighting vehicles, such as tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Most ARVs have motorized tracks, like a tank or bulldozer, enabling the ARV to operate on uneven ground. The term "Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle" (ARRV) is also used.
A US Marine Corps M88A2 Hercules in 2014, lifting an M1 Abrams engine with its crane.
Chinese Labour Corps men and British soldiers removing parts from a Mark IV tank at the Central Stores of the Tank Corps, Teneur, spring 1918.
A British Conqueror Armoured Recovery Vehicle 2
An ARV crane can also be used to lift concrete fortifications and other battlefield engineering tasks.
The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It was also the basis of several other armored fighting vehicles including self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, and armored recovery vehicles. Tens of thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth and Soviet Union. The tank was named by the British after the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.
An M4 (105) Sherman tank with spare track-links welded on its front for additional armor protection, preserved at the Langenberg Liberation Memorial in Ede, Netherlands
Cutaway Sherman showing transmission and driver's seat
A Sherman DD amphibious tank of 13th/18th Royal Hussars in action against German troops using crashed Airspeed Horsa gliders as cover near Ranville, Operation Overlord Normandy, 10 June 1944
The second production Sherman, Michael, displayed at The Tank Museum, Bovington, England (2010)