The Medium Tank "M4 Sherman", named after American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, was an American medium tank, and became one of the most successful tank models of all time. It served as the backbone of American armoured forces and served on all fronts of World War II with many being lend-leased by the British Commonwealth and the USSR. A total of nearly 50,000 different variants were produced in the United States alone and by the end of the 1990s, it had been exported to 50 countries. It first appeared in the anime in Episode 4.