​​​The Sherman tank stands as a memorial to all armoured tank crews that served during the Second World War. The 8th Armoured Brigade attached to the British 50th Infantry Division landed in Sherman tanks to the east at Jig and King sectors of Gold on 6 June 1944. 

​​This Sherman tank is marked with insignia of the French 2nd Armoured Division which was commanded by General Leclerc. This Division landed on Utah beach on 1 August 1944 and began to push inland to liberate France. It was General Leclerc’s son who asked for this Sherman tank to be placed here at Arromanches-les-Bains years after the war. 

​The Sherman tank name is ‘Berry-au-Bac’, which is very significant in French history. The relevance to the name is that during the First World War in 1916, the French first used tanks in the area of the Chemin de Dames at the village of Berry-au-Bac. There is a memorial located there to commemorate this first tank battle conducted by the French. 

​​This particular Sherman is an M4A2 variant  with a diesel engine. The American forces preferred the petrol variants, so as part of the lend lease programme to Allied nations, the French forces were issued with the diesel variant. 

​For the tank crews that served in the diesel Shermans, they we very aware of how quickly a petrol variant could ignite when hit by enemy rounds. Being in the diesel variant, if hit, gave the crew more of an opportunity to escape the tank. This added vital seconds which was the difference between life and death. 

​Trooper Alan King, who served in Sherman tanks of both diesel and petrol variants, stated that the day they had to hand over their diesel Shermans to be replaced by petrol ones was a bad day for them and they were reluctant to do so. Alan further stated that they had seen petrol Shermans get hit and the consequences of this. 

​A plaque attached to the tank commemorates General Leclerc.​