The armor was thin, the were under gunned and a tall target. Early ones lit off from fuel and un protected ammo, but experience brought improvements. My uncle wa in an M4 in North Africa. The first German 88 round went in one side and out the other. That actually saved the crew and tank initially. The second round went in the transmission and killed or wounded most of the crew. He spent 3 years as a POW. The original Lee and Shermans were designed as infantry support not for head to head tank warfare. Gasoline? My M-113 was gasoline fueled and Mopar 440 powered Remember the Sherman was built with requirements for transport by rail, truck and ship with the need to fit on roads, bridges and ships the little or no modifications. Existing factories need to by able to mass produce them with no major retraining of employees or machinery replacement. The basic gasoline fueled power pack was something mechanics and crews were familiar with. There were very few diesel mechanics, nor the time for training them. Some form of gasoline was available in their field of operation more so then diesel. Lastly diesels were heavy and just didn't have the power to engine size the gassers did, very few compact diesels than making 400 to 500 h.p. in 1940 The British and other Allies got the M4A4. The $10.70 Sherman M-4A3W dozer we restored at the American Armour Museum was Ford powered. The M4A2 we moved to the new facility in Northern Virginia was and Ex USMC with Twin GMC Diesels.Most ran gasoline with mainly the Soviets running Diesels in their armor/ . Later in 1944 early 45 we made approximately 100 M4A6 Shermans powered the Caterpillar D200A radial diesel engine. There was on left at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds on display in the Mile Of Tanks. After 9/11 when the security changed and things moved at APG, it is now in Cat's care. Along with the T-34 the Shermans are still in service in Chile, Peru, Israel and a few Eastern Bloc countries and were in combat in the Balkans in the 90's. Like the Bulldog the Sherman is an American Icon