M26 Pershing

M26 Pershing Heavy Tank
An M26 Pershing breaking easily through a solid wall
Role	Heavy Main Battle Tank
Unit Cost	900 900 14 14
Prereq.	Armor Company: M26 Pershing Heavy Tank
Produced By	None; Called-in from the field.
Primary armament	M3 90mm Cannon
Secondary armament	2x M1919a4 Light Machine Gun
Health	990 990
Armor	Heavy
Max. Speed	5 m/s

“Pershing Heavy Cav. Here!”

The M26 Pershing is a heavy tank fielded by the American Armor Company in Company of Heroes. Roughly equal in strength to an Axis Panther, this is the strongest armor unit available to the Americans. Only one M26 Pershing can exist on the battlefield at any given time. When present, this tank becomes the focal point of American assault operations, able to sustain plenty of firepower and destroy enemy tanks easily with its large cannon. When properly escorted by infantry or other tanks, it is difficult to stop an M26 Pershing. It will also ignore almost any obstacle, including Tank Traps.

Overview

The M26 Pershing is the American army's heaviest vehicle, and their only heavy tank. Well-armored and carrying a powerful cannon, it is meant to be the Allies' answer to the German Panther, Tiger and King Tiger heavy tanks. Although rare on the battlefield, it is one of the most dangerous units to an Axis commander.

The M26 Pershing is called in to the field using the M26 Pershing Heavy Tank ability - which is unlocked by purchasing the same-named Command Upgrade from the Armor Company tree. Each use of this ability costs 900 900 and consumes 14 14, making this the most expensive American unit. Only one M26 Pershing is allowed on the battlefield - the ability is disabled while it is still alive, and re-enabled only if the vehicle is destroyed.

The M26 Pershing is considerably larger and more heavily-armored than the M4 Sherman, especially at the front. Its front armor is thicker than any Axis tank's, except the Jagdpanther. Like most other tanks, its rear and side armor is considerably weaker.

The tank carries a pair of Light Machine Guns, but its primary weapon is the massive M3 90mm General-Purpose Cannon installed in its massive turret. This cannon is only a "reasonable" anti-tank gun, but is surprisingly accurate against smaller targets like infantry and weapon crews, making it a great overall weapon.

When the M26 Pershing enters the field, it becomes the focus of all large-scale American assaults, often escorted by as many other tanks and infantry units as possible to make powerful but short punches intended to capture enemy territory to knock out large enemy forces. It lacks the staying power of the King Tiger or Jagdpanther, but then again benefits greatly from the various abilities gathered along the Armor Company Command Tree - particularly Field Repairs.

As long as this vehicle is kept in good shape and well-escorted to protect its vulnerable flanks and rear, the Americans can mount virtually unstoppable attacks. This also means that the M26 Pershing quickly becomes the number one target for all enemy direct-attack abilities.

Weapons

The M26 Pershing carries one of the most powerful American cannons: the M3 90mm Cannon. It is mounted on the vehicle's slow-rotating turret.

Additionally, the tank carries two M1919a4 Light Machine Guns, one mounted co-axially to the main cannon, the other fixed in the vehicle's front hull. Both are rapid-firing weapons, meant primarily to dissuade enemies from approaching this vehicle.

M3 90mm Cannon

The M3 90mm Cannon is essentially a mid-weight general-purpose gun, firing High Explosive Anti-Tank shells. Designed to match the performance of the Tiger's 88mm cannon, the two cannons are in fact almost identical.

The cannon is not remarkably accurate, having only a 75% chance to hit its target at maximum range (40 meters), and increasing slowly towards 100% at 20 meters. Note that most tank battles occur roughly at sight-range, 35 meters or so.

The cannon fires one shell every ~6 seconds, making this a relatively fast gun for its size. Each shell that hits its target directly delivers with it 137.5 points of damage. Some area damage also occurs, and could seriously injure (but not kill) infantrymen at 1-3 meters from the blast point.

For a cannon that fires high-explosive shells, this weapon is surprisingly powerful against armor. Unfortunately, most of the vehicles it will have to contend with are enemy heavy tanks, which have very strong armor on their front. Penetration is still all but guaranteed against medium tanks like the Panzer IV (slightly less so against the StuG IV), but there is only a 60% chance of getting through a Panther's front armor, 50% against a Tiger or King Tiger, and even lower values against the sloped armor of a Hetzer or Jagdpanther. Of course, rear armor penetration assured against any target.

Like the German 88mm cannon, the M3 90mm Cannon is surprisingly accurate against infantry. It has a 75% chance of hitting infantrymen at 20 meters or less, which means it can snipe them out when required, and is particularly useful against gun crews. Naturally, it cannot handle an entire enemy infantry squad in any reasonable amount of time, another reason why this tank needs to be escorted wherever it goes.

M1919a4 Light Machine Gun

In addition to its main cannon, the M26 Pershing is armed with two M1919a4 Browning Light Machine Guns. These are standard vehicle-mounted weapons found on various Allied units. Belt-fed and fully automatic, they are unfortunately poor offensive weapons.

One of the LMGs is mounted co-axially on the turret, and will usually engage any target the main cannon is pointing at. The other LMG is installed in the front hull of the vehicle, and can engage targets in the direction the hull is pointing at. Both of these weapons are identical, except for their firing directions.

The M1919a4 fires in long, 5 second bursts, with about 35 bullets per per burst. This is mitigated by very low accuracy values. When firing at anything beyond very close range (5 meters or so) only a few bullets if any will strike the target at all. It also delivers a relatively low amount of damage: 4 points per hit, with a serious damage reduction against most targets (even against most infantry units). It can take upwards of 10 bursts to kill a single infantryman with this weapon, unless the target is very close.

Additionally, the M1919a4 has almost no Suppression ability, despite being a rapid-fire weapon. This makes it even less useful against infantry, the only targets it can actually damage with any reliability.

This weapon is meant only to discourage infantry from approaching the front of the tank, and add some anti-infantry capability to tank's overall firepower. In fact, it is more likely for the tank's main cannon to kill infantry than it is for its Light Machine Guns.

Veterancy

As an American unit, the M26 Pershing can gain three levels of Veterancy. Each level brings its own specific benefits, increasing the unit's combat potential and/or survivability.

Accumulation

Like all other American units, the M26 Pershing obtains Veterancy points by killing enemy units. It receives 100% of the experience value of each unit it kills. Once it has accumulated a sufficient number of Veterancy points, it will automatically advance to the next level, gaining the related bonuses immediately.

American units do not share Veterancy points with one another. To receive points, the unit must personally kill an enemy unit.

Bonuses

At each Veterancy level, the M26 Pershing gains a specific set of bonuses as listed below. These bonuses are cumulative with each other.

	No Veterancy: Unit is at normal combat efficiency.
	Level 1 Veterancy: Maximum Speed increased by 25% (to 6.2 m/s)
	Level 2 Veterancy: +50% weapon Penetration
	Level 3 Veterancy: +25 weapon damage

Quotes

“Targeting Panther...”

“Pershing, on the mark.”

“I want full alertness, we engage on contact.”

Gallery

M26 Pershing heavy tank, rear view, supported by Infantry.

Game Info

The M26 Pershing heavy tank is the United States' only heavy tank. It is available to the player only if the Allied Commander chose the Armor Company. The M26 Pershing heavy tank is armed with the 90mm M3 gun and armor up to 110mm thick. The M26 Pershing heavy tank is designed for one job, to counter attack the Axis heavy panzer units, such as the fearsome Tiger, King Tiger and Jagdpanther. Its M3 90mm gun is designed to kill all but the toughest heavy panzer units. And with armour 110mm thick, it can also withstand AT fire such as the 88mm Flak 36 and 88mm gun from the heavy panzer unit thus can take an incredible amount of punishment. It also has two .30 calibre machine guns, designed to suppress infantry units or lighter targets that the main gun cannot engage. The M26 Pershing heavy tank can operate in combat groups or even alone in combat. As it is slow, it can be grouped with infantry units such as a Riflemen Squad to provide supreme cover from enemy Panzerschreck teams. Support from the M10 Tank Destroyer and M4 Sherman allow it to be use in tank hunting, with the M26 Pershing heavy tank acting as an armour shield while the M10 Tank Destroyer provides AT fire. Axis panzer units such as the StuG IV, Panzer IV, Panzer IV Infantry Support Tank and Marder III cannot survive long against its 90mm M3 gun. The only panzer units which can stand up to this fearsome tank are the Tiger and Jagdpanther tanks. The M26 Pershing heavy tank is the "tigerphobia" of all Axis Commanders.

Weakness

"Get this beast outta here!" Slow and cumbersome, the M26 Pershing heavy tank is surprisingly similar to the Tiger in terms of speed and mobility but is slightly faster and more manuevarable. Axis Commanders will usually take advantage of this by deploying the weaker but reliable Marder IIIs or Hetzers to ambush it at chokepoint as the Marder III's 75mm PaK 40 gun and the Hetzer's 75mm PaK 39 L/48 have good range and high rate of fire to counter the M26 Pershing's thick armour. Teller Mines and normal Mines can also be deployed to damage and immobilize the M26 Pershing heavy tank. Large amounts of concentrated AT fire and tank fire can also defeat it. Due to the limited numbers of Pershings deployed to Europe, Armor company commanders may only command one Pershing tank at a time.