The curious case of "Ronson", Pt. 1

Everybody interested in history of World War 2 heard  of  the "Ronson myth" about Sherman tank. Ronson was a nickname reportedly give to the Sherman, apparently because it was extremely flamable. It came from the Ronson lighter company advertisement : "Lights first every time".  

Origin of the slogan

Many people dispute the "ronson myth" with a claim that the particular slogan of "lights first every time" came only after war. There are various Ronson adverts post-war and during the war, none of which have slogans  that are worded in a similar way. There is this one exception, which apparently is from 1927.

From my search on the internet, I was unable to comfirm it indeed is from 1927, past few forum and blog entries. If anyone have any information on this, I would appreciate if you comment. 

So was it really that flammable?

First look at Analysis of 75 mm Sherman tank casualties suffered between 6th June and and 10th July 1944 is pretty damning.

More than 80% of given sample  caught on fire, 73% of  Shermans penetrated by AP shots caught on fire. 

However, it is not that simple. It was noted that proportion of brewed-up tanks was not always that high. Reason as to why so many Shermans caught on fire became apparent with further examinations.

" A more recent examination of  later battles, which is not yet complete, has shown that the 1st Bn Coldstream Guards (5th Gds Arm. Div.) have suffered fewer brew-ups than other units, e.g., during operation BLUECOAT only 1 in 20 casualties,"

"The unit concerned attributes this to the fact that they carry no extra ammunition outside the armoured bins."

This points to the fact that most tank fires are caused by ammunition, and that proper, and more importantly armoured stowage helps to greatly reduce the probability of fire upon penetration.

But what about the competition?

Lets compare the relative fire safety of Sherman tank to a sample of german tanks, studied in the Analysis of German tank casualties in France 6th June to 31st August 1944:

Compared to a smaller sample of Pz. IV, Sherman proves to be less fire-prone, but it needs less penetrations to be set on fire than Panther. Tiger tank, with a miniscule advatange of 0.01, is the safest vehicle when it comes to fire safety.

However, there are few things that should be taken into consideration:

- Sherman had a rather sizable ready rack positioned inside the turret. While it allowed the crew to reach an amazing rate of fire (as high as 20 rounds per minute), it also added a big fire hazard if the turret was penetrated, compared to German tanks.

-  Ammo stowage in sponsons could be located from the outside due to "bumps" in the armor like this,

which would draw the eye of any german gunner trying to position the crosshair, and that would result in ammo being ignited.

More in Part 2.