The M4A3E2(more commonly known as the Jumbo Sherman) is a heavily armored medium compared to it’s tier 6 counterparts.  This guide will be based off of the E2’s stronger turret which is not it’s upgraded turret since a lot of E2’s run with the 105mm HE gun and also the heavily armored 152/152/152 turret(stock turret) for front/side/rear turret armor and a 152mm armored commander’s cupola(45mm for sights inside the cupola). The upgraded turret has 76/50/50 for front/side/rear on the turret and a commander’s cupola 76mm thick(45mm for sights).  Both however have the same 178mm thick gun mantlet that covers most of the frontal turret armor.

The index at the bottom of each picture describes a few abbreviations used and also the format in which the armor details are described in. Effective Armor (EA) refers to the overall effectiveness of the armor without normalization.

 The armor values are presented in three different scenarios for the angled view of the tank.15° frontal(75° side),  25° frontal(65° side), 35° frontal(55° side), and 45° frontal(45° side).

Frontal View

Frontally the M4A3E2 is tough for most tier 6 tanks and lower due to it’s high frontal armor on both the upper frontal glacis(UFG), lower frontal glacis(LFG), and the turret armor+mantlet. UFG  The upper frontal glacis is 101mm thick and at 47° making it quite tough for most tanks normally facing the M4A3E2 compared to other medium tanks. Head on it has an impressive 148 effective armor(EA) and and 136mm of armor against AP shells(AP). LFG  Unlike most tanks the lower frontal glacis of the M4A3E2 is not a weak spot. It is 139mm thick and at 15° making it have 144 EA / 141 AP.  The 15° is not even across the entire lower glacis and shooting at any sharp angles will drastically increase bounces. FT #1/#2 The frontal turret armor of the M4A3E2 with the stock turret(as seen here) is 152mm thick. Shooting at the cheeks(#1 area) is very difficult as the angle increases the further away from the gun you get and can skyrocket up to over 200mm EA making it difficult to damage. The #2 area(below the gun) is still 152mm but has little to no angle making it easier to penetrate but still more difficult than shooting the UFG if you have a gun that can penetrate here.  The upgraded turret’s armor values drop down to 76mm in both locations and are generally very easy to damage if you avoid shooting the heavily angles portions near the sides of the turret. Mantlet #1/#2  The Mantlet on both turrets is 178mm thick however the armor behind the mantlet is not the same across the entire mantlet. Mantlet #1 has the 178mm thick mantlet with no additional armor behind it making it a viable spot to shoot for higher pen guns if there is no other option.  Mantlet #2 has the 178mm of armor plus additional turret armor that is 152mm/15° for the stock turret and 76mm/15° for the upgraded turret making it much harder to damage. A1  The machine gun port is the prime weak spot for lower penetrating guns facing the M4A3E2. Guns with over 90mm of average penetration will go through nearly 100% of the time. A2  One of the lesser known weak spots is the armor located above the mantlet on both the stock and upgraded turrets. The armor here is 25mm/40° making it only 33 EA / 31 AP.  This location can only be hit easily at mid to close ranges and only if your tank is not significantly shorter than the M4A3E2. A3 The commander’s hatch can be a weak spot or a shell eater depending on which turret is used. The stock turret has 152mm of armor on the hatch with 45mm of armor on the indents/view ports located on the hatch. The upgraded turret only has 76mm of armor with the 45mm of armor on the indents/view ports.
A4/A5  Both of these sights do no HP damage but do do damage to the crew. A4 is in a location that can block shots to the commander’s hatch behind it so avoid shooting it if you want to do HP damage.

Angled View

The M4A3E2 while angled is one of the harder opponents to face for new players just climbing into tier 6 matches.  It was already hard to deal with frontally and now while angled it becomes tougher if the M4 does not over angle. If the E2 driver does start to angle however you can easily pick apart his sides if he drops them below the auto-bounce range.

Side View

Nothing special to see for the side of a M4A3E2 as overall it is very weak compared to the frontal armor. The upper side hull(USH) is only 76mm/0° making it very easy to damage along with the lower side hull(LSH) which is only 38mm/0°(if tracks are hit they add 20mm of armor).  The only strong spot is if the stock turret is used and the side turret(ST) armor is 152mm in that case. If the upgraded turret is used then the 152mm drops down to a mere 50mm.