To notice the differences between the M36 Jackson and the M10, there are two major points to look for. At the back of the somewhat rounder turret, a long counterweight is protruding. This one is much more fluent that the one on the M10, with her two heavy blocks as a counter weight. In the extra room in the protruding back of the M36, eleven extra shells could be stored.

The second point of distinction is the mask at the front of the turret where the cannon runs through. On the M10 it was made with a sharp corner, as with the M36 it is much rounder with a distinctive bulge atop of it. The first produced M36 Tank Destroyers were delivered without the muzzle brakes. Post-war models were given the M26 stylish muzzle brakes.

In the second half of 1944 the first M36 Jacksons arrived in Europe. Because of the great demand for tank destroyers during this period, 187 standard M4A3's chassis were adjusted for M36 turrets. Some of these M36B1's saw some action at the end of the war. Beside the adjustments with the M4A3 and the M4A2 chassis, 500 obsolete M10 were rebuilt to M36 standard.

As mentioned above, the chassis of the M4A2 was also used to carry the turret of the M36. This chassis was actually reserved for the M10 . The production of these M36B2 was started in May 1945 and a total of 287 were built. This version came to late to see any action in the Second World War, but saw action in Korea. It was also deployed by the French during the war in Indochina.

The last M36B2's even saw action at the end of the nineties of the last century, when they were deployed in Bosnia, sixty years after the introduction. These types had Russian 500 hp diesel engines. Thanks to these sources some M36 TD's are still around and are given a safe future in the hands of enthusiastic collectors

In November 2011 I received some pictures of a disabled M36 from Jero 'Sheriff' de Koning who did his first tour of duty in Bosnia in the summer of 1996, where he took the pictures below. With Jero permission I'm able to show them here.