I stumbled upon a post in a Facebook group about this strange photo of a Sherman.
From what I can see of the rear of the hull, it looks like an M4A1 VVSS, and the trailer appears to be using Sherman wheels.
Do you have any information or photos regarding this type of Sherman and/or the trailer?
What is towing it?
Centurion ? 
H.P.
Yeah that is a strange but interesting picture.
I’ve never been involved with mine removal operations but always thought the ‘explode the mines’ part came before the vehicle instead of behind - is that a thing? It almost makes me think it was some farmer with IDF Army surplus plowing a field for planting.
Im sure it has nothing to do with mines.
Is there a reason aside from mine removal or farming that involves rolling heavy wheels across a piece of sandy ground like that? Are they prepping for road construction maybe?
Clearly a cast hull, but with a downward extension of the upper rear plate that points to it being re-engined.
What is up with the drivers’ hatches, though? They’re far too square for Sherman hatches, and almost make me think somebody retrofitted some from an M10 3-inch GMC.
I wonder if they are simply leveling a road.
I think you’re bang on the money. It’s the most logical explanation - at least in my mind.
Guessing:
Imagine a mine roller prototype being tested,
the vehicle pushing it breaks down and the
whole shebang needs to be towed.
Towing a tank with a mine roller (or other
big and clumsy contraption) mounted at
the front could get difficult.
Towing the mine rollers behind the disabled
tank could make it easier to tow it.
Just a thought …
Has anyone else noticed the big rubber tyres on the sides are outside the area crushed by the rollers? If it was mine-sweeping they could set off mines just beyond the path of the rollers, which strikes me as a design flaw. It must have a different use.
Transportation frame/trailer?
Present in one photo but not in the other.
Used when the tank is transporting (towing) the rollers
to the edge of the minefield?
If you look carefully thats two different vehicles
The top one is possibly a re engined composite hull, the lower one is a M4A1 with the original engine (you can see the intake cover and air filter boxes).
As for the rollers my thought is road preparation/compacting. Interestingly the second vehicle has a radio installed
Welcome to the dark side. Took you long enough to get here.
Thank you for all your replies… on closer inspection, I have a few theories:
We can see at least two different vehicles: an M4A1 and a ‘composite’/‘Frankenstein’ Sherman (the IDF certainly knows a thing or two about those)
The second photo shows three details that caught my eye:
I think it’s a decommissioned Sherman, a sacrificial vehicle, perhaps used to compact the sand on a track in the Negev or the Sinai.
I think this is exactly what it is used for. I imagine that they used this Sherman to flatten the dirt roads on the border between Israel and Jordan/Syria/Lebanon/West Bank, so they can better spot footprints in the dirt.
So heres my take. The idea that this is being used to compact or construct a road. I doubt that. The best type of vehicle to make dirt roads is a road grader, but road graders don’t work too well in sand. And sand isn’t a good medium to build roads on. For deep sand you need a bulldozer. And it wouldn’t make sense here because you would want roads for automotive travel. Sand isn’t a good surface for wheeled vehicles while tracked vehicles don’t really need them.
I am of the belief that what we are seeing is some type of improvised mine clearing vehicle. Of course why tow the device behind a tank rather then push it ahead of the tank? It depends on what kind of mines they were trying to clear. Small pressure activated anti personnel mines would not blow off the tracks of a tank. However the tracks on a Sherman are very narrow. If you simply drove across a minefield with a Sherman, a few of those mines would pass harmlessly under the tank and dismounted infantry would become casualties. To avoid this you would need something to set off the mines your tracks missed. Enter the improvised mine roller.
So whats with the other tank in the first image? The mine roller is going to need some weight to trigger any mines it rolls over. But in sand you have another problem. The improvised mine clearing sled uses the road wheels of a Sherman, which are small and narrow. It’s not the ideal wheel to pull across soft sand, and several under an improvised mine clearing sled only makes the problem worse. Such a sled would produce an enormous amount of pulling resistance, and remember the tracks of a Sherman are narrow, so they aren’t going to be effective at pulling a heavy sled thats sinking into soft sand. I suspect that the other tank is assisting the mine clearing tank by providing extra pulling power and traction.
Edro
Um … how do you figure that? More wheels means less ground pressure, which means less sinking into the sand, which means less resistance to being pulled across the sand.
Also, what are the objects on the engine deck of the turretless sherman, in the photo with the halftrack? They almost look like VHS cassettes 
I wondered if maybe the device is for laying those things behind the tank through the open engine door, from a gutted engine compartment. However, that’s not it because the Sherman in that photo clearly has a working engine, as it’s being refuelled from the drum in the halftrack.
