Medium tank to manufacture a well-balanced medium tank in very large numbers - around 57,000 T-34s and 49,000 M4 Sherman tanks were built during the war period. During and after World War II, the roles of light tanks were gradually taken over by less-expensive armoured cars and specialised reconnaissance vehicles. Heavy tanks, having shown their limitations in combat, experienced a limited post-war arms race of progressively more heavily armed and armoured designs. With the rise of more sophisticated anti-tank missile weapons, to which heavy tanks had demonstrated high vulnerability, these too were eventually phased out. With advances in technology, aspects such as
Tanks of the U.S. in the Cold War its derivative M46 Patton were credited with almost half of the North Korean T-34s destroyed by US tanks. Being underpowered and unreliable in the mountainous Korean terrain, all Pershings were withdrawn from Korea in 1951, and replaced with M4 Shermans and M46 Pattons. The M103 was manufactured at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant and the first units were accepted in 1957. The M103 was designed to counter Soviet heavies. Its long-ranged 120 mm cannon was designed to hit enemy tanks at extreme distances, but it was never used in combat. Of the 300 M103s built, most went to the Marines.