The Medium Tank M4 was the main tank designed and built by the United States for allied forces in World War II, totaling roughly 50,000 tanks plus thousands more derivative vehicles under different model numbers with different abilities. In the United Kingdom lend-lease M4s were dubbed General Sherman after Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, continuing a practice of naming American tanks after famous Generals. The British name became popular in the US and the two names are often combined into M4 Sherman or shortened to Sherman.