>>150277033
>What is THAT on top of the tank?

Deep wading gear, basically a giant snorkel installed to prevent water from getting into the engine and allow the tank to be driven off a landing craft into water as deep as 10-20 feet and roll up onto the shore.

>Is that accurate?

Yes, both Deep Wading and Duplex Drive Shermans (ones equipped with propellers and a removable flotation screen to allow them to swim from landing craft to shore from as far as 2 miles in ideal conditions) were used extensively in the Normandy landings. The deep-wading ones actually wound up fairing better than their DD cousins because the weather was so rough on the day of the landings that nearly all of the DD Shermans wound up sinking well before they reached the beach.