.........................................................................................Indeed, IIRC, Shermans that landed at D-Day drove themselves to the Elbe, a straight car drive today of over 800 miles.
My regimental mythology disagrees with your history books. After WW2, the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment (now Sherbrooke Hussars) brought home "Bomb" a Sherman with a 75mm gun. Regimental legends claim that "Bomb" was the only WALLIE tank to survive fighting from the Normandy beaches to VE Day. "Bomb" may have been assigned to SF headquarters troop, but she returned to Canada with a few bullet scars and two of her crew commanders never came home.
All of the other original (D Day vintage) SF Shermans were destroyed in battle or suffered repairable mechanical failure.