There were more than 260 of these built and used in combat in late 1944. That means more of these were fielded than Elephants, Ostwinds, sturmtigers and 50mm Pumas put together.
They were considered essentially impervious to any AT gun from the front.
Despite that, the allies didn't go forward with making more. They found them too limited in speed, maneuverability, and cross country ability.
Some units that were not blessed with Jumbos made field modifications to some of their own. "Expedient Jumbos" were M4A3's modified with extra armour scavenged from the many wrecks laying around from the Battle of the Bulge.
The Sherman really did have values that aren't modeled in COH. They were very mechanically reliable. Performed well in their designed role (breakouts). Were easy to repair even after having been knocked out.
This helped make possible many of the breakneck chases of the US Army through France and at Remagen, and the complete turn of the 3rd Army front during the Battle of the Bulge. All of them were operations because of opportunity and not planning.
A lot of the benefits of Allied Tanks aren't portrayed in-game unfortunately. The ability for Tanks that were "KIA" to be salvaged and returned to combat, the ease of repairs, the lower costs and superior numbers, etc. A lot of these would be too hard to balance, but in it's current state, Allied tanks are underwhelming in the late to end-game (the period where everything is Vet 3/5 and the Super-Heavy tanks roll out).
All of the sturmtigers have actually seen combat.
Most of the pershings not, just two did(or I'm confusing it with super pershing? anyway normal ones in combat were even more rare then sturmtigers).
Nah there were more than 2 M26's used, but only the first batch saw any action, and it was in the final months of the war. There were 2 only Super Pershings, and only one saw light action.
If I'm not mistaken the Tiger's 88 mm KwK 36 L/56 gun couldn't penetrate the Jumbos frontal armour (178 mm @ 30 degrees). Would have been fun to see it in-game as an Sherman who won't go full BBQ after a couple of hits.
Yes, they could. That's one of the reasons it's being suggested as a viable alternative to an IS-2 clone.