No experience with tank transport in 1943, but 30 years later, when the "balloon went up" in Israel in 1973 we pulled M-60's out of the Army's tank depot in Indiana, had them shipped to Dayton by rail and loaded them directly into C-5 transports at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Oh. I was told that when they arrived in Tel Aviv the Israelis' rolled them off the C-5 and right at the airport fueled them up, loaded ammunition, and drove them straight to the front. (2 per aircraft).
At the time, made us USAF guys feel pretty **** good!
Don