Auxiliary engine inside the M3 Grant tank. M3 Lee in the Red Army. experimental vehicles based on the M3 tank
So, the design of the first production American tank turned out to be quite archaic in all respects. After all, a similar tank, with a cannon mounted in the hull, was created in the USSR back in 1931. True, it was developed by the invited German designer Grotte, but this does not change the essence of the matter. Other “multi-gun” vehicles with separate installation of two guns are also known. The English "Churchill" Mk I, for example, also had a 75-mm cannon in the frontal armor plate of the hull and a 40-mm gun in the upper turret. The French B-1 had a 75-mm short-barreled gun installed in the hull to the right of the driver and a 47-mm cannon also in the upper turret. So the Americans were unable to come up with anything particularly original at first.
M3 in the museum in Kubinka.
As for the construction of a new Chrysler tank plant, it began on September 9, 1940 in a suburb of Detroit called Varen Townshire on an area of approximately 77 thousand acres. By January 1941, preparatory work was completed, and Chrysler engineers, together with specialists from the American Locomotive Company and Baldvin, had meanwhile completed testing of all technological processes. Well, the first prototypes began to be tested on April 11, 1941. On May 3, the first M3 tank left for the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the second was saved for display admissions committee as a standard sample. Serial production of the General Lee tanks began on July 8, 1941, that is, at the height of the fighting on the Eastern Front. And since on March 8 of the same year the Lend-Lease law was adopted in the United States, this lifted all restrictions on the supply of these tanks to Great Britain, and then the USSR, all the new tanks produced immediately went overseas. Of course, all the companies involved in the production of armored vehicles immediately began to increase their production. The Pullman-Standart Car Company was actively involved in this business. , "Pressed Stell" and "Lima Lokomotive". Moreover, it should be noted that while the M3 was being produced, it was produced for only a little over a year, and to be precise, from July 8, 1941 to August 3, 1942. The Chrysler concern produced 3,352 M3 tanks during this period. various modifications, "American Locomotive company" - produced 685 units., "Baldvin" more - 1220 units., "Pressed Stell" - a total of 501 tanks., "Pullman - Standard Car Company" - already 500, and all together this gave a total of 6258 vehicles of various modifications. And the Canadians also helped: their company "Montreal Lokomotive company" also mastered the production of these machines and manufactured 1157 M3 tanks for the Canadian army. However, already in August 1942, these enterprises quickly switched to the production of the M4 "Sherman" tank. Although... there was an exception. The Baldvin company continued production of M3A3 and M3A5 until December 1942.
British M3 "General Grant" in the museum in Bovington. Pay attention to its whimsical coloring.
Let us note that the M3 tanks of absolutely all modifications looked so original that it is almost impossible to confuse them with any other tank in the world.
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's M3 tank from the Imperial War Museum in London.
"Monty" near his tank. North Africa 1942.
As already noted, the placement of the gun in the side sponson brought this tank closer to the vehicles of the First World War, although at a different technical level. The engine was located at the rear, but the transmission was in front, which is why the engine had to be connected to the transmission with a long driveshaft. Here, where this shaft passed, the engine control rods passed and all this was covered with a light, removable casing. All transmission parts were mounted in a cast part armored corps, which consisted of three parts connected to each other using a bolted connection through flanges. As a result, the tank had a very distinctive nasal tip. Also, all this was bolted to the tank's body, and this technological solution was used on all modifications, and then on the earliest M4 "Sherman" tanks. The body was assembled from flat armor plates. At the same time, their thickness was also unchanged in all modifications and was equal to 51 mm in frontal projections, the thickness of the side and rear sheets was 38 mm, and 12.7 mm was the thickness of the hull roof armor. On the bottom of the tank, the thickness of the armor was variable: from 12.7 mm in the engine area to 25.4 mm under the fighting compartment. The thickness of the walls is 57 mm, and the roof is 22 mm. The angle of inclination of the front armor plate was 60 degrees to the horizon, but the side and rear plates were located vertically. The fastening of the plate differed in different modifications. On modifications M3, MZA4, MZA5, fastening was carried out using rivets. Welding was used on modifications MZA2 and MZAZ. to the inner frame. On the MZA1 tank, the upper part of the hull was cast. The body of this vehicle had very advantageous shapes and literally “flowed around” the crew and mechanisms, but only three hundred of them were made due to difficulties with the technology of casting and hardening such large “baths.” “Riveting” housings from flat sheets, as well as welding them, turned out to be easier and cheaper. However, the technology has been developed and will be very useful in the future.
"Crew of a combat vehicle"
On the right side of the hull, a solid-cast sponson was installed with a 75-mm gun mounted so that it did not protrude beyond the dimensions of the hull. It was the height of the sponson, as well as the dimensions of the engine, that together determined the height of the tank hull. The cast turret with the 37-mm gun was moved to the left, and above it there was another small turret containing a machine gun. The result was a kind of pyramid with a height of 3214 mm. The length of the tank was 5639 mm, width - 2718 mm, ground clearance was 435 mm. Obviously, the height of the car was excessive. But the fighting compartment turned out to be very spacious, and, by the way, is still recognized as one of the most comfortable. Moreover, the inside of the tank body was also covered with a layer of sponge rubber, which protected the crew from small fragments peeling off from the armor. To enter the tank there were two doors on the sides, a hatch on the top of the hull and another on the roof of the machine gun turret. This allowed the crew to quickly climb into the tank and conveniently evacuate the wounded through these side doors, although they somehow reduced the strength of the hull.
British M3s at El Alamein, Egypt, July 7, 1942.
Each crew member had viewing slots and embrasures for firing from personal fire (which the US Army paid great attention to!), protected by armored visors. On the rear armor plate of the hull for access to the engine there was a large double-leaf door, and the joint of its doors was closed by a narrow strip secured with bolts. On both sides of it there were two filters - air purifiers, both round and box-shaped. The air intakes were traditionally located on the upper over-engine armor plate and were covered with meshes. And here, again, there was a large double-leaf hatch for removing the engine (on models M3A3 and M3A5). This arrangement of hatches made it easier to service the engine. On modifications M3, M3A2 and M3A4, instead of a hatch, there were removable armor sheets: two each for the first two tanks and as many as five for the last one. Here (on the side bevels of the rear part of the hull) entrenching tools, infantry helmets, and boxes with rations could be attached. In a word, this part of the tank was used as a “cargo compartment”.
M3 crew training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Right there. Full speed on sandy ground.
It should be noted that the M3, M3A1, M3A2 tanks did not have forced ventilation, for which the crew had to open the top hatches. The shortcoming was quickly taken into account and on models M3A3, M3A4, M3A5 three exhaust fans were installed under armored hoods: one to the left of the driver, directly above the twin machine guns, the second behind the hull hatch, behind the breech of the 75 mm gun, and the last one above the breech of the 37 mm gun cannons on the roof of a small tower. Therefore, the powder gases from the tank were quickly sucked out and did not bother the crew.
Infantry of the 19th Indian Division on the streets of Mandalay in Burma, 9-10 March 1945. Note the long-barreled cannon. Not all of them managed to be cut. Some of them ended up in the war “uncircumcised” and these guns showed themselves very well!
The M3 tanks, both "General Lee" and "General Grant", were usually powered by a star-shaped nine-cylinder aviation carburetor engine "Wright Continental" R 975 EC2 or modification Cl, the power of which was 340 hp. It enabled this 27-ton tank reach a speed of up to 42 km/h, and with a fuel supply of 796 liters, have a range of 192 km. The traditional disadvantage of such engines is their fire hazard, since they require high-octane gasoline to operate. In addition, they are difficult to maintain, especially those cylinders , that they found themselves at the bottom. But in 1941 there was practically nothing to choose from, so we had to come to terms with all these shortcomings. Starting in March 1942, a company such as Baldvin began to mount General Motors 6- automobile diesel engines on the M3A2 and M3A3 71 6046" with water cooling and a total power of 375 hp. This increased the weight of the tank by 1.3 tons, but it also increased power, efficiency, speed and range. These tanks received the indices MZAZ and MZA5. Then, in June 1942, Chrysler supplied the M3A4 tank with a new 30-cylinder Chrysler A 57 engine, also water-cooled. The length of the hull, the length of the tracks, and the weight have increased by two tons. At the same time, the speed and power reserve did not change. The British often replaced American engines in their cars with their Guiberson radial diesel engines. But the body was not subject to alterations.
Cannon in sponson. Pukkapunuala Museum in Australia.
Although the tanks were delivered to England, the driver's seat did not change. In front of it were the following instruments: tachometer, speedometer, voltmeter, ammeter, of course, fuel consumption indicator, thermometer, etc. of course, a watch. The tank could be controlled using the gear shift lever, hand brake, brake and accelerator pedals.
M3 disguised as a tracked transporter.
Such machines were used in North Africa.
Tanks of all modifications had rubber-metal tracks and three-wheeled bogies on each side. On top, on the frame of the cart, there was a roller supporting the caterpillar. The chassis was thus completely taken from the M2 tank and was later used on the early M4s. The track rollers could have solid disks or disks with spokes. The suspension was reliable and did not take up the internal volumes of the tank. The drive wheels were in the front, the guide rollers were in the rear.
The tracks consisted of 158 tracks, each 421 mm wide and 152 mm long. On MZA4 tanks there were 166 of them each, due to the longer hull. The track design was different from the tracks of the same T-34. Each track was a rubber plate with a metal frame inside, and two metal tubular axles passing through it. Connecting brackets with a profiled fang were put on them, connecting the tracks into a caterpillar. Each track had two fangs that went around the rollers of the support carts. Well, the drive sprocket, with its teeth, caught on the connecting brackets of the caterpillar. The very surface of the rubber track plate was smooth. But on latest tanks Plates with chevron protrusions appeared, and later they were also installed on the tracks of M4 General Sherman tanks.
“The life of a British tank driver is hard and unprepossessing.” Replacing the caterpillar.
The M3 tank for its time was... the most heavily armed medium tank in the world. Its main firepower was the 75-mm cannon, which was designed at the Westerflute Arsenal based on the famous French field gun 1897 caliber 75 mm, which was also in service with the US Army. The tank gun, designated M2, had a barrel three meters long and was equipped with a aiming stabilizer, a semi-automatic bolt and a barrel purging system, which reduced gas contamination in the fighting compartment. Moreover, the stabilization system on the M3 tank was used for the first time in the world, and only then it served as a model for all similar systems on tanks in many armies of the world. The vertical guidance angles were about 14 degrees, and along the horizontal plane the gun could be aimed in a sector of 15 degrees in both directions. To aim the gun vertically, both an electro-hydraulic system and a manual drive were used. The ammunition was located in the sponson itself and also on the floor of the tank.
M3 shot down in North Africa. The tank was hit by three shells of different calibers and only after that did it lose its combat effectiveness.
However, there were problems with this gun. It turned out that its barrel extends far beyond the dimensions of the body. This really alarmed the American military, who for some reason were very afraid that the tank with such a long gun would bump into something or get caught in it while moving. Therefore, they demanded that the barrel be shortened to 2.33 m, which significantly reduced all the combat characteristics of the gun. The “truncated” gun received the index M3, and the military was happy with it, but it turned out that the stabilization system with a short barrel “fails”; it was not created for it. Then they decided to put a counterweight on the barrel, which looked like... muzzle brake. By the way, a very similar one came out with ours Soviet tank T-34. It was precisely the requirement of the then military that the designers had to cut the barrel of the F34 cannon by 762 mm, which reduced its power by as much as 35%. But now she didn’t stand up for the dimensions of the tank! It is very likely that the conservatism characteristic of the military is not influenced by either nationality or social system.
M3 with a die-cast body and “American livery”.
The 37-mm cannon was created in the same arsenal in 1938. On M3 tanks they installed its modification M5 or M6. Its vertical aiming angles made it possible to shoot, at least theoretically, at low-flying aircraft. A machine gun was mated to the cannon, another was in the upper turret, and the turret had a rotating floor with walls separating it from the fighting compartment. The ammunition for this gun was located in the turret and at the bottom of the rotating floor.
Fremantle. Western Australia. The war museum and at the entrance there is a well-preserved and “well-kept” M3.
At a distance of 500 yards, that is, 457 m, a shell from this gun could penetrate armor up to 48 mm thick, and a 75 mm gun could penetrate 60 mm armor, which had an inclination of 30 degrees to the vertical.
Naturally, both guns had periscopic optical sights. The 75 mm gun had a sight on the roof of the gun sponson. It could be used for direct fire at a distance of 1,000 yards (300 m).
No sooner had the M3 entered service with the army than it immediately appeared on the cover of the American magazine Fantastic Adventures! (No. 10 for 1942) As you can see, the “leopard girl” is burning these tanks with a laser beam!
As for the British, they did not like the weapons arranged in three tiers. Therefore, the upper turret was not installed on General Grant vehicles, and on General Lee tanks, which were used by the British army, it was also removed, replacing it with a hatch. Other weapons consisted of 11.43 mm Thompson submachine guns, pistols and grenades. Also on the turret British tanks 4-inch (102 mm) grenade launchers were mounted to shoot smoke grenades.
M3 tanks produced in the United States were typically painted in various shades of green, ranging from dark green to khaki. On board, where the engine was located, a registration number was marked on both sides, which was assigned to the tank by the Armament Department. Blue they wrote the name “USA” and the letter “W” - indicating that the tank had already been transferred to the army, and a six-digit number - either yellow or white. On the turret and on the frontal armor of the hull, a white star in a blue circle was applied as a means of identification, which was also superimposed on a white stripe. It was in this coloring that the M3 tanks were supplied by the Americans under Lend-Lease.
No less fantastic is the M3 CDL - the “Channel Defense Tank”. Also a kind of “laser weapon”.
American tanks had white tactical numbers on both the turret and the hull: the serial number of the vehicle in the tank company, then the letter designation of the company itself. For example, like this: 9E or 4B. Next to the door there were drawings on the sponson geometric figures, also indicating the numbers of the company, battalion and regiment within the division. The division's identification mark was placed on the middle armor plate of the transmission. On those tanks that fought in North Africa, the US Stars and Stripes was painted on the front armor plate instead of a white star.
Movie "Sahara" (1943): "heat"!
The M3 tanks sent to England were painted a dark olive color, as expected by American standards. But the British themselves repainted them in the traditional British camouflage of stripes of yellow, green and brown, edged with black. The first tanks that arrived in North Africa went into battle almost immediately, so there was simply no time to repaint them. But if there was time, they were painted sand color.
Another version of the M3 camouflage coloring.
The registration number was retained, but the letter “W” was replaced by the letter “T”. The number was restored with white paint. In specific cases field conditions it might not have been painted over, but simply protected with a stencil, which made it look like it was in an olive-colored frame. Majority British tanks The M3s that fought in Burma had a green paint job and large white stars on the hull and turret. Registration numbers were saved on them. Some also had individual numbers on the frontal armor.
The USA entered the First world war only at the very end, which gave them many different benefits. But the American military believed that the war would continue until 1919, and from this the logical conclusion followed that to win they would need tanks: both heavy breakthrough tanks and very light “cavalry” tanks. The first requirement was met by the British Mk vehicles, but the second requirement was met by the light French tanks FT-17. On their basis, American engineers (together with English) developed and then released the Mk VIII tank - essentially the crown of heavy tank building during the First World War, and then the very light and miniature two-seater tank "Ford M 1918", known in Russia as the "Ford-3-ton". The designers created both of them taking into account both their own combat experience and the experience of the British and French. Knowing the capabilities of their industry, the Americans did not stand on ceremony: they immediately ordered 1,500 Mk VIII tanks, called “Liberti” (Freedom) or “International” (International), since this tank was created on two continents at once, and an entire armada of 15,000 Ford M tanks 1918". But by the time the armistice was signed, only one Mk VIII tank and only 15 Ford M 1918 vehicles had been made. After that, their production stopped, and it’s clear why.
M3 tank by the late Vyacheslav Verevochkin. There lived such a man in Russia, at home, with his own hands he created tanks “on the move” and with the quality that you see in this photo. But... people on planet Earth, unfortunately, die. Although, on the other hand, what remains is what was created by their hands.
General Rockenback attempted to reorganize the tank units of the US Army so that they became an independent branch of the military. His proposals were supported by such combatant commanders as George Patton, Sereno Brett and Dwight Eisenhower. But... majors are just that: majors. Nobody listened to them then. Moreover, in 1920, the US Congress adopted an important document - the National Defense Act, according to which the creation of tank units as a separate branch of the military was prohibited. Well, those tank units that already existed were transferred to the infantry.
Nevertheless, new machines were developed, built and tested. For example, in 1930 an experimental T2 tank appeared. With a weight of 15 tons, which corresponded to the assignment issued by the military, it was equipped with a powerful aircraft engine "Liberti" with 312 hp. This tank was armed as follows: a 47-mm cannon and a heavy machine gun in the hull, and a 37-mm cannon and another coaxial rifle-caliber machine gun were installed in the turret. A special feature of the tank was the engine at the front and a “door” in the hull at the back, like the British on the Vickers Medium Mk I tank, so it was very convenient to climb into this tank.
Tank T2.
Indeed, in appearance it was very similar to the English 12-ton medium tank "Vickers Medium Mk I", and in fact it was chosen as a promising prototype for the future US medium tank. The completed tanks were sent to a mixed mechanized unit at Fort Eustis in Virginia. This experimental unit consisted of military vehicles, cavalry and mechanically driven artillery. Then another tank unit was created at Fort Knox in Kentucky. But all these experiments did not give real results.
The entire early American tank fleet.
At that time, a talented armored vehicle designer, John Walter Christie, was working in the United States, an “eccentric” - as the American military called him, a man for all his talents, or perhaps precisely because of them, was very quarrelsome and extremely enthusiastic. He offered the Armament Department a number of samples of his wheeled-tracked tanks and self-propelled guns. Army officers, distinguished by their traditional mistrust, purchased only five tanks from him to participate in military tests, but after them his cars were rejected. Although Christie's designs in other countries have found their second life! His ideas were used in England, the USSR and Poland. As you know, it was in the USSR that about 10 thousand wheeled-tracked tanks of various modifications were produced, starting with the BT-2 and ending with the diesel BT-7M, which were based on the design of the Christie tanks. After all, even the legendary T-34 had its suspension. And it was also used on all British cruiser tanks, including the Covenanter, Crusader, Centor, Cromwell and Comet.
"Ford M. 1918". Front view.
Like this, in long search, the 30s are over. A whole family of medium tanks TZ, T4, T5 and also their modifications were built, but none of these vehicles went into production.
Projections "Ford M. 1918".
This photo gives a clear example of how cramped it was in this tank.
But then came September 1, 1939, and in just 18 days the tank wedges of the Wehrmacht passed through Poland and met with the same tank wedges of the Red Army, which entered Western Ukraine and Belarus, on the other side. And the subsequent war in Europe, which ended with the rapid defeat of the French army and the disaster at Dunkirk, clearly showed the United States that war was on the threshold, and that it would not be possible to sit out overseas. This means that we will have to fight in earnest. How can you fight without modern tanks?
"Ford M. 1918" in the General Patton Museum.
Drive wheel.
And then all the American military men and senators suddenly saw the light and saw that their country was very far behind in the development of its tank troops. Actually, they simply don’t exist. That's even how! And therefore the reaction to this followed very quickly. Already in July 1940, General George Marshall and General Staff gave the order to General Edn R. Chaffee to withdraw all armored units from the infantry and cavalry formations and the shortest possible time form two at once tank divisions together with support battalions. On June 30, 1940, the National Army Development Program was adopted, and already on July 10, General Chaffee began the formation of new armor tank units. All tanks produced went to him and no one else. To equip the new divisions, it was planned to produce 1000 tanks at once, while the production was supposed to be 10 vehicles per day.
Model 1921 Christie tank undergoing testing.
The M2A1 medium tank of the 1939 model, which was an improved version of the M2 tank, was urgently adopted. The car was designed by the Rock Island Arsenal and was a further development of the same experienced tank T5. Weighing 17.2 tons, the M2 had armor protection one inch (25.4 mm) thick, was armed with a 37 mm M6 gun and seven (and one spare) 7.62 mm Browning M1919 A4 machine guns located along around the entire perimeter of the hull, as well as in the tower. The Wright Continental R-975 engine had nine cylinders and 350 horsepower, giving the tank a speed of 26 mph (or 42 km/h). M2A1 received 32 mm thick armor - essentially, like German tanks, a turret bigger size and an engine of 400 hp. The weight increased, but the speed remained the same. However, all these tricks did not lead to any particularly positive results: the tanks remained old-fashioned, had high straight sides and were not very well armed for vehicles of their class, since light M2 tanks with exactly the same 37 -mm cannon and fairly powerful machine gun weapons.
Medium tank M2. Interestingly, the tank had a crew of 7 people: a driver, a commander-gunner, a loader and 4 machine gunners. Moreover, two tripods for machine guns were attached to the tank - remove, install and fire from the ground, and there were two hatches on the sponson roof and two pins for machine guns and anti-aircraft fire! The tank had seven machine guns! A record number for a single-turret tank. Directly ahead, five could fire at the same time!
In June 1940, Lieutenant General William Nudsen, who created the General Motors Corporation, and K.T. Keller, the president of the Chrysler Corporation, who also led the national defense program, agreed that they would not produce the M2A1 at their enterprises, since this requires a complete restructuring of the entire production. They decided that they would earn much more money by producing cars for the army. They decided to transfer the order for tanks to two concerns: the American Locomotive Company and Baldvin. But then, quite unexpectedly, Congress allocated for their production of 21 million dollars, including financing and construction of a new tank plant. Then K. T. Keller hastened to assure General Wesson, chief of artillery of the US Army, that his corporation was ready to produce any tanks. It was agreed that 1741 tanks would be produced in 18 months. Thus Thus, Chrysler received only 4.5 months to rebuild its production and submit a project for the construction of an arsenal independent from other suppliers.
Then the situation was like this: two experimental M2A1 vehicles were built in Rock Island (differing from the base model by the sloping armor of the turret), and General Wesson allowed Chrysler engineers to study them, which was done. And not just done: the engineers did everything, what was required so that their company could produce these tanks! Already on July 17, 1940, the M2A1 produced by the Chrysler concern was valued at 33.5 thousand dollars. The artillery committee accepted this price as a “floating” price. Then, within a month, the contract was carefully worked out and signed on August 15th. The company was supposed to deliver 1000 M2A1 tanks to the US Army by early August 1940, and their production was supposed to begin no later than September of the following 1941. This period was set by the Chrysler concern itself, considering one month to be quite sufficient time to prepare for the release of new products.
Chrysler first made two wooden mock-ups of the M2A1 based on drawings they received from Rock Island. But already on August 28, 1940, the army canceled the old order for 1000 M2A1 tanks, despite the fact that they still managed to make 18 of them. Some of these tanks were sent... to Western Sahara. It was not possible to find information about their participation in hostilities. It is known that in 1941, one of the tanks received a flamethrower instead of a gun, and a tank with a combustible mixture was installed on it in the stern. The car was assigned the index M2E2, but it prototype it remained that way.
Aberdeen Proving Ground. M2 tank is medium.
At this time, the discussion about the possibility of arming the M2A1 tank with a 75-mm cannon ended (which, by the way, was provided for in the T5E2 tank project), and based on its results, a completely new and “unplanned” tank was created. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds design department prepared all the necessary design documentation in just three months. The tank was given the designation M3 and its own name - "General Lee", in honor of General Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870), who during Civil War North and South 1861-1865 in the USA he was the commander-in-chief of the army of the southerners.
Aberdeen Proving Ground. Tank M3 "General Lee".
The creators of the M3 tank placed a 75 mm gun in the side sponson on the right side of the hull, as on the French Schneider tank of the First World War. This was the simplest solution, since the installation was similar to ship guns, the machines for which were well developed. In addition, the 76 mm gun installed in the tank was very powerful, and the designers were not sure whether it would work well in the turret. This showed a certain amount of uncertainty among American designers in their own abilities, but in addition also a reluctance to abandon the usual views of tanks as mobile pillboxes that were supposed to fire while standing still. A cast rotating turret was installed at the top, moving it to the left, and a 37-mm gun was installed in it, paired with a machine gun. The small turret on top also received a machine gun, which the tank commander could use both for self-defense against infantry and for shooting at aircraft.
(To be continued…)
The United States entered World War I only at the very end, which gave them many different benefits. But the American military believed that the war would continue until 1919, and from this the logical conclusion followed that to win they would need tanks: both heavy breakthrough tanks and very light “cavalry” tanks. The first requirement was met by the British Mk vehicles, but the second requirement was met by the light French tanks FT-17. On their basis, American engineers (together with English) developed and then released the Mk VIII tank - essentially the crown of heavy tank building during the First World War, and then the very light and miniature two-seater tank "Ford M 1918", known in Russia as the "Ford-3-ton". The designers created both of them taking into account both their own combat experience and the experience of the British and French. Knowing the capabilities of their industry, the Americans did not stand on ceremony: they immediately ordered 1,500 Mk VIII tanks, called “Liberti” (Freedom) or “International” (International), since this tank was created on two continents at once, and an entire armada of 15,000 Ford M tanks 1918". But by the time the armistice was signed, only one Mk VIII tank and only 15 Ford M 1918 vehicles had been made. After that, their production stopped, and it’s clear why.
M3 tank by the late Vyacheslav Verevochkin. There lived such a man in Russia, at home, with his own hands he created tanks “on the move” and with the quality that you see in this photo. But... people on planet Earth, unfortunately, die. Although, on the other hand, what remains is what was created by their hands.
General Rockenback attempted to reorganize the tank units of the US Army so that they became an independent branch of the military. His proposals were supported by such combatant commanders as George Patton, Sereno Brett and Dwight Eisenhower. But... majors are just that: majors. Nobody listened to them then. Moreover, in 1920, the US Congress adopted an important document - the National Defense Act, according to which the creation of tank units as a separate branch of the military was prohibited. Well, those tank units that already existed were transferred to the infantry.
Nevertheless, new machines were developed, built and tested. For example, in 1930 an experimental T2 tank appeared. With a weight of 15 tons, which corresponded to the assignment issued by the military, it was equipped with a powerful aircraft engine "Liberti" with 312 hp. This tank was armed as follows: a 47-mm cannon and a heavy machine gun in the hull, and a 37-mm cannon and another coaxial rifle-caliber machine gun were installed in the turret. A special feature of the tank was the engine at the front and a “door” in the hull at the back, like the British on the Vickers Medium Mk I tank, so it was very convenient to climb into this tank.
Tank T2.
Indeed, in appearance it was very similar to the English 12-ton medium tank "Vickers Medium Mk I", and in fact it was chosen as a promising prototype for the future US medium tank. The completed tanks were sent to a mixed mechanized unit at Fort Eustis in Virginia. This experimental unit consisted of military vehicles, cavalry and mechanically driven artillery. Then another tank unit was created at Fort Knox in Kentucky. But all these experiments did not give real results.
The entire early American tank fleet.
At that time, a talented armored vehicle designer, John Walter Christie, was working in the United States, an “eccentric” - as the American military called him, a man for all his talents, or perhaps precisely because of them, was very quarrelsome and extremely enthusiastic. He offered the Armaments Department a number of samples of his wheeled-tracked tanks and self-propelled guns. Army officers, distinguished by their traditional mistrust, purchased only five tanks from him to participate in military trials, but after them his vehicles were rejected. Although Christie's designs in other countries have found their second life! His ideas were used in England, the USSR and Poland. As you know, it was in the USSR that about 10 thousand wheeled-tracked tanks of various modifications were produced, starting with the BT-2 and ending with the diesel BT-7M, which were based on the design of the Christie tanks. After all, even the legendary T-34 had its suspension. And it was also used on all British cruiser tanks, including the Covenanter, Crusader, Centor, Cromwell and Comet.
"Ford M. 1918". Front view.
And so, in a long search, the 30s passed. A whole family of medium tanks TZ, T4, T5 and also their modifications were built, but none of these vehicles went into production.
Projections "Ford M. 1918".
This photo gives a clear example of how cramped it was in this tank.
But then came September 1, 1939, and in just 18 days the tank wedges of the Wehrmacht passed through Poland and met with the same tank wedges of the Red Army, which entered Western Ukraine and Belarus, on the other side. And the subsequent war in Europe, which ended with the rapid defeat of the French army and the disaster at Dunkirk, clearly showed the United States that war was on the threshold, and that it would not be possible to sit out overseas. This means that we will have to fight in earnest. How can you fight without modern tanks?
"Ford M. 1918" in the General Patton Museum.
Drive wheel.
And then all the American military and senators suddenly saw the light and saw that their country was very far behind in the development of its tank forces. Actually, they simply don’t exist. That's even how! And therefore the reaction to this followed very quickly. Already in July 1940, General George Marshall and General Staff gave the order to General Edn R. Chaffee to withdraw all armored units from the infantry and cavalry formations and, as soon as possible, to form two tank divisions together with support battalions. On June 30, 1940, the National Army Development Program was adopted, and on July 10, General Chaffee began the formation of new armored units. All tanks produced went to him and no one else. To equip the new divisions, it was planned to produce 1000 tanks at once, while the production was supposed to be 10 vehicles per day.
Model 1921 Christie tank undergoing testing.
The M2A1 medium tank of the 1939 model, which was an improved version of the M2 tank, was urgently adopted. The vehicle was designed by the Rock Island Arsenal and was a further development of the same experimental T5 tank. Weighing 17.2 tons, the M2 had armor protection one inch (25.4 mm) thick, was armed with a 37 mm M6 gun and seven (and one spare) 7.62 mm Browning M1919 A4 machine guns located along around the entire perimeter of the hull, as well as in the tower. The Wright Continental R-975 engine had nine cylinders and 350 horsepower, giving the tank a speed of 26 mph (or 42 km/h). The M2A1 received 32 mm thick armor - essentially like German tanks, a larger turret and a 400 hp engine. The weight increased, but the speed remained the same. However, all these tricks did not lead to any particularly positive results: the tanks remained old-fashioned, had high straight sides and were not very well armed for vehicles of their class, since light M2 tanks with exactly the same 37 -mm cannon and fairly powerful machine gun weapons.
Medium tank M2. Interestingly, the tank had a crew of 7 people: a driver, a commander-gunner, a loader and 4 machine gunners. Moreover, two tripods for machine guns were attached to the tank - remove, install and fire from the ground, and there were two hatches on the sponson roof and two pins for machine guns and anti-aircraft fire! The tank had seven machine guns! A record number for a single-turret tank. Directly ahead, five could fire at the same time!
In June 1940, Lieutenant General William Nudsen, who created the General Motors Corporation, and K.T. Keller, the president of the Chrysler Corporation, who also led the national defense program, agreed that they would not produce the M2A1 at their enterprises, since this requires a complete restructuring of the entire production. They decided that they would earn much more money by producing cars for the army. They decided to transfer the order for tanks to two concerns: the American Locomotive Company and Baldvin. But then, quite unexpectedly, Congress allocated for their production of 21 million dollars, including financing and construction of a new tank plant. Then K. T. Keller hastened to assure General Wesson, chief of artillery of the US Army, that his corporation was ready to produce any tanks. It was agreed that 1741 tanks would be produced in 18 months. Thus Thus, Chrysler received only 4.5 months to rebuild its production and submit a project for the construction of an arsenal independent from other suppliers.
Then the situation was like this: two experimental M2A1 vehicles were built in Rock Island (differing from the base model by the sloping armor of the turret), and General Wesson allowed Chrysler engineers to study them, which was done. And not just done: the engineers did everything, what was required so that their company could produce these tanks! Already on July 17, 1940, the M2A1 produced by the Chrysler concern was valued at 33.5 thousand dollars. The artillery committee accepted this price as a “floating” price. Then, within a month, the contract was carefully worked out and signed on August 15th. The company was supposed to deliver 1000 M2A1 tanks to the US Army by early August 1940, and their production was supposed to begin no later than September of the following 1941. This period was set by the Chrysler concern itself, considering one month to be quite sufficient time to prepare for the release of new products.
Chrysler first made two wooden mock-ups of the M2A1 based on drawings they received from Rock Island. But already on August 28, 1940, the army canceled the old order for 1000 M2A1 tanks, despite the fact that they still managed to make 18 of them. Some of these tanks were sent... to Western Sahara. It was not possible to find information about their participation in hostilities. It is known that in 1941, one of the tanks received a flamethrower instead of a gun, and a tank with a combustible mixture was installed on it in the stern. The car was assigned the index M2E2, but it remained a prototype.
Aberdeen Proving Ground. M2 tank is medium.
At this time, the discussion about the possibility of arming the M2A1 tank with a 75-mm cannon ended (which, by the way, was provided for in the T5E2 tank project), and based on its results, a completely new and “unplanned” tank was created. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds design department prepared all the necessary design documentation in just three months. The tank was given the designation M3 and its own name - "General Lee", in honor of General Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870), who during the Civil War of the North and South of 1861-1865. in the USA he was the commander-in-chief of the army of the southerners.
Aberdeen Proving Ground. Tank M3 "General Lee".
The creators of the M3 tank placed a 75 mm gun in the side sponson on the right side of the hull, as on the French Schneider tank of the First World War. This was the simplest solution, since the installation was similar to ship guns, the machines for which were well developed. In addition, the 76 mm gun installed in the tank was very powerful, and the designers were not sure whether it would work well in the turret. This showed a certain amount of uncertainty among American designers in their own abilities, but in addition also a reluctance to abandon the usual views of tanks as mobile pillboxes that were supposed to fire while standing still. A cast rotating turret was installed at the top, moving it to the left, and a 37-mm gun was installed in it, paired with a machine gun. The small turret on top also received a machine gun, which the tank commander could use both for self-defense against infantry and for shooting at aircraft.
(To be continued…)
Searchlight tank CDL
The least known special modification of the M3 tank was the SPOTLIGHT TANK. In 1940, the British developed the concept of floodlight tanks of the CDL (Canal Defense Light) system, so named mainly for the purpose of misinformation to the enemy, since no one was going to illuminate the English Channel, called a canal in Britain. The first car created within the framework of this system was the Matilda.
Instead of the standard one, a special turret made of 65 mm armor was installed on the tank, with an 8 million W electric arc lamp located inside. Using a system of mirrors, a beam of light was focused and directed through a narrow vertical slot in the frontal sheet of the tower. In its left half, behind the partition, there was an operator who controlled the searchlight, changed electrodes, and also, if necessary, used weapons - a BESA machine gun. The second crew member, the driver, also served as a radio operator.
Tests of CDL tanks were carried out in England in 1941 under conditions of strict secrecy. At the same time, the tactics of their use were also worked out: the tanks were lined up at a distance of about 100 yards (just over 90 m) from each other, and at a distance of about 300 yards from the tank line, the rays of light intersected, creating a continuous illuminated zone.
In October 1942 CDL tanks demonstrated to representatives of the American high command, among whom were Generals Eisenhower and Clark, as well as General Behrens of the Department of Ordnance. Upon returning to the USA, the latter initiated the development of technical requirements for the American version searchlight tank. The M3 medium tank was used as a base, the design of which made it possible to retain the 75-mm cannon in the sponson when installing a searchlight tower.
American version of the M3A1 CDL searchlight tank.
British version of the Grant Mk I CDL searchlight tank.
In order to maintain secrecy, CDL system tanks received a rather strange code designation Leaflets (leaflets) in the USA. Six complete English searchlight towers were delivered to Aberdeen at the end of 1942, where they were mounted on M3 tanks. Five of them were then sent to Fort Knox for testing, and one was used for demonstration to the military and industry.
The searchlight tower of the American design differed from the English one in details. In particular, the British, in addition to the BESA machine gun, often armed their turrets with a mock-up of a 37 mm cannon. The American turrets did not have mock-ups, and they also had their own machine gun - the Browning M1919A4. In addition, floodlight tanks based on the M3 were equipped with more powerful lamps - 13 million watts. The tank's crew consisted of five people. The drive to the 10 kW generator was carried out from the tank engine.
Turret of the Grant Mk I CDL tank, now located at the Royal Tank Museum in Bovington. This version lacks the 37mm gun mockup.
Grant Mk I CDL searchlight tank.
In the UK, 1,850 Lee and Grant tanks were converted using the CDL system. All of them received the Grant CDL designation. In the USA, a contract for converting M3 tanks into searchlight tanks was signed with American Locomotive. In the interests of the same secrecy, they were called Shop Tractor T10. The towers were manufactured at the Pressed Steel Car Company plant, in whose documentation they were referred to as "S" type towers for coastal defense. The final installation of the tanks took place at the Rock Island Arsenal. The first American tank of the CDL system was ready in June 1943. By the end of the year, 355 combat vehicles of this type were manufactured on the chassis of the M3 and MZA1 tanks, and the next year, 1944, another 142.
The United States formed two tank groups armed with M3 CDL tanks - the 9th and 10th. They took place in the strictest secrecy. combat training at a remote site on the California-Arizona border.
The 10th Panzer Group landed on the European continent on August 24, 1944, but did not really take part in the fighting. The commanders of the linear tank units, which were assigned M3 CDL units, simply did not know what to do with this equipment - excessive secrecy played a cruel joke on the Americans. As a result, searchlight tanks were carried big losses. Soon the battalions of the 10th group were reorganized into regular tanks and armed with Shermans. Somewhat earlier, the same fate befell the battalions of the 9th Tank Group.
The last 64 M3 CDL tanks took part in the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945. Moreover, the crews for them had to be recalled from the previously disbanded searchlight tank battalions. During the defense of the captured bridges across the Rhine in the Remagen area, the use of M3 CDL tanks was not very effective.
Night demonstration of the Grant Mk I CDL searchlight tank.
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In relation to this car, the proverb “The first pancake is lumpy” sounds very appropriate. The fact is that at the time of the adoption of the American National Arms Program in June 1940, the United States simply did not have a medium tank that could be put into mass production. According to the requirements of the document, it was assumed that America should produce 14.5 tanks per day by the end of 1940, but in reality it was not very clear what kind of tank to build at all. The medium M2 that existed at that time, ready for production, had already become a completely unsuitable candidate due to the extremely weak 37 mm gun. 92 examples of its modification, the M2A1, were produced from January to August 1940 solely as a temporary measure until the new tank was designed and standardized.
So, the army was categorically not satisfied with the 37-mm M2 cannon. Commanding infantry troops The US demanded that the new tank be equipped with a minimum 75 mm caliber gun. This problem had to be solved quickly, but the American designers simply did not have a turret capable of accommodating a gun of this caliber. Purely for the sake of saving time, the designers resorted to a deliberately losing solution and presented the representatives of the Tank Committee wooden mockup tank with a 75 mm caliber gun mounted in a sponson located on the right side of the hull. This “ingenious” design solution made life very difficult for the tank crews, because it did not allow them to fire in a circular manner. The tank had to pretend to be a top.
To the credit of the designers, they obviously did not consider the new tank to be successful and positioned it as a temporary measure until the appearance of a tank with a 75-mm cannon in a full-fledged rotating turret. The military decided that about three and a half hundred M3 vehicles would be produced, and after that production would be reoriented to tanks with normal rotating turrets.
The issue of building tanks at that time was generally extremely painful for America. It simply did not have the necessary production capacity. There was only one small state plant, Rock Island Arsenal, which could not meet the growing demands of the armed forces. It was necessary to attract private contractors. The choice was between heavy engineering enterprises and automobile concerns. The decision was made in favor of the second option, since heavy engineering is more intended for the production of relatively piecemeal products. Automotive companies were no strangers to “driving the flow.” Chrysler was offered to build a specialized tank plant in Michigan in half with the state. At the same time, the state became the owner of the enterprise, and Chrysler itself had to manage it. In addition, the new plant was expected to closely cooperate with Rock Island Arsenal, which was supposed to ensure compliance with the equipment and technology of the future tank.
The development of the M3 began with designers from Aberdeen. New tank received an engine similar to the M2, and the same suspension. The homogeneous rolled armor was reinforced and riveted, like the M2. The turret and sponson were cast. To reduce the risk of injury to the crew from small fragments and splashes of scale, the fighting compartment was covered on the inside with porous rubber.
The crew initially numbered seven people. They had to get inside the car and leave it through the side doors and hatches in the sponson and in commander's turret. The tank had a very good view. The weight of the car was 31 tons.
By February 1941, the design of a new tank was ready and the tank plant in Michigan was almost completed. All that remained was to translate the idea into metal and conduct field tests. The prototype arrived at the Aberdeen training ground on March 13, 1941. Tests revealed a number of shortcomings: excessive gas pollution in the fighting compartment, vulnerability of the doors on the sides, a high probability of the gun jamming in the sponson from being hit by an enemy shell, and weak suspension. All this had to be eliminated. But the turret drives and the gun stabilizer performed well. Even when zigzagging over uneven terrain, the gunner found it easy to aim.
As a result of the modifications, instead of doors, an evacuation hatch appeared in the bottom, one crew member was excluded from the crew, a telescopic sight was installed instead of a periscope, and many more changes were made. And in August 1941, the M3 tank was finally put into production. In total, from August 1941 to December 1942, more than 3.5 thousand tanks of this type were produced.
In addition to the fact that the tank was put into service American army, the British also bought it. They named their tank “Grant”, and the Americans named it “Lee”, after the names of the generals who took part in the American Civil War.
As already mentioned, the M3 was produced exclusively “for lack of anything better.” And that's why most of cars went under Lend-Lease to Britain and the USSR. The Soviet Union received 976 vehicles, distributed among individual tank battalions, regiments and brigades. The American tank took part in combat operations on all fronts, took part in the Battle of Kursk, and one vehicle even reached Far East. But the Red Army did not use the M3 great love. It had insufficient cross-country ability, a too high silhouette and rubber-metal tracks that burned out as soon as the car ran into a fire. A stationary tank became an easy target for enemy guns. Often the tracks simply fell off. Huge complaints were caused by the layout of the gun in the sponson, which made it much more difficult for the tank to fire at the enemy. All these shortcomings have led to the fact that Soviet troops The M3 received the sad nickname BM-6 - “ mass grave for six."
In the Allied forces, the M3 was already completely replaced by the Sherman by 1944; in the Soviet forces, they also got rid of it to the best of their ability. But even after the war in Southeast Asia, these tanks continued to be used in combat. A lot of other equipment was also developed on their basis - from self-propelled guns to engineering vehicles.
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