Based on the M3A3 with a modified hull and new Cadillac engine and transmission. The M3 was a replacement for the M2, and was mass-produced, forming the core of the US light tanks during WW2. The most produced version was the M2A4, which saw service in the Pacific and Africa, before being replaced by the mass-produced M3. The M1A2 was upgraded with a 37 mm (1.46 in) gun in 1940. This early development, along with the M2, was the basis of the M3-M5 “Stuart” lineage, which formed the backbone of US light tanks. All the others, the pre-series M2A1, the M2A2 “duplex turret” or “Mae West”, and upgraded M2A3, were kept for training in the USA. The M2A4 was the sole among the four types which actually took part in combat, especially in the Pacific (like here, at Guadalcanal) with the USMC. The M2s were the only operational US light tanks at the beginning of the war. Not only did it produced the Liberty Mark VIII tanks in 1919-1920, but also artillery, gun mounts, recoil mechanisms, small arms, aircraft weapons sub-systems, grenade launchers and weapons simulators… that is outside tanks. The design was not lost and served as a basis for many successful models abroad, in Great Britain (the Cruiser tanks) and Soviet Union ( BT series and the T-34).Īn important place for the American armor projects was the design bureau of the Mississippi’s Rock Island Arsenal (between Iowa and Illinois), which designed, produced and tested tanks for the US Army. However, his project, quickly dubbed the “flying tank”, was never produced in the US except as a prototype, because it never fulfilled all the requirements of the Army and US Marine Corps. Walter Christie, an American car engineer, devised a new, revolutionary tank suspension system, with a dual purpose train, allowing the vehicle to also run without its tracks. The Tank Service retained the Mark VIII Liberty and M1917, with no intermediate medium model, until 1928, when a new directive was issued for a medium tank, and a new light model, usable by cavalry. Patton and Dwight Eisenhower played a great role in formulating tactical doctrines and organization. This led to a cooperation on a new design, which ultimately became the Liberty (Mk.VIII) tank.Īlong with the lighter M1917 tanks, they formed the core of the US Tank Force during the twenties. At the end of the war, one of these units, the 301st Heavy Tank Battalion, was equipped with British Tanks Mk.IV– V. Patton had already gained some experience, directing a squadron of three armored cars during the punitive expedition sent against Pancho Villa’s insurrection. Patton, the second headed by Ira Clinton Welborn, assisted by Dwight D. Embryos of the Tank Force, the Tank Corps in France and the Tank Service in USA were set, the first by Samuel Rockenbach, assisted by Georges S. Nevertheless, this new weapon proved its ground. But production organization took time and only a few were shipped to France and were operational before the capitulation. Improvised Armor on M4 Shermans in the PTOĪt the end of WW1, the US Expeditionary Force was given some 144 Renault FT French tanks, and a license for production in the US, as the M1917 tank.
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