When you go out to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots, and more people than yours, then do not fear them, for the Lord is with you …
Deuteronomy 20: 1
The original armored vehicles of the Second World War. After the articles about the Odessa tank "NI" were published, several VO readers expressed a wish that the topic of "combat tractors" be continued. But … it's not so easy to find interesting material about such surrogate tanks. But, nevertheless, we managed to find something, and today we will tell you about one such "combat tractor". And the most interesting thing is that it appeared not in the USSR, and not in England, where a wide variety of "self-made" combat vehicles were created on the eve of the landing of German troops, but, in general, prosperous USA. That is, far from the land line of contact of the Allied forces with the German troops … There is nothing special, however, in this vehicle there is nothing. However, she is kind of "wild, but cute." And most importantly, this tank-tractor was not tracked, but moved on pneumatic wheels. What was his manufacturer hoping for, offering the military a chassis so vulnerable to bullets and shrapnel, but, apparently, he still hoped for something. But the Lord God was clearly not on his side, but on the side of the American military, who in the end refused to accept him for service!
And it so happened that shortly before the United States entered the Second World War, an American manufacturer of agricultural machinery and, in particular, wheeled tractors, and, of course, an undoubted patriot of his country - a certain John Deere, thought about the fact that a sufficient number of tanks for the war the American army does not yet have it. And … he offered his services to the military as a manufacturer of armored vehicles. The idea was simple - it couldn't be easier: to create a combat vehicle, covered with armor, on the basis of a tractor it produced, which could then be produced in large quantities and with the most minimal cost of financial resources and materials. At the same time, Deer came to the remarkable conclusion that just cheap and small agricultural tractors, and, of course, it was his production, were perfect for this purpose. He set three tasks for his designers: first - to create a combat tank-tractor, second - to provide for the use of this tractor as a tractor-transporter and also in the version of a training vehicle, so that there was something to teach tank driver mechanics.
Most likely, it was proposed to use a Model G or Model H tractor, equipped with a two-cylinder gasoline engine with a working volume of 321 cc, for revision and booking. Both the driver's seat and his engine were completely covered with armor plates, with a thickness of 4 to 9, 5 mm. Since there was simply nowhere to put a turret on this tractor, the newly-made "tank" had two machine-gun sponsons on both sides, which housed a machine gunner and one 7.62-mm Colt Browning machine gun. Interestingly, according to the initial idea of the designers, the left sponson of the tank was to be turned back, and the right one - forward. In this way, the designer of the vehicle tried to compensate for the lack of circular fire on it. The tractor had a dry weight of 5,500 pounds (2,495 kg), but armor plates added 3,500 pounds (1,588 kg). In general, it was not that much. But here it is necessary to take into account the not too high engine power of this ersatz tank, and its purely tractor chassis.
The built vehicle received the designation Armored Model A Tractor and was presented to the military in early 1941. But as a combat vehicle, this surrogate did not make an impression on them, although - yes, both of its other functions - a tractor and a training vehicle, they considered quite feasible and even acceptable.
The vehicle was tested at the Aberdeen Tank Range. They began on January 10 and lasted until the beginning of February 1941. The result was an official act prepared by the military commission, the content of which was, however, very far from encouraging and, of course, Deere was not at all happy. The simplicity of the design of the machine was certainly noted, but the tractor itself did not meet the requirements of the military in terms of the cost / efficiency criterion. The developer promised to produce up to 100 of these vehicles per day, but without taking into account the work on their armor and the installation of weapons. In addition, the very first tests of the armored vehicle on the ground showed its completely unsatisfactory passability. Thus, he could still apply for the role of a tractor and ammunition transporter, but as a combat vehicle it had no value. Its poor maneuverability and low speed characteristics were also noted, which were especially pronounced when driving just over rough terrain.
The front wheels on it were dual, and, as it turned out, such a scheme did not provide the armored tractor with either proper maneuverability or good controllability, and the car itself was often stuck in mud and sand. The extremely low specific power of the engine also "contributed" to all this - suffice it to say that it was not higher than 7 liters. with. per ton of weight.
Among the shortcomings, the military noted a very poor view, both from the driver's seat, who could not see the road directly in front of him and on the sides, and from machine-gun sponsons. They also criticized the car's rigid suspension, which caused the crew to experience extreme discomfort when driving it over rough terrain. Fire tests only added to the shortcomings. It turned out that the shooters in the onboard sponsons are also very cramped. Inside, there was clearly not enough room to accommodate even one person with the very minimum of ammunition. There were cases when machine gunners in the literal sense of the word were bombarded with hot casings. In addition, due to the not very good location of the machine guns, it was possible to shoot through the front wheels. Well, the review from sponsors, as already noted, was also recognized by the military as completely inadequate.
However, in the opinion of the military, replacing the "proprietary" front axle with a conventional one (with two single wheels) made it possible to operate this vehicle normally as a tractor or as an improvised light tank. As for the cost, the tractor itself was estimated at $ 2,000. But since each sheet of armor had to be bought separately at a price of $ 1 for each pound of weight, the final price of the Deer armored vehicle could already be from $ 6500 to $ 8000, depending on the purpose and the presence of weapons on it.
These engineers from "John Deere Company" accepted the comments and based them on the revision of the project. A conventional front axle was installed on the tractor, and the armored body was redesigned. At the same time, the driver's seat was slightly raised to improve visibility, and the engine hood received a slightly more rational shape.
In this form, the modified Armored Model A Tractor again went for testing in the spring of 1941, but the army was unambiguously inclined to the opinion that it could be used only for training or as a light tank of the "second line".
In April, the following variant was also tested: "prime mover" (transporter) - in fact, the same tractor, but without machine-gun armament and sponsors. However, by that time the opinion prevailed in the army that conventional tanks and armored vehicles would cope with the assigned tasks more efficiently than such purely civilian tractors. Therefore, from the proposal of J. Dir's army team refused, and all the tractors he built were scrapped.
The performance characteristics of the Armored Model A Tractor armored vehicle mod. 1941:
Combat weight: 4309 kg;
Crew: 3 people, a driver and two gunners;
Overall dimensions, mm: length - 2000, width - 1100, height - 1200;
Armament: 2x7, 62-mm Colt Browning machine gun;
Reservation, mm: hull forehead, hull side, hull feed - 9, 5; roof, bottom - 4;
Engine: "Deer", gasoline, liquid-cooled, 60 hp. with.;
Transmission: mechanical type with manual gearbox (6 + 1);
Chassis: wheel arrangement 3x1 or 4x2, front wheels are steered, rear wheels are driven, pneumatic tires, suspension from leaf springs;
Highway speed, km / h: 21.
Such a somewhat unusual Yankee armored tank-tractor turned out. It is clear that for a country like the United States, a country with a well-developed automotive industry, this kind of cars were unacceptable in principle. And no initial shortage of tanks, and it really existed, since the United States entered the war with only 330 tanks of all types, could not force the American military to launch a large-scale production of such armored freaks! They did not have to fear the invasion of German tanks, and, sitting overseas under the protection of their navy, they could well wait until the engineers created real tanks for them, and the American factories and Rosie's riveters would release them!
