So, the design of the first serial American tank in all respects turned out to be rather archaic. After all, a similar tank, in which the gun was placed in the hull, was created in the USSR 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 cannon in the upper turret. For the French V-1, a 75-mm short-barreled gun was installed in the hull to the right of the driver, and a 47-mm cannon was also installed in the upper turret. So the Americans did not manage to come up with anything particularly original at first.
M3 in the museum in Kubinka.
As for the work on the construction of a new Chrysler tank plant, they began on September 9, 1940 in a suburb of Detroit - called Waren 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, completed the development of all technological processes in the meantime. Well, the first prototypes began to be tested already on April 11, 1941. On May 3, the first M3 tank left for the Aberdeen Proving Ground, and the second was retained for display by the selection committee as a standard sample. Serial production of General Lee tanks began on July 8, 1941, that is, at the height of the fighting on the Eastern Front. Great Britain, and then to the USSR, all the new produced tanks immediately went overseas. Of course, all firms involved in the production of armored vehicles immediately began to increase its production. The Pullman-Standart Car Company actively joined this business., "Pressed Stell" and "Lima Lokomotive". Moreover, it should be noted that while the M3 was being produced, and it was produced for only a little more than a year, and to be precise, from July 8, 1941 to August 3, 1942. Concern "Chrysler" during this period produced 3352 M3 tanks of various modifications, "American Locomotive company" - produced 685 units., "Baldvin" more - 1220 units., "Pressed Stell" - only 501 tanks., "Pullman - Standart Car Company "- already 500, and all this together resulted in 6258 vehicles of various modifications. And the Canadians also helped: their company" Monreal Lokomotive company "also mastered the production of these vehicles and produced 1,157 M3 tanks already for the Canadian army. these enterprises quickly switched to the production of the M4 "Sherman" tank. Although … there was an exception. Firm "Baldvin" continued production of M3A3 and M3A5 until December 1942.
British M3 "General Grant" at the Museum in Bovington. Pay attention to its whimsical coloring.
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 location of the gun in the onboard sponson brought this tank closer to the vehicles of the First World War, albeit at a different technical level. The engine was in the back, but the transmission was in front, which forced the engine to be connected to the transmission with a long propeller shaft. Here, where this shaft passed, the control rods of the engine operation also passed, and all this was covered with a light removable casing. All parts of the transmission were mounted in a cast part of the armored body, which consisted of three parts, connected to each other by means of a bolted connection through the flanges. As a result, the tank had a very distinctive bow end. All this was also bolted to the hull of the tank, and this technological solution was applied 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 on all modifications and was equal to 51 mm in frontal projections, the thickness of the side and stern 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 walls are 57 mm thick and the roofs are 22 mm thick. The angle of inclination of the front armor plate was 60 degrees to the horizon, but the side and also rear plates were located vertically. The fixing of the slab was different for different modifications. On modifications M3, MZA4, MZA5, fastening was carried out on rivets. Welding was used on the MZA2 and MZAZ modifications. to the inner frame. On the MZA1 tank, the upper part of the hull was cast. The body of this machine had very favorable outlines and literally "flowed" around the crew and mechanisms, but only three hundred made them because of the difficulties with the technology of casting and hardening of such large "baths". It turned out to be easier and cheaper to “rivet” bodies from flat sheets, as well as to weld them. However, the technology was developed and very useful in the future.
"The crew of the combat vehicle"
On the right side of the hull, a one-piece sponson was installed with a 75-mm gun installed 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's hull. The cast turret with a 37 mm gun was moved to the left, and above it there was a small turret with a machine gun. The result is a kind of pyramid with a height of 3214 mm. The length of the tank was 5639 mm, the width was 2718 mm, and the ground clearance was 435 mm. Obviously, the height of the car is too high. 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 hull of the tank inside was also pasted over with a layer of spongy rubber, which protected the crew from small fragments peeling off the armor. To enter the tank, two doors served on the sides, a hatch on the hull from above and also 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 somewhat reduced the strength of the hull.
British M3s near El Alamein, Egypt, July 7, 1942
Each crew member had viewing slots and also embrasures for firing from personal weapons (to which much attention was paid in the US Army!), 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 with a narrow strip fixed on bolts. On either side of it there were two filters - air cleaners, both round and box-shaped. The air intakes were traditionally located on the upper over-engine armor plate and were covered with nets. And here there was again a double-leaf large hatch for dismantling the engine (on the M3A3 and M3A5 models). This arrangement of the hatches made it easier to service the engine. On the M3, M3A2 and M3A4 modifications, instead of the hatch, there were removable armor plates: two for the first two tanks and as many as five for the last one. Here (on the side slopes of the aft part of the hull) a trenching tool, infantry helmets, and boxes with rations could be attached. In short, this part of the tank was used as a "cargo compartment".
M3 crew training at Fort Knox, Kentucky.
In the same place. 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 upper hatches. The disadvantage was quickly taken into account and on the M3A3, M3A4, M3A5 models, three exhaust fans were installed at once under armored caps: one to the left of the driver, directly above the pair of machine guns, the second behind the hull hatch, behind the breech of a 75-mm gun and the last above the breech of a 37-mm 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 Mandalay Street in Burma, March 9-10, 1945 Note the long barrel cannon. Not all of them were cut off. Some of them ended up in the war "uncircumcised" and these weapons proved to be very good!
The M3 tanks, both "General Lee" and "General Grant", were usually propelled by a radial nine-cylinder aviation nine-cylinder carburetor engine "Wright Continental" R 975 EC2 or Cl modification, the power of which was 340 hp It gave the opportunity to this 27-ton tank develop a speed of up to 42 km / h, and with a fuel reserve of 796 liters, have a range of 192 km. The traditional disadvantage of such engines is considered to be their fire hazard, since they require high-octane gasoline to operate. In addition, they are difficult to maintain, especially those cylinders But in 1941 there was practically nothing to choose from, so we had to put up with all these shortcomings. Beginning in March 1942, such a company as Baldvin began to mount General Motors 6- 71 6046 "with water cooling and a total capacity of 375 hp This increased the weight of the tank by 1, 3 tons, but increased power, efficiency, speed and stock course. These tanks received the indexes MZAZ and MZA5. Then, in June 1942, Chrysler supplied the M3A4 with a new 30-cylinder Chrysler A 57 engine, also water-cooled. The length of the hull, the length of the tracks, and also the weight have increased by two tons. At the same time, the speed and power reserve did not change. The British in their cars often replaced the American engines with their "Guiberson" radial diesels. But the body was not altered at the same time.
Cannon in sponson. Pukkapunual Museum in Australia.
Although the tanks were delivered to England, the driver's seat did not change. The following instruments were located in front of him: a tachometer, a speedometer, a voltmeter, an ammeter, of course, a fuel consumption indicator, a thermometer, etc. of course the clock. The tank could be controlled with a gearshift lever, hand brake, brake and accelerator pedals.
M3 disguised as a tracked carrier.
Such machines were used in North Africa.
Tanks of all modifications had rubber-metal tracks, and three wheeled carts on each side. Above, on the trolley frame, there was a roller supporting the caterpillar. The chassis, therefore, was completely taken from the M2 tank and was later used on the early M4s. Track rollers could have solid discs or spoked discs. The suspension was reliable and did not occupy the internal volume of the tank. The drive wheels were at the front, the guide rollers at the rear.
The tracks consisted of 158 tracks, 421 mm wide and 152 mm long each. On the MZA4 tanks - there were 166 of them, because of the longer hull. The design of the track 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. They were put on connecting brackets with a profiled canine, connecting the tracks into a caterpillar. Each track had two fangs that went around the rollers of the support carts. Well, and the leading sprocket with its teeth caught on the connecting brackets of the caterpillar. The very same surface of the rubber track plate was smooth. But on the last tanks, plates with chevron protrusions appeared, and later they were also installed on the tracks of the M4 "General Sherman" tanks.
"The life of a British tanker is hard and unsightly." Replacing the caterpillar.
Tank M3 for its time was … the most heavily armed medium tank in the world. Its main firepower was the 75mm cannon, which was designed by the Westerfleet Arsenal on the basis of the famous French 75mm field gun of 1897, which was also in service with the US Army. The tank gun, indexed M2, had a barrel 3 m long, equipped with a targeting stabilizer, a semi-automatic shutter and a barrel blowing system, which reduced the gas contamination of the fighting compartment. Moreover, the stabilization system on the M3 tank was used for the first time in the world, and only then it was she who served as a model for all similar systems on tanks in many armies of the world. The angles of vertical guidance were about 14 degrees, and along the horizontal plane, the gun could be guided 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 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 caliber and only after that it lost 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, for some reason they were very afraid that a tank with such a long gun would rest against something or catch on it while moving. Therefore, they demanded to shorten the barrel to 2.33 m, which significantly reduced all the combat characteristics of the gun. The "truncated" gun received the M3 index, and the military was fond of it, but it turned out that the stabilization system with a short barrel "malfunctioned", it was not created for it. Then they decided to put on a counterweight on the barrel, which outwardly looked like … a muzzle brake. By the way, a very similar story happened with our Soviet T-34 tank. It was 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 did not perform 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 order.
M3 with a cast body and "American livery".
The 37-mm cannon was created in the same arsenal in 1938. The M3 tanks were equipped with a modification of the M5 or M6. The angles of its vertical guidance made it possible to shoot, at least theoretically, at low-flying aircraft. A machine gun was paired with a cannon, another one was in the upper turret, while the turret had a rotating polyk with walls separating it from the fighting compartment. Ammunition for this cannon was located in the turret and at the bottom of the rotating floor.
Fremantle. Western Australia. War Museum and at the entrance a well-preserved and well-groomed M3.
At a distance of 500 yards, that is, 457 m, a projectile from this cannon could penetrate armor up to 48 mm thick, and a 75-mm gun could penetrate 60 mm armor, which has a slope 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. With its help, it was possible to shoot direct fire at a distance of 1000 yards (300 m).
No sooner had the M3 got into service with the army, than he immediately appeared on the cover of the American magazine "Fantastic Adventures"! (№ 10, 1942) As you can see, the "leopard girl" burns these tanks with a laser beam!
As for the British, they did not like the armament, located in three tiers. Therefore, the upper turret was not installed on the General Grant vehicles, and on the General Lee tanks used by the British army, it was also removed, replacing it with a hatch. Other armament consisted of 11, 43 mm Tompson submachine guns, pistols and grenades, and 4 (102 mm) grenade launchers were also mounted on the turret of British tanks to shoot smoke grenades.
US-built M3 tanks were usually painted green in various shades, from dark green to khaki. On board, where the engine was located on both sides, a registration number was applied, which was assigned to the tank by the Department of Weapons. The name "USA" and the letter "W" were written in blue, indicating that the tank had already been transferred to the army, and the six-digit number was 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 color that the M3 tanks were supplied by the Americans under Lend-Lease.
Equally 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. Geometric figures were drawn on the sponson next to the door, also indicating the numbers of the company, battalion and regiment in 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, instead of a white star, they painted the Stars and Stripes USA flag on the frontal armor plate.
Movie "Sahara" (1943): "heat"!
M3 tanks sent to England were painted dark olive, as expected by American standards. But the British themselves repainted them in traditional British camouflage from stripes of yellow, green and brown, with black edging. The first tanks that entered North Africa almost immediately entered the battle, so they simply did not have time to repaint them. But if there was time, then they were painted in sand color.
Another variant of the M3 camouflage.
At the same time, the registration number was retained, but the letter "W" was replaced with the letter "T." that fought in Burma were painted green and had large white stars on the hull and turret, and their registration numbers were retained.
