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 hence the logical conclusion followed that to win they would need tanks: both heavy breakthrough tanks and very light "cavalry" ones. The first requirement was met by the British Mk vehicles, but the second - by the light French FT-17 tanks. On their basis, American engineers (together with British) developed and then released the Mk VIII tank - in fact, the crown of heavy tank building during the First World War, and then a very light and miniature two-seater Ford M 1918 tank. known in Russia as "Ford-3-tonny". Both the one and the other designers created, 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 a whole 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 ceased, and why is understandable.
Tank M3 by the late Vyacheslav Verevochkin. There lived such a man in Russia, at home, creating tanks with his own hands “on the move” and with the quality that you see in this photo. But … people on planet Earth, unfortunately, are dying. Although on the other hand, what remains is what is created by their hands.
General Rockenback attempted to reorganize the tank units of the US Army so that they would become an independent branch of the military. His proposals were supported by battle commanders such as George Patton, Sereno Brett and Dwight Eisenhower. But … they are 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 experienced T2 tank appeared. Weighing 15 tons, which corresponded to the assignment issued by the military, it was equipped with a powerful Liberti aircraft engine of 312 hp. This tank was armed as follows: a 47-mm cannon and a large-caliber 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 in the front and the “door” in the hull at the back, like the British on the Vickers Medium Mk I, so it was very convenient to get into this tank.
Tank T2.
Indeed, outwardly it was very similar precisely to the British medium 12-ton tank "Vickers Medium Mk I", and in fact it was chosen as a promising prototype of the future US medium tank. The constructed tanks went to the mixed mechanized unit at Fort Eustis in Virginia. This experimental unit consisted of military vehicles, cavalry and mechanical 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.
Then the talented designer of armored vehicles John Walter Christie worked in the United States, an "eccentric" - as the American military called him, a man with all his talents, and perhaps just because of them, very quarrelsome and extremely addicting. He offered to the Department of Armaments a number of samples of his wheeled-tracked tanks and self-propelled guns. Army officers, distinguished by their traditional distrust, 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 Christie's 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, Center, Cromwell and Comet.
"Ford M. 1918". Front view.
So, in a long search, the 30s passed. A whole family of medium tanks TZ, T4, T5 and their modifications were built, but none of these vehicles went into production.
Projections "Ford M. 1918".
This photo gives a good example of how cramped this tank was.
But then came September 1, 1939 and the tank wedges of the Wehrmacht for some 18 days 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 further war in Europe, which ended with the swift defeat of the French army and the disaster at Dunkirk, clearly showed the United States that the war was on the verge, and that it would not be possible to sit out overseas. This means that you will have to fight in earnest. And how can you fight without modern tanks?
"Ford M. 1918" at the General Patton Museum.
Drive wheel.
And then at once all the American military and senators saw their sight and saw that their country was very far behind in the development of its tank forces. Actually, they simply do not exist. That's even how! And therefore the reaction to this followed very quickly. Already in July 1940, General George Marshall and General Staff ordered General Edn R. Chaffee to withdraw all armored units from the infantry and cavalry formations and, as soon as possible, form two armored divisions at once together with support battalions. On June 30, 1940, the National Army Development Program was adopted, and on July 10, General Chaffee began to form new armored units. All the released tanks went to him and no one else. To arm the new divisions, it was planned to release 1000 tanks at once, while the release was supposed to be 10 vehicles per day.
Tank Christie model 1921 on trial.
The M2A1 medium tank of the 1939 model was urgently adopted, which was an improved version of the M2 tank. 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 thick (25.4 mm), armed with a 37 mm M6 gun and seven (and one more spare) 7.62 mm Browning M1919 A4 machine guns, located along the entire perimeter of the hull, as well as in the tower. The Wright Continental R-975 engine had nine cylinders and 350 hp, which gave the tank a speed of 26 mph (or 42 km / h). The M2A1 received 32 mm of armor - essentially, like that of German tanks, a larger turret and a 400 hp engine. The weight has increased, but the speed remains the same. Nevertheless, 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 were already produced for the army with exactly the same 37 -mm cannon and powerful enough machine-gun armament.
Medium tank M2. Interestingly, the tank had a crew of 7 people: a driver, a gunner commander, a loader, and 4 machine gunners. Moreover, the tank had two tripods for machine guns - to remove, install and fire from the ground, and there were two sponson's roof hatches and two pivots for machine guns and anti-aircraft fire! The tank had seven machine guns! A record number for a single-turret tank. Directly on the course, five could fire at the same time!
In June 1940, Lieutenant General William Nadsen, who created the General Motors Corporation, and K. T. since this requires a complete restructuring of the entire production. They decided that they would earn much more on the production of cars for the army. production of $ 21 million, including financing and construction of a new tank factory. Then KT Keller rushed to assure General Wesson, chief of artillery of the US Army, that his corporation was ready to produce any tanks. It was agreed that 1,741 tanks would be produced in 18 months. Thus, "Chrysler" received only 4.5 months to rebuild its production and to present a construction project for arsenal independent of other suppliers.
Then the matter was like this: in Rock Island, two prototypes M2A1 were built (differing from the base model by the sloping armor of the turret), and General Wesson allowed Chrysler engineers to study them, which was done. what was required so that their company could produce these tanks! Already on July 17, 1940, the M2A1 produced by the Chrysler concern was estimated at 33, 5 thousand dollars. The artillery committee accepted this price as "floating". Then, within a month, the contract was carefully worked out and already signed on August 15. The company was supposed to transfer 1000 M2A1 tanks to the US Army by the beginning of August 1940, and their production was to begin no later than September of the next 1941. This period was designated 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 from the blueprints 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 18 units still managed to be made. 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 M2E2 index, but it remained a prototype.
Aberdeen Proving Ground. Tank M2 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 "unscheduled" tank was created. The Aberdeen Proving Grounds design department prepared all the necessary design documents 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 1861-1865. in the United States 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 installed a 75-mm gun in the side sponson on the right side of the hull, like 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 if it would work well in the turret. This showed a certain amount of uncertainty of American designers in their own strengths, but in addition, they also did not want 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 firing at aircraft.
(To be continued…)
