American Tanks and AFVs of World War II

407 Pages·2014·57.43 MB·English

by  Mike Green

AMERICAN TANKS & AFVS OF WORLD WAR II

CONTENTS
Introduction
CHAPTER 1: Early Medium Tanks
CHAPTER 2: M4 Series Tanks
CHAPTER 3: Light Tanks
CHAPTER 4: Heavy Tanks
CHAPTER 5: Tank Destroyers
CHAPTER 6: Armored Cars
CHAPTER 7: Armored Half-Tracks
CHAPTER 8: Self-Propelled Artillery
CHAPTER 9: Landing Vehicles Tracked
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Glossary
T
he equipping of the United States military with the full spectrum of
weapons it needed to prevail during World War II was an unparalleled
example of America’s industrial might at the time. Among the many
weapons produced by America’s workers, tanks rate as an important example,
with 88,140 built between 1939 and 1945. This was almost twice what Germany
and Great Britain combined built during the same period, which numbered only
49,163 tanks. The factories of the Soviet Union built 76,827 tanks during the
world conflict. When American wartime production was at its highest level in
1943, almost 30,000 tanks rolled off the factory floor in just that year alone.
These tanks not only equipped America’s ground forces but saw service with
many Allied armies during World War II.
Beset by a faulty doctrine that insisted that tanks were not intended to fight
other tanks – a role intended for specialized vehicles referred to as tank
destroyers – American tankers had to learn the hard way that their German Army
counterparts did not fight in the manner envisioned by the prewar senior
leadership of the U.S. Army. It is to their credit that American tankers made do
with the vehicles with which they were provided, until such time that American
engineering talent could come up with a suitable tank that nearly matched the
qualitative superiority enjoyed by late-war German tanks. Sadly, that tank
showed up too late during the war in Europe, and in insufficient numbers, to
have any effect on the battlefield.
In the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO), the American medium tanks of
the Marine Corps and U.S. Army dominated the opposition. However, the threat
faced by these tanks in battle proved far different than what the U.S. Army faced
in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Instead of having to deal with
well-armed and heavily armored enemy tanks and self-propelled guns, they often
faced suicidal Japanese infantrymen carrying explosive charges who were
willing to expend their lives to destroy an American tank, or heavily
camouflaged and bunkered antitank guns.
In addition to the 18,620 tank-based variants, such as armored engineering
vehicles, self-propelled artillery, armored recovery vehicles, and tank destroyers,
American factories went on to design and build thousands of wheeled armored
cars for reconnaissance purposes and armored half-tracks to transport the
infantry into battle behind the tanks. Like the tanks, American armored half-
tracks were modified to serve a wide variety of jobs including mortar carriers,
self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, and antiaircraft vehicles. So useful were
these vehicles that many would remain in service with foreign armies for
decades after World War II.
To complement its inventory of tanks and armored fighting vehicles, the
American military industrial complex also designed and built over 18,000
amphibian tractors. Appearing in both unarmored and armored variants, they
went into combat with a wide variety of armaments. Referred to as the Landing
Vehicle, Tracked (LVT), they would serve not only with the U.S. Marine Corps,
who often called them “Amtracs,” but also the U.S. Army. They allowed the
American military to take the fight to the far-flung Japanese Empire wherever it
had established itself in the vast reaches of the PTO. These same vehicles would
also see service in the ETO with the U.S. Army and Allied forces when it came
time to cross various water obstacles, often used by the German military as
defensive barriers.
Pictured is a World War I-era British Mark A Whippet medium tank. The
vehicle was envisioned by the British Army as an exploitation tank that
would assume the role once performed by the cavalry. This was a concept
embraced by the U.S. Army following “The War to End All Wars.” (Tank
Museum)
I
n the summer of 1919, the U.S. Army Ordnance Department began
exploring the idea of fielding medium tanks that would be able to exploit
any breakthroughs in enemy lines achieved by the heavy tanks. This was a
concept pioneered by the British Army with great success with their fielding of
the approximately 15-ton machine-gun-armed Medium Mark A “Whippet” late
in World War I.
Up until through the late 1920s, the U.S. Army often copied British Army
advances in the field of tank development. The U.S. Army’s embrace of this
British Army concept of medium tanks resulted in a single prototype example of
the approximately 23-ton medium tank M1921 showing up at Aberdeen Proving
Ground (APG), Maryland, for testing in early 1922.
A prototype demonstrates the design and layout of a vehicle, but does not
attempt to prove the manufacturing methods. Prototypes are therefore typically
hand-built. All tons listed are in United States short tons (2,000 pounds per ton).
Vehicle weights listed are when combat loaded with a full load of fuel and
ammunition.
The M1921 was very similar to the British Medium D tank then under
development and was armed with a turret-mounted, British-designed and built 6-
pounder (57mm) main gun and two .30 caliber machine guns.
The M1921 was followed by a near-identical prototype, designated the
medium tank M1922, which featured a British-designed suspension system.
Both the M1921 and M1922 prototypes were built at the American government-
owned and government-operated Rock Island Arsenal.
Problems with the original gasoline-powered engines in the prototype
M1921 and M1922 tanks later caused the U.S. Army Ordnance Department to
re-engine the M1921 with a specially designed and built gasoline-powered
engine from the Packard Motor Company in 1925. Reflecting the new engine
and some other minor changes, the vehicle was redesignated as the medium tank
T1. The prefix “T” indicated a test vehicle or weapon.
The medium tank T1 was the follow-on to the medium tanks M1921 and
M1922. Its outward appearance generally mirrored that of the M1921. In
lieu of armored steel, it was constructed of soft steel plate as this cost a
fraction of the former. Top speed of the T1 proved to be 14mph. (Patton
Museum)
In January 1928, the U.S. Army’s Ordnance Committee, which included
representatives from that branch of the service intending to employ the vehicle
and the technical sections of the Office of the Chief of Ordnance, recommended
standardization of the four-man 21-ton medium tank T1 as the medium tank M1.
By this time, the letter “M” indicated a model number of a weapon or vehicle
standardized and approved for series production. This recommendation was
approved, only to be rescinded a few months later.
U.S. Army Ordnance Department Terms
In the context of vehicle acquisition, a “standardized” or “standard” item is one for which initial issue,
repair parts, and maintenance are available. The term “substitute standard” means a vehicle that fulfills
all the capabilities of the standard item, but may differ slightly in details. When the term “limited
standard” is used it means that an item is intended to be maintained by cannibalization or to be
scrapped when no longer serviceable. Limited standard was seen quite a bit in World War II, when
initial runs of items replaced by more modern equipment remained in use to prevent them from going to
waste. Limited standard vehicles were often used for training. For vehicles intended solely for foreign
military use, the Ordnance Department employed the term “limited procurement.”
Following the cancellation of the M1, the U.S. Army expressed a wish for
another medium tank design not to exceed 15 tons in weight, the limit for its
medium pontoon bridges and the majority of American highway bridges at the
time. In response to that interest, the Ordnance Department had the James
Cunningham, Son and Company build a prototype in 1929 of a four-man
vehicle, designated the medium tank T2. It was based on an enlarged 7.5-ton
light tank T1 that the same firm had submitted for consideration to the U.S.
Army in 1927.
The T2 featured a turret-mounted experimental 47mm main gun and a
coaxial .50 caliber machine gun. There was also a limited traverse 37mm gun
mounted in its right front hull. As the front hull-mounted cannon interfered with
the operation of the turret-mounted cannon, it was removed in 1931 and replaced
by a single .30 caliber machine gun. The T2 looked very similar to the British
Vickers medium tanks then under development.
Testing of the T2 between 1930 and 1932 produced positive results as the
vehicle possessed a fair degree of mobility with its front hull-mounted gasoline-
powered Liberty engine, which gave it a maximum speed of 25mph. The turret-
mounted 47mm main gun provided an outstanding level of firepower for its
time. Due to limited funding available to the U.S. Army during the Great
Depression (which began in 1929) the tank was never proposed for series
production. It was, however, retained for testing components and accessories for