In the 1930s, as the United States struggled through the Great Depression, the country was overwhelmingly isolationist. These conditions were not conducive to the development of a costly offensive weapon like a Main Battle Tank. The Ordnance Department had designed a few Light Tanks to support the infantry, and similar "Combat Cars" to support the [still] existing horse cavalry. Late 1930s efforts to develop a Medium Tank resulted in the T5 / M2 series (above, left, T5 Phase III in 1938), which were essentially enlarged versions of the M2 series Light Tanks. It was soon realized that the T5's 37mm main gun would be inadequate on the modern battlefield, but the engineers appear to have lacked the knowledge, resources and technical ability to come up with a design that could mount a larger caliber weapon in a revolving turret. As an expedient, in 1939, the T5 Phase III was modified to mount a 75mm pack howitzer in the right front of the hull (above right), in the manner of the French Char B1 bis. The Fall of France in June of 1940 changed the political landscape, and created a sense of urgency that the United States begin mass production of a Medium Tank as soon as possible. A design was needed immediately that could meet the Army's requirements for mobility, protection and firepower, and this resulted in the M3 Medium Tank.




Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland was the Ordnance Department's Research and Development facility for armor projects in the inter war years. Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois was tasked with producing the few Light and Medium Tank designs that were approved on the Army's very limited budget. RIA basically hand made these tanks, using "tool room methods." The culmination of the inter war Medium Tank program was the M2A1. The tank was equipped with the same 37mm gun as the latest Light Tanks, which essentially rendered the design obsolete. However, production went ahead at RIA simply because the Army desperately needed some Medium Tanks to equip its newly created Armored Force. There was also a sort of educational aspect to the order, since the government and private business had very little experience in what would be required for the mass production of tanks. In any case, RIA manufactured 94 M2A1s from December 1940 through August 1941. In the Summer of 1940, the Ordnance Department had begun work to redesign the upper hull of the M2A1 to mount a 75mm gun. In an unusual move reflecting the sense of urgency of the time, the nascent, drawing board concept was actually standardized on 11 July 1940 as the "Medium Tank, M3." The photo above was taken at Aberdeen and shows an M2A1 beside the original wooden mockup of the M3 Medium. Note that the M3 can be seen mounted on the lower hull of an M2 series tank. The M3 was designed around the same 9-cylinder Wright Radial aircraft engine and a similar type of VVSS suspension. It is assumed that the M2A1 seen here was the prototype, since this photo is dated October 30, 1940, about a month before M2A1 production commenced at RIA.




On 15 August 1940, the Chrysler Corporation was contracted to produce 1000 M2A1 Medium Tanks. For this purpose, the US Government financed construction of a dedicated tank plant in Warren, a small township outside of Detroit, Michigan. The original designation as the "Detroit Ordnance Plant," was somewhat confusing, so the name was changed on 29 May 1941 to the "Detroit Tank Arsenal." Before the end of August, the Ordnance Department abandoned plans for the mass production of the M2A1 with its 37mm gun, in favor of the M3 "design concept" with its 75mm main gun. Unfortunately, in the Summer of 1940, the Army engineers did not have the technical ability to mount such a large gun in a revolving turret. Instead, they came up with an interim design which mounted the 75mm gun in a sponson. The M3 pilot was completed at Rock Island Arsenal in March 1941, and photographed at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland shortly thereafter. The riveted construction harkened back to World War I. The sponson mounted 75mm gun along with the turret mounted 37mm, evinced such descriptions as "land battleship" and "rolling fortress." The tank stood over 10 feet tall, causing one tanker to remark, "It looked like a damn cathedral coming down the road." Although originally intended to be a limited run model, the geopolitical situation forced its mass production, so that ultimately, 6258 M3 series Medium Tanks were manufactured from June 1941 through December 1942. 4373 were supplied to the Allies as Lend Lease.




In this front view, we see the familiar "3-piece differential housing" typical of all production M3 series Medium Tanks. This item certainly played a prominent role in creating the overall "steam punk" look of the M3's design. Three separate castings with raised flanges were bolted together to form the armor cover which protected the transmission and final drives. In the Summer of 1940, the Ordnance Department turned to The Spicer Manufacturing Company, which had experience with the Light Tank, to design the "M3 Medium Tank Transmission." The design was accepted, and a few months later, the Mack Manufacturing Corp. was contracted for the production of 1508 units for the US Army and 900 for the British Purchasing Commission. These figures were inadequate to meet planned Medium Tank requirements, but it was not until after the passage of the Lend Lease Act in March 1941 that another manufacturer, the Iowa Transmission Company, was contracted to produce additional powertrains starting in September 1941. Chrysler retooled its Dodge Main Plant for the production of M3 powertrains, and it is thought that they provided these for all of their Lees and M4A4 Shermans from start to finish. The M3 Medium Transmission and Final Drive unit weighed 7600 pounds, including the 3600 pound 3-piece armor casting that protected the front. The transmission had 5 forward speeds and 1 reverse. The "Maximum Speed" listed on surviving M3 dataplates is 19.3 M.P.H. An item of note seen here is the dust cover (1) over the gunner's periscope. This was secured by "snaps" or "press studs" (2) which can also be seen around the 75mm gun, suggesting that it was intended to provide a dust cover for the main gun as well. It was intended for the M3 to be equipped with a siren near the right head light, but it is not present in the March 28 APG walk around photos. An additional bolt hole (3) is visible in the righthand piece (Part Number E1230) of the differential housing. A single bolt was obviously the default configuration, but a few early diffs can be seen to have had two.




The M3 Medium stood so high primarily because it was designed around the Wright 975 Radial, an aircraft engine with a proven history in the aviation industry. (An earlier version of this engine powered the Spirit of St. Louis on its epic flight across the Atlantic in 1927.) Wright Aeronautical only produced 750 tank engines up to the end of 1941, after which its production capacity was devoted entirely to the Army Air Corps, which had a higher priority rating than the A-1-G assigned to the Tank Program. In the meantime, the Continental Motor Company was contracted to set up its Detroit facility for the manufacture of license-built Wright 975 tank engines at the initial rate of 20 per day and increasing to 1000 per month by January 1942. At the outset, shortages of machine tools and other fixtures hampered production, which, of course, affected the Medium Tank program. The photo above is dated 8 July 1941 and shows a pair of Wright Radials awaiting installation into the first Grants at the Pullman Plant. There is some confusion about the nomenclature, but as built by Continental Motors, these engines were labeled "R-975-EC2". For our purposes, we shall use this designation to refer to the engines that ran on 91 octane aviation gasoline and were fitted with what is described as a "low outlet exhaust collector ring." In this view, the exhaust manifolds can be seen with their exhaust pipes in the so called "low" position (arrows). These were connected to a pair of mufflers mounted on the lower rear hull plate.




In this left rear view from the 28 March walk around series we see the M3 Medium's original exhaust and muffler configuration. This has come to be known informally as "the pepper pot exhaust." The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "pepper pot" as "a small container with several holes in the top that contains pepper." The "holes in the top" of the muffler can be seen in inset A. The air cleaners were mounted on either side of the radial engine. The original cleaners were rectangular in shape and had three oil sediment cups screwed on to the bottom as shown in inset B. While these air cleaners were protected inside the engine compartment, they were hard to service within the confined space. Indeed, several reports note that it was often found that the sediment cups were "put on the filter[s] but not rotated far enough to lock them in place so they soon shake off." The problem with the pepper pot was that the hot exhaust vented up, directly under the engine deck. This created an intense heat buildup in the engine compartment which degraded the performance of the engine. Furthermore, the engine deck often got so hot that it became a danger to the crew (or riders). In early 1942, a "Quick Fix" modification was devised that replaced the pepper pots with a pair of fishtail exhausts that directed the exhaust out and away from the vehicle. At the same time, the internal air cleaners were replaced with new externally mounted cleaners. These were vulnerable, but the tradeoff was that they were much easier to service. The "Quick Fix" was factory installed starting in the Spring of 1942. A Field Service Modification Work Order G104-W16 was released on 4 July 1942. This was the most important and the most widely distributed of the M3 Medium FSMWOs. Note that the pilot and a few early production Lees were equipped with a very simple, fabricated antenna base (1), as seen here. The machine gun cupola (2) of the M3 was designed with direct vision ports on both sides, but the visor on the left side is conspicuous by its absence on the RIA pilot.




This overhead view from the 28 March walk around series shows a somewhat quirky feature of the M3 design - the reinforcing struts (1 & 2) atop the fighting compartment. The struts helped to support the weight of the 2-ton Lee and 2.75-ton Grant turrets, and also served as bullet splashes, protecting the turret ring area from being jammed by small arms fire or shrapnel. The turret ring had a diameter of only 60 inches, and 3 men were crammed into the relatively small Lee turret - the tank commander, the 37mm gunner and the loader. The fighting compartment crew consisted of 4 men - the driver, the radio operator, the 75mm gunner, and the loader. The initial positions of the pioneer tools and tow cable (3) are shown. (The engine crank and 5 ft. crowbar apparently had yet to be included.) The engine air intake was unprotected and simply covered with a screen (4). The M3 with radial had 4 fuel tanks. Two were mounted vertically in the forward corners of the engine compartment, just below the armored fuel filler covers adjacent to the engine air intake. Two were positioned horizontally in the sponsons at locations 5 and 6. Each fuel tank was provided with a shut off valve (we've circled one). Total fuel capacity is given as 175 gallons. As best we can tell from counting heads, the armored fuel filler covers on the M3 Medium series used the "short and straight" hinge pins (7) shown here from the start of production to finish. The pilot was provided with a dust cover (8) for the 75mm gunner's periscope. However, at present we have found no evidence that this or dust covers for the guns were ever issued as On Vehicle Materiel. A report on the pilot notes that "During rain, tank leaks very badly all over." Production units were sealed with caulk at the joints, but we suspect that they too leaked "very badly all over." The Technical Manual notes that a 12 by 12 ft "Paulin" was provided "In tank." The same equipped the Sherman, and there were many complaints regarding its insufficient size. Note the little catch (9) that locked the top hatch when in the open position.




On 24 April 1941 a demonstration of "the Army's new Medium Tank" was put on at APG "for the benefit of high ranking army officers, members of the Office of Production Management, British Representatives, and engineers of the firms which will fill $250,000,000 worth of orders for huge fleets of the mechanical monsters." In this view on the test course, the USA Registration Number can just be made out as 304191. The APG Daily Log for 31 March to 5 April refers to the vehicle as "Medium Tank M3 #1 (R.I.A.)." For "counting heads" purposes, we interpret this to mean that the pilot was assigned Serial Number 1. During this week, the tank was installed with a gyrostabilizer for the 37mm gun. In the photo, note the counterweight (1), which looks to be a capped plumbing pipe. It had been decided that the M3's guns would be equipped with gyrostabilizers, and it is mentioned that during a firing practice on 3 April, the "Stabilizer was not used because of repairs in progress." The inclusion of gyrostabilizers in the M3 and M4 Mediums strikes us as an unfortunate decision, simply because we find no evidence that it was effective enough to warrant the money, time and training spent on it, not to mention that it was "in the way" in the already cramped turret. It was a great idea, but the technology was not yet "there" to make it practical. A much better decision was the inclusion of power traverse. This was one of the best features of US Medium Tanks, since it enabled rotation of the turret with a good deal more speed than hand traversing. On 4 April, the log reports "Had demonstration for manufacturers and personnel from Washington using all guns on the tank. Later used for taking personnel around test course." We would have been interested in any comments about the use of the gyrostabilizer during the firing demonstration, but none were made. Note that a siren (2) was retrofitted. The gleam of it (stainless steel?) seems a bit out of place. Perhaps it was borrowed from the local police or fire department?








With the nearly immediate contract change from M2A1 to M3, engineers at APG and RIA scrambled to provide Chrysler with the enormous stacks of the necessary blueprints. In the 30 January 1941 DTA photo above we see that the blueprints have been converted to full size wooden models or patterns of various components. Most of the items seen here would serve as the basis for production of the real things by casting. It had been determined that the M3's turret would be cast, and it can be seen to have its Part Number, D 38530, (circled) written on with something like a magic marker. Other items include the bogie bracket (1), the 37mm gun shield (2), various pieces of the 75mm sponson gun mounting and housing (3), the transmission housing (4), and the final drive (5). Since Chrysler and the other manufacturers had never built any tanks, according to an RIA history, the firm "did everything short of setting up these contractors in business. The arsenal provided descriptions of manufacture route sheets; copies of tool, die, jig, gauge, and fixture drawings; machine-tool requirements; and updated component and assembly drawings."




From the beginning, the M3 was thought of as an interim design. Its major shortcoming was, of course, the limited traverse of the sponson mounted 75mm gun. In August 1940, even before the M3's design was finalized, the Ordnance Committee, Technical Staff emphasized that the next step in development would be "modification of the Medium Tank, M3" by "relocating the 75mm gun in the turret." It was intended to replace the M3 in production as quickly as was practical. However, the press of world events created an urgent need for tanks, and Chrysler's original contract for 1000 M3 Medium Tanks was increased several times so that, ultimately, the company produced 3243 M3s and 109 M3A4s from July 1941 to August, 1942. Chrysler more or less hand built the first two tanks, which are shown above on "Presentation Day," April 24, 1941, a little over a month after the M3 pilot was completed at Rock Island Arsenal. Chrysler President K.T. Keller presented General Charles M. Wesson, Chief of Ordnance, the first M3 (Serial Number 2, USA 301000, the scuffed up tank on the right in the photo) as a gift from Chrysler employees. This gift tank created a "one serial number short" bookkeeping problem that does not appear to have been resolved until near the end of M4A4 production in September, 1943.








Here we see the first Chrysler-built Lee sans guns on 4 May 1942 involved in one of the many APG test projects for which it was used. In this case, an evaluation of "Trailer T32, Armored." Note that the tank has been installed with "Experimental Sprocket with resilient teeth" (inset). As the M3 was distributed, reports began to come in regarding worn or broken sprocket teeth. The "Experimental Sprocket" with its replaceable teeth appears to have been an overly complex solution to a fairly simple problem. The teeth, which were affixed with nuts and bolts, moved back and forth a little, losing their ability to engage and drive the tracks, and the project was dropped. The Ordnance Department observed that problems experienced with sprockets appear to have been the result of poor manufacturing techniques. Indeed, after the early failures, there is no evidence that sprocket failure was a major issue with Medium Tanks. In many instances, APG painted the vehicle Serial Number on its test subjects as seen here. Just visible in a light paint color is the USA Registration Number 301000. This is not seen in the numerous photos taken on presentation day as the tank put on a show knocking down a telephone pole and busting through a wooden "house." Perhaps it was painted on at APG? In any case, as researchers, we are always happy to have textual listings or photographs that provide known good Serial and Registration Numbers together.









On 20 February 1943, SN 2 was the target of a demonstration firing "using shot A.P., M70, fired from 57 mm Gun, M1." It is not known if a conscious effort was made to preserve this tank, but as it sits now, it shows these two hits and no others. As can be seen on the right, the upper hit penetrated completely while the lower glanced off the bottom edge. One would think the penetration might have caused harm to the mechanicals, but the quartermaster at the VFW said that the Lee was driven in parades for years until the city of Newark asked them to stop because it was damaging the roads. M3 Mediums were built with welded spoke road wheels (1) from start to finish except at Chrysler, where pressed metal wheels were introduced into production around March 1942. The pressed metal wheel (2) seen here, which was obviously a replacement, became the most common type of road wheel used in Sherman VVSS production. A bit of the open side door (3) can be seen, and we would note that it is "still" painted white. According to a Chrysler history, SN 2 was next "turned over to the Ordnance school for the training of tank-recovery companies. These lads gaily rolled it over cliffs and into ditches in order to pull it out and patch it up again."




The photo on the left shows the "gift tank," Serial Number 2, USA 301000, on a railcar with officials holding a sign that reads, "No-1 M3 Tank Returned to CTA May 17th 1945." Of course, "CTA" stood for "Chrysler Tank Arsenal." (The US determined to avoid brand name advertising in its contracts, and the official name of the Government owned, Chrysler operated plant was "Detroit Tank Arsenal.") The arrow shows what appears to be a pepper pot exhaust still present when SN 2 was returned. We suspect that Chrysler restored the tank to running condition by retrofitting the new engine, exhaust and air cleaner set up it has now. In 1951, the Government financed a new tank plant in Newark, Delaware to be run by Chrysler for production of the M48 Main Battle Tank and other Cold War era designs. It is assumed that SN 2 was shipped to Newark to serve as a sort of mascot, and the photo on the right shows it there as "The First Production Tank Built By Chrysler 4/24/41." The occasion celebrated the white M48 as the "30,001st Tank Built By Chrysler 11/3/53." In April 1957, most of the plant was converted for the production of Plymouth and Dodge automobiles. At some point after that, we would guess that SN 2, which was meant to be "a permanent exhibit" at Chrysler, was given (or loaned?) to the VFW located a few blocks away from the Newark plant, which was shuttered in December 2008. Comparing the Lee, once described as "a damn cathedral coming down the road" with the Patton, we can only conclude that the US Army liked tall tanks.




The Ordnance Dept. documents are somewhat confusing with a number of gaps, typos and downright errors regarding the Serial and Registration Numbers assigned to the M3 Lee series. We hope readers will indulge us in a little "thinking out loud" math exercise, while we try to establish a base line. As stated previously, Chrysler's initial contract was for 1000 M3 Medium Tanks. From counting heads, we are quite certain that the Serial Numbers assigned ran from 2 though 1001 (2 + 999 = 1001). Baldwin's contracts called for the production of 685 Lees and 685 Grants. The Lees were originally assigned the next available block of US Army Ordnance Serial Numbers - 1002 through 1686. However, in the Fall of 1942, 150 diesel Lees were diverted from the contract to be converted by Baldwin to T2 Diesel Tank Recovery Vehicles. Thus, in the end, Baldwin officially produced 535 M3 Lee series tanks. We interpolate that the highest Serial Number assigned to a Baldwin Lee would have been 1536. This leaves us with "orphan" Serial Numbers 1537 through 1686. ALCO's contract originally called for production of 685 M3 Lees, but this was soon changed to include 300 M3A1 (cast hull) models. Again, these were assigned the next available block of Serial Numbers - 1687 through 2371. As far as we can tell, all of the M3 Medium series Serial Numbers higher than 2371 would have been assigned to the additional 2352 M3s and M3A4s that the Government ordered from Chrysler. From this, we interpolate that the highest Lee Serial Number would have been 4723. The highest SN we have recorded is close at 4718 as shown above during an Acceptance Test at the General Motors Proving Ground on 30 September 1942. Again we see the USA Number, 3058309, painted on in black. The evidence is that Chrysler used black paint, as opposed to the prescribed blue drab, for the Registration Number on its M3s from start to finish. This tank would have been accepted in August 1942 as the M4A4 Sherman completely replaced the M3 on the production lines at the Detroit Tank Arsenal. Unlike the Grant, the Lee design underwent a few modifications which we shall discuss going forward. The most obvious changes seen here are the elimination of the side doors (1), and the addition of ventilators (2). Like the M3 pilot, this unit can be seen with a dust cover over the gunner's periscope (3). A dust cover can also be seen over the 37mm gun (4), but not the 75mm. We regret to say that we have not been able to confirm if dust covers were ever included as On Vehicle Materiel on the M3 series. Indeed, this is the only Ordnance or factory type photo we've encountered that shows a dust cover on one of the main guns.




The American Locomotive Company, or ALCO, had been engaged in the manufacture of locomotives at their plant in Schenectady, New York for more than 100 years. In November 1940, the Government contracted with the firm for production of 685 "medium weight tanks, M3." Originally, the production order provided for additional plant and facilities designed to enable a monthly capacity of 575 medium tanks. ALCO engineers also assisted APG in the design of the 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriage, M7 [Priest], a conversion based on the M3 Medium. When all is said and done, the M7 was actually a more useful addition to the arsenal than the M3. It certainly remained in service longer. ALCO manufactured 3314 M7s from April 1942 through October 1944. Just because it is mentioned in a report, we thought we'd add, "The starting wage for workers is 74¢ an hour. Semi-skilled workers receive from 90¢ to $1.00 an hour, and skilled mechanics receive $1.25 an hour." The photo above shows "Presentation Day" of the first M3 at ALCO, 19 April 1941. According to the US Army History, "The Ordnance Department: Procurement and Supply," "In April, when American and Baldwin were about to complete their first tanks, the Mack Manufacturing Company had only one power train available. It was delivered to American, and completion of that company's first tank was heralded with a demonstration before Secretary Patterson and other high-ranking Army officials. The power train was then quickly removed and delivered by truck to the Baldwin Locomotive Works so that company could celebrate completion of its first tank a few days later. Meanwhile Chrysler, which built its own transmissions, had completed its first tank on 11 April but the acceptance ceremony did not take place until 24 April." In the photo, note that the righthand piece of the differential housing has two bolts installed where it joins to the hull.




The "Presentation Day" Lees were far from complete and most served as test vehicles at Aberdeen Proving Ground and other Ordnance facilities. The photo above provides us with both the Serial and Registration Number of the first ALCO M3 - 1687/USA 305757. Note that the Registration Number appears to have been painted on in black. As can be seen here on 8 August 1941, the tank was subjected to a bit of "Caliber .30 Aimed Ball Ammunition." It would appear that two shots were directed at the side door to test the strength of the hinges. A few other rounds were aimed at the lower edge of the turret. This was likely done to determine if there was a susceptibility to the turret jamming, since this area was unprotected by any sort of bullet splash. The area circled showing 2 missing rivets and a small and large hole was the mounting point for the antenna base on the Lee series. It is thought that this early unit would have been built with the fabricated base that was replaced with a casting a few months into production.




At some point before 29 November 1941, SN 1687 was installed with "Remote control" which we take to mean that it could be driven around the target range like a drone. The tank was painted with white aiming crosses and subjected to 37mm armor piercing fire. A number of penetrations can be seen, and we can't help but think that 1687 may have been permanently immobilized at this point. Perhaps it ended up as a stationary target?




This interior view of 1687 shows how round 10 penetrated the shutter of the "Driver's Indirect Vision Device." The prop (1) for this device is hanging down here, but when not in use, it was actually held by a clip across the bottom of the driver's vision hatch. The junction where the 75 mm sponson casting attached to the front of the hull was a large shot trap, and the penetration of the casting by round 11 is circled. We suspect that some of the rivets were circled with chalk because they had been completely or partially detached by shock, sending shrapnel flying around the interior. The brown paper (2) was installed for the firing tests to help determine the trajectory of shrapnel. The conclusions reached from these tests were published in February 1942, and were extremely negative, "It was recommended that all rotor clearances [around guns] be provided with shields and splash proofing; that armored air intake grilles be provided; that side doors and pistol ports be permanently welded shut; and that the production of riveted hulls be discontinued." Note the protective padding (3) around the Driver's Indirect Vision Device and on the "ceiling" of the hull (4). The M3 Medium appears to have had its combat debut with both the Soviets and the British in May 1942. In both cases, reports came in that the padding was highly flammable, and it was ordered to be removed. Except for the side doors, the padding is rarely seen on surviving M3 Mediums. This photo provides us with the opportunity to show the location of the dataplate (5) on Lees and Grants.








Sledge's Store at the intersection of E. Pine St. and Front St. appears to have been the point where the Blue Army set up its main line of resistance in Castor. Note that the trees seen here are obviously the same as those on the left in the previous caption. The lead tank, C-2, can be seen with the Armored Force triangle painted on the glacis as well as on the hull "roof" just behind the driver's visor. Of course, the "1" indicates 1st Armored Division. Due to a lack of photos, we suspect that Patton's 2nd Armored Division did not have any Lees during the 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers. One account states that the Division was issued 32 just prior to the start of the Carolina Maneuvers which began in October. Counting heads from repair reports and such suggests that, as production ramped up, the 1st AD was issued exclusively with early Chrysler M3s. It struck us as odd that there are absolutely no early Chrysler entries for the 2nd AD. Rather, counting heads suggests that the 67th AR of the 2nd AD received its first Lees from Baldwin and ALCO. This may have been a function of the geography of the manufacturers in relation to the locations of the home bases of the 1st and 2nd ADs, Ft. Knox, Kentucky and Ft. Benning, Georgia respectively. From Captain Thornbury's Report, we would interpolate that C Company was issued the first allotment of Chrysler Lees starting at USA 301005 (July 1941) and running nearly consecutively up to 301018. For instance, C-2, seen in this photo, is listed as 301011 (August 1941). Thornbury interviewed the Motor Officer and the Commanding Officer of the 69th AR, who stated that the schedule of the maneuvers did not "permit adequate time for 1st and 2nd echelon maintenance." His notes reveal that, before the end of November 1941, nearly all of C Company's Lees had had their radial engines changed out after less than 200 hours and/or 1000 miles of operation. Most of us think in terms of the engine life of our cars, but this was actually not that bad. Despite the numerous improvements made by the Ordnance Department and Continental Motors, the average service life of the radial engine never greatly exceeded these parameters.










    

Elements of the 13th Armored Regiment, including the 1st Battalion (M3 Lights) and 2nd Battalion (M3 Mediums) were assigned to Combat Command B, 1st Armored Division, which was slated to take part in Operation Torch, the invasion of Northwest Africa. The Regiment left Northern Ireland in October 1942 and deployed to a staging area in England near the port of Liverpool. In his memoir, then Col. Paul Robinett, commander of the 13th AR, records that, "The days in the staging area were ones of intense activity. Our tanks had seen hard service and were not in good mechanical condition. The men worked hard overhauling engines, changing tracks, and doing many other things that had to be done to put the vehicles in the best possible mechanical condition." Furthermore, Robinett states that "our vehicles would have to traverse salt water during the landing...Waterproofing was therefore mandatory, but the United States Army had not developed the technique." (Robinett was apparently unaware that techniques were developed for Operation Torch vehicles shipped from the US.) In any case, his tanks, etc. were "waterproofed" under the supervision of British Army specialists from their Amphibious Training Center. We don't know of any photos showing the unit's waterproofed Lees, but above are 1st AD documents detailing the materials required and a "Primary De-Waterproofing of Vehicles...Tanks" instruction handed out to crews on the day before the assault landings. From these, our impression is that the air intakes on the engine decks were simply covered and sealed, and that "exhaust chutes" were affixed to the rear of the tanks. The chutes apparently required 3 and 3/4 steel sheets measuring 1/8 inch by 3 ft. by 6 ft. An extended engine hand crank was needed, which suggests that the chutes were at least as high as the upper rear hull plates. Indeed, in his notes, then Captain Henry Gardiner of HQ, 2nd Battalion states that "Civilian workers were brought in to assist in welding "stacks" to the back decks of all tanks. These served to carry the exhaust gasses up to a level above the deck of the tank so that the motor would not be affected by submerging to a depth of eight feet. The ports, hatches and gun embrasures were all sealed up to make the tanks waterproof to the point that they could be landed in the water and driven ashore under their own power." A CCB HQ Report dated 22 December 1942 states that during the landings, "One medium tank was put into water which lapped the bottom of the turret, (about 9 feet) and made the trip to the beach successfully." It was stressed that the "oil silk" or rubber over the engine air intake must be removed immediately upon landing, otherwise the engine would be damaged by overheating, and/or fires might ensue.




This Signal Corps photo is dated 5 December 1942 and shows a heavily armed Santa Claus arriving on an M3 Lee named "Buccaneer" in order to deliver presents to some English children. Santa is played by Sgt. Hiram Prouty of Baltimore, Maryland, described in the caption as "a member of the 175th Inf." The 175th Infantry Regiment was a Maryland National Guard unit that was federalized in early 1941. It became part of the 29th Infantry Division composed of Guard formations from Maryland and Virginia. The Division arrived in the UK in October 1942 and trained there for the next 20 months. The Division's 116th Infantry Regiment, composed of Virginians, has the distinction of having been part of the first wave on Omaha Beach on D-Day. The location is given in the caption as "Perham Downs [sic], England." (Perham Down is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Tidworth parish.) The tank commander is not named but it is stated "M.3. Tank of 1st Tank Group." As best we can determine, the 1st Tank Group included the 751st, 752nd and 755th Tank Battalions (Medium), all of which arrived in the U.K. in August 1942 and took up training in the area around Tidworth Camp in the south of England. At that time, a Medium Tank Battalion consisted of 54 tanks, 3 in HQ Company, and 17 each in 3 Companies, generally A, B and C. "Buccaneer" can be seen to have "B-17" painted on the left side of the differential housing. We would remind readers that, on a tank, left and right are determined as if one were sitting in the driver's seat.




In this view, the tank "driver" is named in the caption as Sgt. Claud Brunes of Seattle, Washington. Sgt. Brunes is listed in a B Company roster in the souvenir history of the 752nd Tank Battalion. Combining this photo with the previous, we were able to determine that the Registration Number of "Buccaneer" was USA 3028835 indicating June 1942 acceptance at Chrysler's Detroit Tank Arsenal. A March 1942 stowage diagram has it that item 1 was a "Box for 13 grousers." No quantity is given for a similar grouser box on the hull roof (2), but it appears to be about the same size, so we would assume that it held 13 as well. This would put the M3 Medium in line with the M4 which carried 26 grousers. We have yet to learn exactly where they were stored before the advent of the external boxes in May or June 1942. Recall that the Technical Manual does not give the number of grousers and simply states that they were stored "In tank...in the most convenient places available." Note that the factory installed grouser boxes had lids.




Here we have another photo of "Buccaneer" with a different man in the commander's hatch, identified in the SC caption as Capt. Peter Meshkoff of Rockford, Illinois. Earlier we mentioned that Russian born Captain Meshkoff was the commander of B Company, 752nd at the time. It can be seen here that there was no pistol port on the left side of a "no doors" Lee. Several of the press photos describe the "action" at Perham Down as a "radio training exercise" but oddly, "Buccaneer" does not have an antenna mounted, and Capt. Meshkoff is "going old school" by "waving flag signalling [sic] tanks to begin maneuvers."








The photo above shows what we believe were the "other" B Company Lees seen behind the 752nd's tanks in the previous photo. In this shot, note how the "Speed Numbers" are brightly painted on the rear of the turrets of the Lees in the front row. Also, notice that, unlike the back row, the front row Lees do not have stripes around their turrets. "Baby Boy" can be seen as USA 309689 indicating March 1942 Chrysler production. The back row tanks are somewhat earlier Lees with working doors and no ventilators. It has been difficult to "count heads" on the factory introduction of the rear stowage boxes because of photos like this, but our interpolation is that they were not introduced in production until June 1942. Thus, it is our theory that the boxes seen on the 2nd row Lees are retrofits from a modification kit or alternatively, they were fabricated in theater from an Ordnance Dept. supplied pattern. Wooden crates are mounted and tied down on top of the stowage boxes. These appear to have held 20 five-gallon jerry cans. This strikes us as an awful lot of weight to put on these sheet metal stowage boxes, assuming the cans were filled. In the event the crew would need to access something in a stowage box, the jerry can crate would present a great obstacle. We suspect this was more of a traveling or shipping configuration with empty cans. "Baby Boy" can be seen equipped with a single, "no lid" grouser box affixed to the hull roof. We believe that the grouser boxes were retrofits on the back row Lees as well.




In this view, we see "doored" Lees with striped turrets. The lead tank appears to be named "Blitzen" and have "B-6" painted on the center of the differential housing. The Registration Number may be USA 309652 (March 1942), but it is not entirely clear due to "motion blur." Note the wooden crate atop the stowage boxes. A single, "no lid" grouser box is mounted on the hull roof. A single, open grouser box is also present on B-7, but it is mounted on the front plate. Other photos in the series suggest that the location of the grouser box was one or the other, but not both. As researchers trying to identify the units, we regret that the participating Battalions didn't simply paint on unit IDs, like "752 Δ" on their tanks. Instead, they are seen with the infamous "Preparation for Overseas Movement" unit serial number and bar code (circled) stenciled on the right side of the differential housing.




Not to belabor the point, but to show that there were indeed elements of at least two Tank Battalions of the 1st Tank Group present at Perham Down on December 5th, here we have "B-7" of what we believe was the 752nd TB. The location of the company letter and tank number on the left side of the differential housing, and the overall later "look" of the Lee can be contrasted with the B-7 shown in the previous photo. The caption of this photo reads in part, "It can now be revealed that the General Grant [sic] tanks, which played so large a part in the recent rout of Rommel are now in England in vast numbers. Many of these American tanks, manned by American crews, were seen in action "somewhere in England" last week." No doubt the "vast numbers" were meant to reassure the British people, but a second purpose would have been to deceive the enemy. The 1st Tank Group was deployed to Northwest Africa about a month later to reinforce US Troops fighting there. Again, we see the "Preparation for Overseas Movement" or POM code. Interested readers might want to have a look at this link. The inset is from a Signal Corps photo that shows tank B6 of what we believe was a 752nd TB Lee. Note that there is a small number/letter combination stenciled above the top color bar. This is the 5-digit serial number assigned to this particular unit. When we showed this to Bob Holt, he replied, "The 752nd POM code was indeed 9190-L. This code appears in several 752nd photos and it also appears in a few 752nd documents and in my dad's personal paperwork. I have seen this code on both C and B Company tanks, as well as on battalion-level documents. The bar colors for 9190 would be white-brown-white." We would guess that this unit serial number plus bar code system was stenciled on the equipment of the 1st Tank Group before the Lees, etc. were shipped to the UK in the same convoy in September 1942. Presumably, the other Tank Battalions of the 1st Tank Group would have been assigned their own unit serial numbers, and Bob Holt informed us, "I've seen three different POM codes in various photos in England - 9188, 9189, and 9190." It would be our guess that the Battalions were instructed not to paint regular tactical markings like "752 Δ" on their equipment in order to keep the enemy from "counting heads."




Readers might be wondering why our photo selection shows mostly Chrysler M3 Lees, that is, those with radial engines and riveted hulls. The answer comes down to sheer numbers. The Detroit Tank Arsenal produced 3243 such units, while ALCO only produced 385 M3 Lees and Baldwin a mere 84. Here we take a little detour from Perham Down in December 1942 back to the Detroit Tank Arsenal around midyear. The massive plant was still under construction at the time as evidenced by the incomplete section on the right in the photo. Quite a few Registration Numbers are readable, with all of them indicating Lees accepted in June 1942. Most of the tanks are "no doors" Lees, but a few, such as USA 3010618 (1), can be seen with welded on side doors. Of interest is that the pistol port (circled) is open, that is, working on 3010618. When the doors were eliminated, the original intent appears to have been that "a pistol port with protectoscope must be placed on each side of the hull in approximately the same location as the eliminated escape doors." As is evident by the many Lees with solid armor left sides in this photo, the pistol port on the left was quickly deemed unnecessary and dropped from the design. However, there is some small evidence that a few "welded door" Chrysler Lees may have been built with working pistol ports on both the left and right sides (inset). The use of rivets to fill in the welded doors' hinge holes is observed as well. Unfortunately, at present, we don't know of any surviving examples with these features. The longer M3 75mm guns are in the majority in the shot, but there are "still" some M2 guns with counterweights (2) present. The M3 was developed for the Sherman series to provide an increase in the gun's muzzle velocity. The Sherman had priority for these, but it appears that Chrysler alone was able to arm some of its Lees with the longer gun. By mid-1942, the R-975-C1 radial engine was in production. This featured the high exhaust pipes and external air cleaner set up as used on all but the first few radial engine Shermans. Some of the Lees seen here are installed with "squarish" plates (3) in front of the air cleaners, while others have the original triangular plates (4). It seems a bit unnecessary, but the rear stowage bins can be seen with the word "Stowage" (circled) stenciled on them. For future reference we would note that the stencil is in a dark color. A few M3A4s (5 & 6) are visible. These are characterized by M4 bogies and a lack of rear stowage bins and grouser boxes. Note the Lee on a railcar completely covered by a tarp (7).




This photo is dated 17 June 1942 and shows a completed "General Grant" [sic] undergoing a run-in on the test course at the Detroit Tank Arsenal. Despite the fact that we don't know of any surviving examples, we offer this photo as further evidence that Chrysler used rivets to fill in the hinge holes (circled) on at least some of the Lees it built with welded-on side doors. This stands in contrast to Baldwin Locomotive, which appears to have attempted to fill in the hinge holes so that the exterior surfaces of the welded-on doors were more or less flat. We might assume that the final 25 M3 Lees that ALCO produced in July and August 1942 had welded-on doors or no doors like their M3A1s, but we can't say for certain or comment on the appearance of the welded-on doors, since there don't appear to be any period photos or surviving units.




This APG photo is dated 17 September 1941 and shows the M3 Pilot with "Three Ventilators for Medium Tank, M3." The ventilators don't appear to be welded on, and they may be wooden mock-ups, but the photo does show that ventilators were planned early on. The idea to mount a ventilator (1) on the top hull hatch was obviously not adopted. Comparing this photo with the earlier DTA factory floor image, it can be seen that the positions of the other ventilators were changed slightly. As best we can tell from counting heads, at least with Chrysler Lees, ventilators were introduced in production in May 1942 at around Serial Number 3500/USA 3010135. In July 1942, our old friend Sedgley Thornbury, now a major, tried to do a little counting heads himself regarding the intro of the vents. We agree with his conclusion: "The installation seems to be confined to tanks of the seven digit serial number." (Of course, he was actually referring to seven-digit Registration Numbers, a few of which he cited.) The grouser boxes appear to have been introduced a little later in May and the rear stowage bins more towards the end of the month or at the beginning of June. And while we suspect that field modification kits were issued for the grouser boxes and stowage bins, we don't find any evidence that that was the case with the ventilators. Grants were not installed with this type of ventilator. Instead, they appear to have been equipped from the start with a blower fan mounted on the left front pistol port. For a little context, we would mention that the first Sherman was accepted on the last day of February 1942, and it was equipped with this same type of round ventilator as were all succeeding units. The overhead view of the pilot featured earlier on this page showed a much larger dust cover for the 75mm gunner's periscope than the neat little zippered job (2) seen here. Some fittings (3) have been added, suggesting a dust cover was planned for the 37mm gun. As mentioned earlier, the only Ordnance or factory type photo we've encountered that shows a dust cover on one of the main guns (the 37mm) is on one of the last DTA Lees, USA 3058309. Just visible here is a small strip (4) welded around the indirect vision device casting of the driver's door, suggesting that it may have been intended to provide a cover. As best we can determine, this strip was never factory installed. However, a similar strip has been observed around the driver's protectoscopes on a few surviving Grants in India and Australia. The inset shows the strip on a WW II combat casualty monument on display in Kohima, India. In his book, "M3 Lee/Grant," David Doyle relates that, in March 1942, the Waterhouse Company of Webster, Massachusetts was contracted to produce 700 sets of 7 types of canvas covers for the M3 Medium including ones for "Cover, 37mm., Gun Plate" and "Cover, 75mm., Gun Periscope Sight, M1." These were to be attached to "steel frames" provided by Waterhouse and tack welded on to the tank. We would note that another of the Waterhouse covers is listed as "Cover, Door, Indirect Vision." It seems likely that some of these kits were shipped to India and Australia since their M3 Mediums remained in service until the end of WW II and beyond.

Lees in the U.S.S.R





The German-Soviet Pact of 1939 of course ended with the invasion of the USSR on 22 June 1941. On 7 November 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt formally declared "that defense of the Soviet Union was vital to the defense of the United States." This made the USSR eligible for assistance under the Lend Lease Act. The original provision was for $1 billion of supplies and materiel. The First Protocol included "1103 Tank, Medium - M3 complete with radios, accessories, and essential spare parts." These were requisitioned by the Amtorg Trading Corp. for delivery starting November 1941 and ending in June 1942. For shipment, the items were to be marked, "NKVT-U.S.S.R., Order No. L41223" and "Three sides of each box [OVM boxes?] should bear a black diagonal line 2-3 inches wide." In his 2019 article, "The American Highrise," Yuri Pasholok states that the first 4 units arrived in December 1941, with 2 each being delivered to the ports of Murmansk and Archangel. After that, shipments arrived on a regular basis. It should be pointed out that all of the "Tank, Medium - M3" were Lees with radial engines, although at one point a British liaison officer in the US noticed some Grants marked for shipment to the Soviets. He explained that the Grants had been built to British specifications for British Lend Lease, and the error was corrected before the tanks left port. During the course of WW II, Lend Lease materiel was delivered to the Soviet Union along several routes as shown on the Department of State map above. In the early days, the "North Russia" or Arctic route to Murmansk and Archangel was primary, and most or all of the Lees of the First Protocol appear to have been shipped that way on the infamously hazardous PQ convoys which ran from September 1941 to September 1942.




What is known about Soviet use of the Lee and Sherman remains limited, particularly to Western researchers. In "The American Highrise," Yuri Pasholok writes, "On May 23rd, elements of the 114th [Tank] brigade crossed the Severskiy Donets [river] with the 242nd Rifle Division and 64th Tank Brigade and partially liberated the Chepel village [AKA "Chepil" or Чепіль in Ukraine]. The village was fully cleared on May 25th. During this fighting the M3 tank commanded by Lieutenant A.D. Mimotin destroyed 4 German tanks. Another one destroyed 3 German tanks, but the crew died in the battle. The action at Chepel punched a breach in the German defenses and allowed several units to escape an encirclement." The author does not state it, but this engagement may have marked the combat debut of the M3 Medium, since the Grant appears to have had its baptism of fire with the British on 27 May 1942, the second day of the Battle of Gazala. Thanks to the recent work of researchers like Yuri and Gabor Horvath, it is obvious that, in many cases, the Soviets used the USA Registration Number for bookkeeping purposes in their test and combat casualty reports. Most of the few available photos of Soviet Lees were taken by the Germans, are undated and uncaptioned, and show destroyed or captured examples. The photo above is one of a series featuring USA 304850 (turret number 147) which was captured intact and shipped to the Proving Ground at Kummersdorf, Germany for evaluation.








Here we have an OWI [US Office of War Information] photo that appeared in newspapers in a number of Allied countries. The caption reads, "Captain William Bailey, of the U.S. Army in North Africa, stands atop a General Grant [sic] tank in which he fought for ten hours against General Rommel's forces in the early phases of the German attack on Egypt. The tank was undamaged." Several photos in this series have September 1942 dates, and one that shows a Yank crew with an actual Grant, is headlined, "Strong Contingent of U.S. Troops Reinforces British in Middle East." As best we can tell, the "strong contingent" amounted to about 60 "tankists" who were sent to North Africa for additional training and brief combat experience. The first group of 15 took part in an engagement on 13 June 1942 at El Adem towards the end of the Battle of Gazala. They are reported to have fought in 3 Grants which they turned in the next day before departing to return to the US. This episode provided the very loose premise for the US tank crew of a Lee named "LULUBELLE" to be serving with the 8th Army immediately after the Fall of Tobruk in the 1943 film "Sahara." The second group of US tankers was led by Captain Bailey. The War Diary of the 5th RTR notes that on 5 August 1942 "3 Offrs [Officers] and 42 O.R.s [Other Ranks] of United States Army (Tank Corps) attached to unit." On the 12th, a "Grant Sqn [was formed] under command of Major King 2 RGH [Royal Gloucestershire Hussars] consisting of 2 RGH [39 men and 9 of their Grants] and American crews." This unit was assembled as C Sqn, 5 RTR with 12 Grants, however, based on the photo, it would seem that a Lee or two may have been in the mix. C Squadron was involved in an engagement in the area around Sidi Abdel Rahman on August 31/ Sept 1. All of their tanks were reported to have been damaged but stayed in the fight. The unit suffered 4 casualties, including US Army Sgt. Conner who was wounded. On 12 September, "Capt. Baillie [sic] and American crews return to the Delta area prior to returning to the USA." In any case, our subject can be seen with a T-30XXX WD Number and a few of the British Base Shop mods, including the rear stowage bins. The tank appears to have been camouflage painted. Again, the horizontal ribs on the forward bogie bracket hint that it was produced by Chrysler. We suspect that perhaps all but the last 3 of the 75 Lees shipped to the Brits in the Middle East were built in February 1942 or earlier, so it is improbable, but not impossible, that any examples with welded up or eliminated side doors, ventilators and other late features served there.




This photo is dated 27 October 1942 a few days after the start of the Second Battle of El Alamein. It shows a pair of M3 Lees, one named "Battleship II," along with a few of the new M4A1 Shermans that had arrived in Egypt in September 1942 as part of the "Emergency Shipment." It is thought that these tanks served with the Staffordshire Yeomanry, one of the 3 Armoured Regiments of the 8th Armoured Brigade. In a sort of roster of 8th AB tanks that appears to have been compiled during the second week of November, 10 "Swallows" [Shermans], 15 "Grants or Lees" and 22 Crusaders are listed on the "Staffs Yeo" page variously as "Fit," "Received," "Evacuated" or "Destroyed." Years ago, we found documentation of the War Department or T-Numbers assigned to the Grants, and these can be found at the top of our Grant page. The Staffs Yeo "Grants or Lees" list contains the T-Numbers of 5 "non-Grants" - 30176, 30201, 30203, 30229 and 30248, which, of course, we take to have been Lees. The rosters of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment and the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry (Sherwood Rangers) also list a few "non-Grants." The Shermans were the stars of the show, but the Grants and Lees served as well. Although Lees were provided with an "antenna pot" mounted on the left rear of the hull superstructure, in many cases, such as here, Commonwealth Lees are seen with the antennas mounted on the hull "roof" directly above the interior location of the radio. The longer antenna on "Battleship II" would have been for the Number 19 radio's "A set" antenna, while the shorter one would have been for the "B set."




The photo above is dated 21 March 1943 and captioned, "Tank men ready for the road. Note the inscriptions on the tank - Alamein and Tripoli are scored out and Tunis appears to be the next stop. 1st and 5th Tank Regts. and 1st Rifle Bde. 7th Armd. Div." This M3 can be identified as a Lee by the shape of the turret. It can be seen that the fixed machine guns are not installed. In April 1942, "Removal of twin Browning guns and plugging of holes" became a mandate of the Mechanisation Experimental Establishment (Middle East). Thus, we believe that no Eighth Army Grants or Lees actually used the fixed guns in combat. On this example, if the holes were plugged as ordered, it was from the inside. By March 1943, all available Shermans were being supplied to front line units, but of necessity, some Grants and a few Lees continued to soldier on until the end of the Campaign. Just before the Axis surrender on May 13, 1943, the Eighth Army Tank State lists a total inventory of 109 Grants and 221 Shermans, with 43 Grants and 89 Shermans "Serviceable with [combat] Formations." An additional 263 Grants were counted in formations in the Middle East "Other Than Eighth Army," including with units in training, in Schools and in Workshops. We believe "Grant" was being used generically here, and also included what remained of the 75 "M3 Lee Gas." Thus, of the 732 M3 Medium series tanks supplied to the Middle East, about half could still be accounted for at the end of the Campaign. It is assumed that the other half had been lost to attrition during the year (May 1942 - May 1943) that the M3 Medium had been in service. IWM NA1305.




Combat Command B of the 1st Armored Division was assigned to the Center Task Force to provide armor support to the 1st Infantry Division. The objective of the CTF was the capture of the major port of Oran in Algeria. CCB's two Light Tank Battalions (1st Bn/1st AR and 1st Bn/13th AR, both with M3 Stuarts) provided almost all of the armor support from the 8th through 10th of November. However, it is at least possible that the M3 Lee had its combat debut with the US Army on D plus 1, 9 November, 1942. The US Army "Green Book", "Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West" describes "a column that was en route to Ste. Barbe-du-Tlelat to help Colonel Water's force oppose a French armored threat from Sidi bel Abbes. Since the column contained two medium tanks, the only medium tanks ashore, it promised to provide substantial support to the eastern flank of the Center Task Force." These would have been Lees of the 2nd Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment, since they were the only medium tanks that were in the CTF. In fact, they were the only Lees involved in the invasion phase of Operation Torch. Then Major Henry Gardiner, Executive Officer of the 2nd Battalion, mentions in his notes that on November 9 "Two of our tanks came in [on Z Beach] on L.C.T.s...They would never have made it except for their waterproofing." Gardiner goes on to state that because of the heavy surf on Z Beach, unloading operations shifted to the recently captured port of Arzew. An "Operations Journal" of the 13th Armored Regiment reported that on 10 Nov. at 1018 hours, "2 columns have entered Oran...no rpts recd yet as to results...2 tanks, 1 light, 1 med., 12 gun destroyed by direct hits from arty." Whose "arty" destroyed whose tanks and where is not clear. At 1215, "Order "Cease Firing" has been given by French General in Oran has asked for conference and terms of surrender." In his memoirs, Col. Robinett mentions that as he toured around after the battle, he saw a "a medium tank which had been knocked out and burned" near the Tafaraoui airfield. Again, not at all clear, but we don't believe that the French had any tanks that Robinett could have described as "medium." In the absence of any photos showing M3 Mediums of the 2nd Bn/13th AR on November 9th or 10th, above we have a map of the Center Task Force. Col. Robinett was in charge of Task Force Green (1) which landed at X Beach on 8 November and included the M3 Lights of the 1st Bn/13th AR. The bulk of CCB was assigned to Task Force Red (2) which included the M3 Lights of 1st Bn/1st AR and the M3 Mediums of 2nd Bn/13th AR. A "Flying Column" led by Lt. Colonel John Waters of 1st Bn/1st AR landed on 8 November at Z Beach. It moved inland some 25 miles, and after a brief assault, captured the Tafaraoui airport at noon. The main body of CCB came ashore at Z Beach on the 8th and 9th with some elements landing dry shod at the port of Arzew.




To add a further note of uncertainty about the possible role of M3 Lee medium tanks on November 8th through the 10th, here we have a Signal Corps photo dated "9 Nov 42" and captioned, "American Medium Tanks [sic] are unloaded at a port in Algeria. 1st Armored Div., Combat Command B, at Arzew." Of course, these are M7 "Priest" 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriages, and it is thought that they would have belonged to the 27th Armored Field Artillery Battalion which was a part of CCB. Some sources have it that the 27th AFA Bn was equipped with T19 105mm Howitzer Motor Carriages (half-track mounted), but this photo suggests that they had at least 2 M7s. These Priests obviously landed dry from the L.C.T. [Landing Craft Tank] seen on the right. We see no evidence that they had been waterproofed in any way, but the fiberboard packing tubes for the 105mm ammunition suggest that they were "combat loaded", that is, ready to go into action upon landing. In any case, while the caption writer misidentified these as "Medium Tanks," we don't believe that Col. Robinett or Major Gardiner would have made the same mistake.


   

On 8 November the Eastern Task Force of Operation Torch assaulted and quickly captured the port of Algiers, the capital and largest city of Algeria. Some units of the ETF immediately rushed even further east with the object of seizing the Tunisian ports of Bizerte and Tunis over 450 miles away. On 12 November, elements of CCB, including the 1st Bn/1st AR and the 2nd Bn/13th AR were ordered to head east from Oran to support the advance of the British 78th Infantry Division into Tunisia. Signal Corps photographers under the supervision of Hollywood notables Darryl Zanuck and John Ford shot some color footage which was released to the public entitled, "At the Front with the U.S. Army in North Africa". The scenes were reported to have been filmed in November and December 1942 and even included some combat footage of Axis tanks during the Battle of Tebourba. The narrator refers to them a "General Grants," but the Lee footage begins as the tanks leave Algeria on LCTs and disembark at the port of Bone some 340 miles away. They then move overland in convoy into Tunisia. In the screen capture on the left, it can be seen that the stars and stripes painted on the turrets were yellow. Examination of the overland footage shows the geometric tactical markings for D, E, F and Headquarters Companies of the 2nd Bn/13th AR. These are also painted in yellow. Some of the M3s are noted with numbers that appear to have been hurriedly brush painted in white, as in the image on the right. Most or all of the Lees are seen with the tow cable draped across the front and attached to the right-side towing lug as on #47.


   

In the "At the Front..." footage, a small number of the Lees and a few half-tracks are noted to have US flags on the front and sides. These appear to have been paper prints that were pasted on to the AFVs in the vain hope that if the French saw them during the initial stages of the invasion, they would not fire. The screen capture on the left shows a Lee of E Company, 2nd Bn/13rd AR while the one on the right shows an M2 Half-Track with its flag fraying off. Tragically, the casualties incurred during the Torch landings are estimated at more than 2000 with 1000 killed for the US and British and nearly 3000 killed and wounded for the former and future French allies.








When trying to "count heads" regarding the introduction of the rear stowage bins, we had originally assumed that the ones seen on the Lees in this photo series were factory installed. However, we showed this and a few other pix to the late Rod Bellars and he was pretty adamant that these were not the same bins as were on a couple of late production Chrysler Lees he owned. He said there was a difference in construction, but we could not understand what it was due to his explaining it using some incomprehensible Aussie lingo. He seemed to be saying that the Tunisia lids were constructed a little "higher" than the factory jobs and pointed out that the hasps seen in the Tunisia pix provided for padlocks on the lids (arrow), whereas his Lees, not to mention those seen in factory photos, were padlocked on the sides. Other differences Rod mentioned were that the lids of the factory bins held only one tool each, the idler adjusting wrench on the left and the engine crank on the right. Finally, the word "STOWAGE" was stenciled on at DTA in a dark color, not the light color seen here. Since then, we have done a counting heads recount, and now believe that the bins were factory installed starting in early June 1942, at least at Chrysler. The caption of this particular Signal Corps photo is one of the more informative since it actually lists the tank and crew as "2nd Bn. Co. D, 13th Arm. Reg. 1st Div." However, it gives the USA Number as "309392" when it is clearly 309592 (March 1942). The photo was taken at Souk el Arba, and is dated a bit later than most, 26 Nov. 1942, with "A tank crew in North Africa, just before departure for battle front." Note the open, unprotected 42 round 37mm ammunition bin (1) visible through the left side door. A piece of metal (2) appears to have been welded to the handrail above the door to contain the tow cable as it makes its way to the front of the tank. The direct vision visor (3) in the commander's cupola is open and the casting appears similar if not the same as that used on early Shermans.




The captions of the Signal Corps crew portraits do not name any of the crew members, however General Robinett features the photo above in his memoir and identifies the officer on the right as 1st. Lt. Charles L. Davis. The caption is dated 23 November and gives the location as Souk el Khemis, another airfield site about 12 miles from Souk el Arba, both of which were about 100 miles from the front. The Lee is listed as USA 309508 (March 1942). Leading elements of the British 1st Army had fought their way to within sight of Tunis, but the Axis had been able to land men and materiel, unmolested by the French troops at Tunis and Bizerte, and quickly established strong defensive positions at the mountain passes leading to the ports. If we discount the idea that a pair of Lees may have fought during the initial landings around Oran, then the US Army combat debut of the Lee may have come on 28 November, when the 5th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment, riding 13 to a tank (per Major Gardiner) on the Lees of Company D and a platoon of F were ordered to seize the town of Djedeïda. Robinett reported that Davis's platoon led the attack, and "all" of his tanks were quickly destroyed by heavy antitank fire. Gardiner states that "four tanks [were] knocked out and set on fire." Davis was wounded but attempted to render aid to the survivors and was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The attack petered out, and the Hampshires could only get as far as a ridge commanding Djedeïda, and this was pretty much the high-water mark of the first Battle for Tunis. The tank can be seen with "6528-F" (right inset) stenciled on the door. We believe this was the POM shipping code for this unit for US to Northern Ireland before the introduction of the color bars. At least we have observed similar stencils in a few of the Northern Ireland and Tunisia photos, sometimes censored out. Indeed, in a December 1942 "Recommendations" document, Captain Robert Van Zant of the Maintenance Company, 2nd Bn/13rd AR twice refers to his unit as "6528-F". The stencil on the stowage bin might be "C-85117", probably the Part No. of the left side bin judging by a few other photos. The right-side bin might have been C-85128. Again, we see a cable clamp retrofitted to the grab handle above the door. In another photo of this same tank taken on the same day, the tactical markings can be seen (left inset). Of course, the upside down "L" denotes Company D. We believe the Roman numeral in front indicates "platoon leader." The Arabic number behind looks to be a "2" and we think it denotes the number of the platoon (1 to 3). Lt. Davis survived his wounds and continued to serve. In the late 1940s, he wrote a student paper for the Advanced Infantry Officers Course at Ft. Benning entitled, "The Operations of the Third Platoon, Company "D", 13th Armored Regiment (1st Armored Division) in the Vicinity of Mateur, Tunisia, 1 May to 9 May, 1943 (Personal Experience of a Platoon Leader)." Assuming Gen. Robinett correctly identified Lt. Davis, he must have been assigned to the 3rd platoon when he rejoined the unit in March 1943 after discharge from the hospital.




The Western Task Force had landed on the Atlantic coast of French Morocco and captured the major port of Casablanca on 11 November 1942. CCB of the 2nd Armored Division included 54 Shermans of the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment. These were the only Shermans that were involved in the invasion phase of Operation Torch. Depending on how one defines "combat debut," a case could be made that that the Sherman had its combat debut with the US Army during operations around the minor port of Safi, November 8th through the 11th. Sorry to say, we have not come across any specific descriptions in unit records or any still photos or motion pictures of these actions. The Western Task Force remained in Morocco to guard against possible Axis threats on the Spanish/French Moroccan border. Discounting any "combat debut" engagements during the invasion, it can be documented that a platoon of 5 M4A1s from the 3rd Bn/67th AR had been sent to the front in order for their crews to gain experience. These were attached to Company E of the 2nd Bn/13rd AR which was down to 9 Lees as a result of earlier action during the Battle of Tebourba. On 6 December 1942, Company E was ordered to "charge up the valley" in order to relieve the 1st Battalion of the 6th Armored Infantry Regiment exposed at Djebel el Guessa. The Axis forces were well prepared for such a counterattack, and within 15 minutes, all of the Shermans and most of the Lees had been knocked out. A later attack by the Lees of Company D was also repulsed. At this point, according to General Robinett, the 2nd Bn/13rd AR "had now been reduced to 22 badly worn M-3 tanks." We are not aware of any photos of the ill-fated Sherman platoon, so instead show a Lee and crew of Company E, 2nd Platoon as photographed at Souk el Arba on 23 November 1942. The Registration Number is listed in the caption and can be seen in the photo as USA 309132 indicating DTA February 1942 production, the earliest RN recorded from the group of crew shots. Note that there appear to be 2 pioneer tools and fittings on the lid of the right-side stowage bin. According to "At the Front with the U.S. Army in North Africa," "each tank commander receive[d] his allotment of detailed war maps" such as seen here.


   

An important factor in the Axis build up was air superiority, which enabled them to extend and solidify their Tunisian bridgehead. The Allies recognized that they had lost the initial race for Tunis and suspended offensive operations by the end of December as winter weather mired the front in mud. Meanwhile, the British 8th Army pursued Rommel's Afrika Corps through Libya while the British 1st Army built up its strength in Tunisia for a spring offensive. Victory was seen as inevitable. Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt met at Casablanca in January 1943, where Churchill's "next step" plan for an assault on Sicily followed by an invasion of mainland Italy won out over Roosevelt's somewhat premature desire for a cross-Channel invasion of Northwest Europe in 1943. The photos above show the condition of a pair of 2nd Bn/13th AR Lees that had fought from 28 November to 12 December when the Battalion was pulled off the line to reorganize and replace losses back in the area of Souk el Khemis, AKA "Stuka Valley" due to frequent air attacks. The rubber can be seen to have completed delaminated from a number of the roadwheels on USA 309478 and worn off the tracks of what is described in the caption as "M3 medium tank #309506," both DTA March 1942 production. USA 309506 bears the tactical markings of F Company, and likely the 3rd Platoon leader's mount. Both tanks had well over 200 engine hours and 1000 miles of operation. General Robinett reported that during CCB's 2 weeks in combat, his armored units had lost about 75 per cent of their tanks, but "only" 20 per cent or their men. Major Gardiner was wounded when his Lee was KO'd on 2 December during the Battle of Tebourba. He recovered and rejoined the 2nd Battalion as they came into their new bivouac with 14 Lees limping in under their own power. Over the course of the next month, the unit trained and rebuilt its strength up to about 44 tanks (out of an authorized strength of 54) with Shermans in D and E Companies, "leaving M3s only in F Co."




Earlier, we discussed the average service life of the R-975 series radial engine. Here we have an "In the Field" report dated 21 December 1942 from Major Richard Grondona of 13th AR, CCB. It lists the "ten high running tanks within the Command." As was often the case, the tanks are described generically as "Light" and "Medium", but the Registration Numbers listed identify the lights as M3 Stuarts and the mediums as M3 Lees. The Lees would be survivors of the November/December battles of the 2nd Battalion/13th Armored Regiment, and 3 of them are pictured in the Signal Corps crew photos. Assuming no typo, USA 306337 would have been an ALCO M3 accepted in March 1942 by our reckoning. The others were Chryslers. The engine miles averaged around 1700 and the engine hours around 300 and those listed "continue to operate." Major Grondona comments, "In spite of long hours running, the performance of tank engines has been excellent." Again, we have a recommendation "that all rubber padding be removed as it is said to easily catch fire."


   

The rest of the 1st Armored Division arrived in theater around Christmas 1942, with the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 1st Armored Regiment equipped with Shermans, while the 3rd Battalion of the 13th Armored Regiment "still" had Lees. The "new" units lost so many Shermans, particularly during the February battles around Kasserine Pass, that some losses had to be replaced with Lees. Bob Holt tells us that the 752nd Tank Battalion was "stripped of all their tanks and most of their crewmen to fill the horrendous losses sustained by the 1st AD in North Africa." The veterans of Gen. Robinett's CCB, including [now] Col. Gardiner's 2nd Bn/13th AR, played a pivotal role in stopping the Axis Kasserine offensive at the Djebel El Hamra Pass on 21/22 February 1943. Even so, the 1st AD's reputation had sunk so low that, the day before a "final" assault planned for 6 May in the area around Mateur, Robinett reported that the replacement Division Commander, Gen. Ernest Harmon, deeply insulted him and the men of CCB by asking "Will the damned tanks fight?" Both Robinett and Gardiner were wounded in the ensuing action. The Campaign ended on 13 May 1943 with the surrender of a quarter of a million Axis troops trapped against the sea in Tunisia. The photo on the left shows Gen. Robinett in late March 1943 "on reconnaissance, Maknassy Valley." On the right, Col. Gardiner poses with his M4A1 Sherman, "Henry III" which was KO'd 6 May 1943 near Djebel El Assafir.




The photo above is simply stated to have been taken in Tunisia in April 1943. The no doors Lee has a readable Registration Number, USA 3028994, indicating July 1942 production at DTA. It can be seen with the "final" (M4/M4A1) exhaust and air cleaner set up, including the "squarish" plates. Photographic evidence suggests that all of the Lees used by the US Army in Tunisia were installed with either the Quick Fix exhaust and air cleaners or the "final" configuration seen here. In contrast, most of the Grants and Lees used by the British 8th Army in North Africa appear to have soldiered on with the original pepper pot exhausts to the end of the campaign in May 1943. The large number on the turret and the name "Barbarian" call to mind the Lees of B Company, 752nd Tank Battalion seen in the Perham Down photos. Perhaps "Barbarian" was one of the 752nd's Lees provided to the 1st AD to replace the severe losses that their Medium Tank Battalions had suffered?




Readers will recall that the 751st Tank Battalion (Medium) was involved in a Field Exercise at Ft. Jackson in June 1942 that was witnessed by Winston Churchill. Shortly thereafter, the unit was assigned to the 1st Tank Group, which appears to have included 3 Medium Tank Battalions, the 751st, 752nd and 755th. These units arrived in the U.K. in August 1942 and took up training in the area around Tidworth Camp. In early 1943, the 1st Tank Group was deployed to Northwest Africa to reinforce US Troops fighting there. Of the 3 Medium Tank Battalions of the 1st Tank Group, only the 751st actually fought in the campaign. On March 1st, the 751st was attached to the 34th Infantry Division and elements were first deployed a few days later during a diversionary attack on Pinchon. It is thought that the 751st was mostly equipped with the M3 Lees it brought down from England, but the unit records only refer to their tanks as "tanks." However, in "What American Tankers Have Learned in Battle," published at Fort Knox in July 1943, Pvt. Raymond Christy, driver of Tank 1 of Company "C" describes his experience near Fondouk in April 1943 as he attempted to "bail out" of what was undoubtedly a Sherman. He goes on to report that he was picked up by the Battalion Commander, Colonel Louis Hammack's "M4 tank." In any case, on 8 April 1943, the 751st was "Complete as to tank strength (54)" as it  provided armor support to the 34th ID in its controversial and costly attempt take the mountain pass at Fondouk. By the end of the 3rd assault on 9 April, the 751st was down to 21 tanks. Soon after, the unit was withdrawn to reorganize and replace losses, but returned to the front in early May, attached to the 9th Infantry Division for the final drive. "The first two tanks of Company A, 751st Tank Battalion" are reported to have entered Bizerte on the afternoon of 7 May just behind reconnaissance units of the 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Axis troops had pulled out but left behind snipers, mines, and booby traps. Possibly the last photos of US Lees in action in North Africa and even Europe for that matter, were of the 751st in Bizerte. The above shows a pair of Lees in the city, one named "After Effect." Note the outlined number 3 on the rear of the turret. At the end of the Tunisian Campaign, the 751st was re-equipped with Shermans. The name "After Effect" "reappears" on a 751st M4 KO'd in Italy. While it was intended that the 1st Armored Division would be entirely equipped with Shermans by the end of March 1943, there were still 51 Lees on strength at the end of the Campaign in May 1943, along with 178 Shermans.






Lees in Australia












Here we can get a closer view of one of the Lees at RTD. In a previous photo, the fronts of the turrets are seen sealed and covered over with some sort of fabric. T-26057 is not sealed in this manner, perhaps either because it was removed, or had yet to be installed. In any case, it affords us a look at the fitting (1), around the 37mm gun mantlet. The evidence is that some late production Lees were factory installed with these metal strips, which suggests that a dust cover may have been provided, although we haven't come across any period photos of it in place, except on USA 3058309 shown earlier, one of the last Lees built at DTA. Try as we might, we could not get a good read of the masked off USA Registration Number on T-26057. This and a few other Lees in the RTD photo series are observed with a round object (circled) next to the 75mm gunner's sight housing. Note how the long M3 75mm gun is propped up by a 2 x 4 (2) and secured with metal strapping. The tank is held in place on the railcar by the familiar U-shaped fittings (3) seen on a number of the El Alamein Shermans. The shipping destination code is stenciled on twice. It is a diamond (4) with what we believe was "XXI" inside. This diamond has been observed in period photos of a few Lees and a Sherman in Australia. The stenciling seen below the diamond appears to be "SR1164 A, 3-G-629" which indicates that this unit was part of a British June 1942 Lend Lease Requisition for 155 M3 Lees. Note the multi-part construction (5) of the sheet metal that made up the front and rear sections of the sand shield. It may be of interest to some to know that the Richmond Tank Depot is now part of "The Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park". 




The above photo is dated 5 June 1943 and was taken in the Tank Assembly Workshop of the NSW [New South Wales] Railways Chullora Workshops, in the Sydney suburb of Chullora. The caption reads in part, "Of interest are the General Lee Medium tanks being refitted for the Australian Army. As well as building 54 Australian designed AC1 [Sentinel] Cruiser tanks [seen on the sides in the photo], the NSW Railways also modified 58 General Lee tanks." The Grant type split hatch cupola (1) on the Lee in the foreground is waiting to be installed. The last of the Australian Lend Lease Lees are stated to have arrived on 3 November 1942, but the shipping sealant is "still" on the pistol ports (2), gunner's (3) and driver's (4) periscopes, and ventilators (5) suggesting that these tanks had been sitting around for quite some time before arriving at the Chullora Workshops. The number (3) also points to a round object next to the 75mm gunner's sight housing, as observed on some of the RTD Lees. Note the plates (6) on the rear of the turret. Weld scars (7) appear to have been left behind when the grouser box was removed to accommodate the driver's periscope. © State of New South Wales through the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW 2016.




According to British Ministry of Supply documents, 255 "M3 (U.S.) Gas" or more specifically "M3 Lee Gas" were delivered to Australia before the end of 1942. We take this to mean that all were radial engine, riveted hull models. The majority were late production, Chrysler built, no doors Lees. The Australian Army preferred Grants over Lees but, at the outset, "were thankfully prepared to accept either." Correspondence suggests that the Australians had not been informed of the decision to omit the doors on the Lee model, and someone at the Ministry of Defence appears to have suggested to the Prime Minister's Office that the US was fobbing off “defective” tanks on Australia. Lt. General John Northcott, the Chief of the General Staff attempted to explain the modification cycle in order to put the issue to rest, "There is in my opinion nothing to be gained in further representation to the United States authorities." In any case, here we see T-25752, which we take to have been a late production no doors Lee, probably one of those shipped from RTD. This appears to have been modified by the Australian Army to make it more Grant like. The side door without pistol port (1) strikes us as an obvious retrofit. We can only assume that a door was added on the right side as well. Other modifications include the very elaborate bullet splash protection for the turret (2), far more extensive in design than that seen fitted to a few British M3 Mediums. An armored cover for the engine air intake (3) was added, along with a box on the turret rear (4). This turret box does not appear to have any external access hatches but does have what look to be two aerial mounts, one on each side. The authors believe that this may have been an armored radio box, designed to permit the No.19 radio to be moved from its standard location in the hull of the Lee, to the turret as per the Grant. Of course, such a change would have enabled the Lee’s crew to be reduced from seven to six as with the Grant. As elaborate as these modifications were, T-25752 appears to have been a test subject, since most of these modifications are not seen fitted to Lees in Australian service.




This photo is dated 1 June 1943, and shows activities at the "Primary wing, drivers' maintenance suspension system A.F.V.T.T.C. (Moorebank)." Moorebank is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales. We would guess that "A.F.V.T.T.C." stood for "Armored Fighting Vehicle Technical Training Center." In early 1943, schools were set up throughout Australia by the [US Army] Ordnance Casual Detachment, Tank Maintenance. Here we see trainees working on the suspensions of a pair of immaculate M3 Mediums. The Lee can be seen as T-25947. As best we can tell from counting heads, the Lees supplied to Australia were assigned WD Numbers that fall within a range from T-25199 through T-26061. This range was not exclusive to Australian Lees. Many of those in the UK and India have been recorded with WD numbers within this range and higher, up to about T-26459. The highest recorded for Australia, T-26061, is reported to have arrived in Sydney on 3 November 1942 aboard the "SS Wiliam Williams." The fittings (1) on both the Lee and Grant indicate that they had been installed with sand shields in the US. The sand shields were screwed on to a metal strip (2) that was retrofitted to the bottom of the upper hull. This late production Lee would have been built with ventilators, and an indication of this is that the upper hull hatch (3) does not lie flat when opened. Both the Grant and Lee are armed with M2 75mm guns, but the Lee's has a counterweight indicative of fitment with gyrostabilizer. Both tanks have the Grant type commander's cupolas. The periscope (4) on the Lee's hatch appears to be installed with a handlebar for moving it around, like a submarine's periscope.
 



Here we see a train loaded with tanks and carriers travelling south into Sydney through the railway triangle between Homebush & Strathfield stations, on 7 Feb 1944. The lead tank is T-25734, a "doored" Lee with M2 75mm gun with counterweight. This and another doored Lee further down the line (1) are the only examples that do not have factory installed engine deck stowage boxes, at least not on the right side.  Note that, with the introduction of the stowage bins, the engine crank handle (2) was mounted on the lid of the bin on the right. Both of these Lees are missing the plates on the rear of the turrets as seen in one of the Richmond Tank Depot photos. A no doors model, T-25744, the second Lee from the front, can also be seen to lack the turret plates. Of interest is that some of the periscope housings (3) on the turret hatches are different from the standard driver's periscope housings (4). It seems possible that when the Grant type commanders' hatches were finally shipped from the US, they did not include the standard Grant type periscope housings and the Australians made do with what they had. A number of the Lees can be seen to have had the factory installed sand shields trimmed (5) rather than completely removed. For whatever reason, the 37mm turret guns have been removed from these Lees, but it appears that this was not the case with the M3(A1?) Stuart near the rear of the train. © State of New South Wales through the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW 2016.








In the previous NSW railway images, the turrets were facing away from the camera, but in this view, we can see that the 37mm gun mantlets of T-26031 and the next tank are fitted with the dust cover strips. Both are late production, no doors Chrysler Lees with the R-975-C1 exhaust and air cleaner set up. The protective cover (1) retrofitted over the engine air intake is much more elaborate than the simple hinged cover used in the design of M4 and M4A1 Shermans. A pair of fittings (2) are seen welded to the bottom edge of the upper rear hull plate. Again, note the different configuration of the periscope covers on the commander's hatches when compared to the standard Grant type driver's periscope housings. We can't explain the absence of the 37mm guns in these photos. Once the danger of a Japanese invasion had passed, the three Australian Armoured Divisions were eventually disbanded. The 3rd AD, whose tanks are seen in this February 1944 series of photos, was the last to be disbanded in March 1944. Perhaps the removal of the 37mms was the first step in the retirement of these Lees? © State of New South Wales through the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW 2016.




We would observe that the dust cover strips do not appear in the series of DTA factory photos where many of the Lees are seen with Registration Numbers indicating June 1942 acceptance. However, they do appear in the August photo series which led up to the moment when "Chrysler M4 Tanks Crowd Last M3 Off The Lines." In this cropped view, the 4 Lees with installed turrets are seen to have the fittings. In the absence of documentation or much counting heads evidence, we would simply speculate that some of the very last Chrysler Lees had the dust cover strips factory installed. Note that the Lees do not have commander's cupolas fitted, perhaps suggesting that they may have been meant for Commonwealth Lend Lease. On the other hand, they have the upper grouser box fitted which would have to have been removed to make way for the Grant type driver's periscope and housing.




There is one surviving Lee that has (or had) a dust cover for the 37mm gun. This is ex-Australian, SN 4540 (July 1942). Chris Hughes photographed it at the Littlefield Collection, but it is now on display, without cover, at The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA. The cover strikes us as a little too clean to be new old stock. On the other hand, it looks pretty real with a zippered flap (1) in front of the gunner's sight, which, apparently, was rolled up and secured to a buckle (circled) when necessary. In any case, it has "37 M.M. GUN PLATE" and the Part Number "D51353" stenciled on (inset 1). In the overly-comma 'ed Army nomenclature, we suspect that this item would actually have been named "COVER, 37 M.M., GUN PLATE." No doubt it would have been buttoned through the grommets to something like the strip seen in the previous captions, which is not present on this example. As cited earlier from David Doyle's "M3 Lee/Grant", the Waterhouse Company was reported to have been contracted to produce 700 sets of 7 types of canvas covers for the M3 Medium including ones for "Cover, 37mm., Gun Plate." These were to be attached to "steel frames" provided by Waterhouse and tack welded on to the tank. Inset 2 is a blow up of the only period photo we know showing the cover on one of the last DTA Lees, USA 3058309. It appears to have been attached with slotted, round head bolts or machine screws. Should any readers have any further info about the "Cover, 37mm., Gun Plate," we would be pleased to have a report. Since many of the late Commonwealth Lend Lease Lees were shipped without the US machine gun cupola, that item has become practically a "Holy Grail" search for restorers. In the case of SN 4540, an MG cupola from a Canadian Ram has been substituted. The Lee's cupola had direct vision visors on each side, while the Ram's did not. As a matter of minutia, we would note that another of the Waterhouse covers reportedly produced was "Cover, Cupola" also to be attached to "steel frames." We would further point out that SN 4540 can be seen with a strip around the driver's protectoscope (inset 3). This is likely for the Waterhouse item "Cover, Door, Indirect Vision." Photo courtesy of Chris "Toadman" Hughes.




Leife Hulbert photographed the M3 Lee preserved at the Australian Army Tank Museum at Puckapunyal. He found the Serial Number 3711 stamped on both the front and rear towing lugs, indicating that it was accepted at the Detroit Tank Arsenal in May 1942. The corresponding Registration Number would have been USA 3010346. This Lee can be seen installed with ventilators (1) which we believe were introduced in May about 200 units before 3711. The grouser boxes appear to have been introduced at about the same time, and the outline of the box on the glacis plate (2) is visible here. Note how it could be installed over top of the rivets (arrow), since the boxes were open on the bottom. Serial Number 3711 "still" has working side doors. Not long after this, the doors were either welded up or completely eliminated at Chrysler. The evidence suggests that Chrysler would have shipped this tank with one fixed machine gun ready for install, but it can be seen that the ports (3) were plugged and welded up, most likely during processing in Australia. The driver's periscope and cast housing (4) would have been provided and installed in the US and necessitated the removal of the upper grouser box. The 37mm gun can be seen with a counterweight for the gyrostabilizer. The 75mm would have been shipped with a gyrostabilizer and counterweight as well, since Chrysler reported that they began to install gyros around the end of January or beginning of February 1942. Since the first 23 Lees were shipped to Australia in early August 1942, we suspect that May might have been about the earliest production month of the Lees they received. We can at least observe that, to date, we haven't come across any period photos showing Aussie Lees without ventilators. The War Department Number of this Lee appears to have been lost to time as it has "25154" painted on which is a Grant T-Number, inappropriate to a Lee.




In this view looking down onto the left side of SN 3711, the locations of the ventilator (1) and the driver's cast periscope housing (2) are seen to good effect. The inset, shows a close up of the housing (from another Aussie Lee owned by the late Rod Bellars) with a British Part Number WD 1628 and the caster's logo of a US Company - Sivyer Steel. It is thought that the fitting marked 3 and the non-standard holes in the hull roof (circled) had something to do with the Australians' preferred method for mounting the antennae for the British No. 19 radio, which, in the Lee, would have been located directly below in the left front of the hull. The holes for mounting the Lee's standard cast "antenna pot" are not present on the plate marked 4. However, based on the rivets missing from the lower section of the angle iron (arrows), we suspect that this plate was a replacement taken from a Grant. The multi-part turret splash (5) appears on just about every surviving ex-Australian Lee or Grant. The protection is continuous on other examples, so we would assume that the section missing here had somehow broken off. It strikes us as odd that a simple handle was not part of the design of the Grant style split hatch (6). Note the open at the top periscope housing (7), somewhat like what is seen on British Crusader tanks.




In this rear view, the stub (1) of one of the "Quick Fix" fishtail exhausts (inset) is present which suggests that this tank was built with an R-975-EC2 radial engine. The "Quick Fix" exhaust and air cleaner modification was likely original, installed at the factory by Chrysler. They reported that they began installing the "Quick Fix" on 10 March 1942 and would do 600 units before the change was made to the "production modification" which we interpret to mean the introduction of the R-975-C1 engine with the final, M4/M4A1 exhaust and air cleaner configuration. We would mention that while the final set up included a pair of mufflers mounted inside just ahead of the "high" exhaust outlets, the "Quick Fix" mod did not include mufflers at all. In any case, while we have no reliable way of counting heads, we would guess that SN 3711 was one of the last Chrysler Lees built with the R-975-EC2 engine and the "Quick Fix." Note the "mystery" plates (2) and footman loops on the turret rear. There is no weld scar evidence that this Lee was ever installed with the symmetrical, US type stowage bins on the rear sponsons. Again, we suspect that SN 3711 may have been one of the last Chrysler Lees produced without the bins. At present, our counting heads evidence hints that these were factory installed starting in early June 1942, at least at Chrysler. The fittings marked 3 would indicate that this Lee was once installed with the angled rear stowage boxes patterned after those devised by the Department of Tank Design in the UK. The fittings marked 4 suggest a former installation of the Aussie pattern armored cover over the engine air intake. The fittings marked 5 present another mystery. They are seen in period photos and on a few surviving, mostly Aussie Lees, although nothing is ever shown attached to them.




Leife photographed some of the bogies of SN 3711. The example shown here has a casting date of "2-42" [Feb. 1942], while another has "3-42." It can be seen that the wheel on the left has a pressed metal "face" without spokes, while the one on the right is the standard spoked type used by Chrysler to the end of Sherman VVSS production. Note the rivets (circled) which held the discs on to the wheel rims. The return roller attachment to the bogie bracket (1) is in the original configuration. Again, observe how little space there is between the bottom of the return roller and the bogie bracket. Hence the spacer modification. At present, we find no evidence that any Lees or Grants were built with the spacers factory installed.




Here we see a very nice example of a running, ex Australian no doors Lee, that is a popular attraction at the Americans in Wartime Annual Open House in Virginia. Note the multi-part turret splash (1). As a July 1943 production Chrysler, this tank would have been built with the "high" exhaust pipes (2) and the external air cleaners (3). The inset shows the very neat way that Chrysler filled in the pepper pot holes (4) on the Lees they built with R-975-C1 engines.


   

When the side doors were welded up or eliminated, an escape hatch was added in the Lee's belly plate. David Doyle photographed the hatch inside the Americans in Wartime Lee. It was installed directly behind the 41 round 75mm ammunition bin (1). As designed this bin was open at the rear, so it is thought that the folding armored door (2) was added by the Australians as part of a program to better protect the M3's ammunition. In the absence of any Ordnance photos, we won't assume that this represents the configuration of the Lee's original escape hatch but would note that it is identical to the one designed for the T6 pilot and used on many production Shermans. The right side photo shows the T6's escape hatch as photographed at APG in August 1941, nearly a year before the side doors were eliminated on the Lee. The hatch was secured at 4 points and could be opened or closed using the rotating handle (3). A pair of handles (4) were installed to assist crew members with lifting/retrieving the heavy hatch. For re-installation, "One member of the crew must lift and hold the hatch cover in place from underneath the vehicle while a second member locks the release and locking mechanism." The APG caption makes note of the "Flange with Gasket Grooves." There were some complaints early on that the hatch was not completely weatherproof or adequately secured, but these issues were soon remedied.


   

As noted on our Grant page, of the 757 M3 Mediums received by Australia only 3 Grants (diesels) are known to have been deployed overseas to a combat theater - Balikpapan in July 1945. Thus, any of the Lees that were actually issued would have served in training units. Despite the large numbers of AFVs received by Australia, there is no evidence that any tank retrievers of either US or British design were supplied. Consequently, a few M3 Lees were converted to an indigenous design of tank recovery vehicle. The photos above show one such example, which is labeled "Australian Grant ARV" [Armoured Recovery Vehicle], even though it is clearly fitted with a Lee turret and the WD Number (T-25959) is not applicable to a Grant. Judging by the non-standard door on the left side (1), this conversion was based on a late production "no doors" Chrysler Lee, with side doors retrofitted. "No door" Chrysler Lees did include a pistol port in the right-hand side of the hull, and it would appear that it was salvaged and added to the door (2) retrofitted on the right. As the war ended, all of the gasoline powered Lees and Grants were declared surplus and sold at disposal sales, while the diesel Grants soldiered on for another decade. Many of the surplus tanks were purchased by members of the public at “fire sale” prices. Some were cut down and converted for agricultural use. Others were bought as curiosities and preserved more or less intact. Indeed, most of the world's surviving Lees and Grants are ex Australian. Interested readers are invited to browse through the Surviving M3 Lee and M3 Grant tanks PDF list. Aside from complete tanks, Pierre-Olivier has included hulls and turrets and other bits and pieces scattered throughout the country. 



Lees in India and Burma




A few days after the 7 December 1941 attack on the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invaded the British Colony of Burma. Their immediate goal was to cut off the "Burma Road," the main Allied overland supply line to China. Politically, the Japanese thought that the restless British Colony of India "next door" might easily "fall into their laps," if they could promote themselves as a liberating force offering independence. By 26 May 1942, the disjointed Allied troops that had attempted to defend Burma had been routed out of the country by the seemingly invincible forces of the Empire of Japan. Although India was third on the list of British priorities after the Middle East and the United Kingdom itself, men and materiel were shipped out to forestall the Japanese, and it was hoped, eventually retake Burma. In this regard, the British allocated quite a bit of armor to India, including 896 Lend Lease M3 Medium Tanks. The first exports from the US are listed on 24 February 1942 and consisted of 16 Grants and 8 Lees. The shipments continued until a total of 369 "Grant Gas," 10 "Grant Diesel," 515 "Lee Gas" and 2 "Lee Diesel" had been sent by the end of 1942. The photo above shows mostly Lees, but focuses on an M3A3 Grant, one of the only 12 diesel powered M3s shipped to the country. T-24022 would have been accepted at Baldwin in June 1942. US records indicate that this tank was “In San Francisco Awaiting Shipment, October 15, 1942.” However, the photo is dated 27 April 1943, over 5 months later. The caption describes the scene as at an "Indian port city." British records state that materiel was received at the ports of Karachi (now in Pakistan) and Bombay (present day Mumbai) on the west coast of the country. We would point out that the Lees are outfitted with M3 Grant type sand shields such as seen in the Richmond Tank Depot photos in the Australia section. Furthermore, only a small number of the Lees can be seen with the machine gun cupola. As with Australia, many of the Lees were shipped without cupolas, and the Grant type split hatches were provided by the US later as they became available from the manufacturers.








The last combat action for the M3 Lee during WW II appears to have taken place on 16 May 1945 when the Lees of A Squadron, 3rd Dragoon Guards (3rd Carabiniers) of the 254th Indian Tank Brigade along with a troop of M4A4s from A Squadron, 19th Lancers, 50th Indian Tank Brigade attacked a Japanese strongpoint about 60 miles north of Rangoon. Details are sketchy, but the Lancers reportedly captured a Ha-Go light tank intact. With the defeat of the Japanese in Burma, the 254th Tank Brigade returned to India in June 1945 where it was intended that the 3rd Dragoon Guards would be re-equipped with Churchill tanks in anticipation of Operation Zipper, a series of amphibious landings planned for August/September 1945 with the objective of recapturing Malaya and Singapore. The caption to the photo above is headlined "Prome, Third City in Burma is liberated" and there is a note that the "Picture was issued May 1945." On 3 May 1945, a mobile column led by A and B Squadrons of the 3rd DG captured Prome without a fight as the Japanese garrison had fled. In any case, although not the most informative, this would be the latest dated photo we could find that shows M3 Lees in combat during WW II. The lead tank can be seen with the name "ANGEL" painted on the side door which would lead us to suppose that it was a Lee of A Squadron. One source has it that the extremely large Allied stars seen here only begin to appear on the Lees of the 254th Indian Tank Brigade starting in 1945. The bags hanging from the side of the lead tank likely belonged to the "tank protection infantry" that were assigned to escort these tanks. A "Lessons from Ops" comment recommends that for future operations, "Adequate arrangements must be made for the carriage of inf kits, rations, water and cooking pots elsewhere than on the tks." The trailing Lee appears to have had its original T41 flat block rubber tracks replaced with the “WE 210” rubber block tracks that were standard equipment on Grants.




The M3 Medium was an ungainly looking thing. However, author Bryan Perret described it as "A tank which could have been specifically designed for use in Burma...The advantage of such a layout was that the 75-mm could always be used on the target ahead, whilst the [37 mm gun in the] top turret could be traversed to sweep the surrounding trees clear of snipers." M3 Medium crews claimed "that the difference of axis between 37 mm and .3 Browning [coaxial machine gun] and the 75 mm gun has been invaluable. There are several cases of tks firing at two different targets at the same time. They also claim that 37 mm cannister has fully proved itself." Despite requests from some armored units, such a round was never developed for the 75mm gun. Jim Goetz visited the surviving M3 Lee on display at the Armoured Corps Museum in Ahmednagar, India. He was not permitted to look for the serial number, but from its appearance, our guess is that this unit was produced by Chrysler in May 1942. We base that on its similarity to SN 3711 at Puckapunyal, with working side doors and ventilators, but no evidence of factory installed rear stowage bins. The red fittings on the front appear to have been retrofitted in theater for installation of the Number 19 radio antennas with fitting 1 for the long "A set" antenna and fitting 2 for the short "B set" antenna. We can observe that we have seen a few period photos that show the B set bracket mounted on the dual fixed machine gun casting as seen here. They are noted on Lees of C Squadron, 150 Regiment, Royal Armored Corps, 254th Indian Tank Brigade during the battle for Mandalay, March 1945. One example is "Caledonian". The WD Number, T-26217, may be authentic, or at least we can say that it is appropriate to an M3 Lee, although we don't have an historical listing for that particular number. On the other hand, the tank is labeled "M3 Grant."




In this view, note the little hand hold fittings (1) seen in many period photos of Lees in Burma. Item 2 held a pair of 4-inch smoke mortars, and these are also common fixtures in period photos. Item 3 may have been installed to secure a theater made stowage bin to the left rear sponson.


The Variants: M3A1 Lee






As the United States geared up to become "the Arsenal of Democracy," the automobile, locomotive and steel manufacturers quickly adapted to "war work." They began to introduce more efficient production methods, along with many technological advances. The photos above show the earliest conception of the M3 upper hull, produced as an experimental casting. In September 1940, this was thought to be the largest armor casting ever made. After some refinement, the steel industry was able to demonstrate that such large castings could be produced to Government ballistic specifications. Furthermore, casting reduced the amount of assembly time, and eliminated the rivets of the original fabricated hull design. It was stated that this method offered a savings of about $3000 per tank. On 19 June 1941, about 2 1/2 months after Rock Island Arsenal had completed the M3 Lee [riveted hull] pilot, the Ordnance Committee "authorized the use of cast upper hulls for medium tanks" as an alternate method of construction. Note the use of the generic term "medium tanks." We would remind readers that the M3 was an interim design, and the cast hull innovation was really aimed at its replacement. Thus, on the same day that the use of the cast hull was approved, the Committee also approved creation of a full-size wooden model of a cast upper hull with the main gun mounted in a fully rotating turret. This would be followed immediately by the Medium Tank, T6 pilot (the Sherman) which was "presented" at APG on 3 September 1941.


   

The photos above show "General Steel Casting Corp. Top Hull #2" photographed on 18 March 1941, the day after it arrived at APG. Its appearance is quite a bit different from the hull shown in the previous caption, but the notes in the margins of the photos indicate that further changes had already been made. "The upper left part of the hull will be more "streamlined" and "This door with pistol port was for the purpose of removing the 75mm gun. A new design of hull will not have a door in this shape." The chalked on "Figures indicate thickness of hull" and show quite a bit of variation, with the front appearing to be about 3 inches at the top reducing to 1 5/8 inches towards the bottom, and the sides averaging about 1 3/4 inches all around. After ballistic tests, it was reported that Top Hull #2 "passed every specification for cast armor with something to spare. In addition, this cast hull resists other types of fire (particularly as regards shock) very well." Consequently, APG recommended that "A cast upper hull for Medium Tank, M3 be standardized as an alternate construction at an early date."




The same 14 April 1941 Report from APG noted that another General Steel, Eddystone upper hull casting "was machined and sent to Rock Island Arsenal where it will be made into a Medium Tank, M3." The completed pilot tank was shipped to APG without turret on 4 June 1941. If "walk around" photos of the cast hull pilot were taken, we have not come across them. Instead, we offer a partial view of the tank dated June 1941 and focusing on a test of "interrupted parallel grouser type [tracks] made of cast steel by the American Steel Foundry...installed on Medium Tank, M3 #2372 (cast hull)." Several APG reports describe this tank as "#2372." We assume this to be the Serial Number, which would have been the first available M3 Medium Serial Number after the initial contracts to Chrysler (1000), ALCO and Baldwin (685 each) were let. This has created something of a problem for us, since there is some evidence that the supplemental contract with Chrysler for an additional 1600 units (P.O. T-1473) started with SN 2372/USA 309007. We could have a case of double Serial Numbers assigned, but we might note that the various RIA M3 pilots were never officially accepted according to the Army Service Forces "Summary Report of Acceptances." Barely visible in the photo is the Registration Number "USA W-304192," confirmed in another photo from the track test (inset). Readers might recall that the RIA riveted hull M3 pilot was 304191. From the little that can be seen, this casting appears to be a bit more "streamlined" than Hull #2, but not quite the shape of the production M3A1. The tracks tested reportedly weighed 2000 pounds more than "the standard rubber block. This tends to make the vehicle sluggish and considerable power is necessary to make turns because of the firm traction of this track." In the photo, the tracks appear to be the T37 type of "interrupted parallel grouser" tracks which ultimately were not approved for production.








As best we can determine, the world's only surviving ALCO built Lee is the cast hull M3A1, Serial Number 1962/USA 306032. It was on display for many years at the Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen, but is now in storage at Fort Lee, Virginia. Although we haven't come across any confirming documentation, we believe that this was the first M3A1 produced by ALCO. "Officially" it was not accepted until February 1942. However, the photo above is part of a walk around series shot at APG reportedly on 6 December 1941, so we have something of a timing mystery. We would note, however, that there were a few cases, such as Chrysler's, ALCO's and Baldwin's first Lees where they were shipped to APG well ahead of their official acceptance. Note that the typed info has it that the engine was the Guiberson T-1400, possibly reflecting the original intent of equipping all the M3A1s with T-1400s? A Technical Manual dated September 24, 1942, was published - "TM 9-1750E, Ordnance Maintenance Guiberson Diesel T-1400 Engine, Series 3, for Medium Tanks M3 and M4 and Related Gun Motor Carriages." We examined it thinking we might gain some insight, but there is not a single photo or illustration showing the engine installed in a tank. Of course, we don't know when the typed info was added to the photo. Note that the transmission is listed as "Caterpillar." As best we can determine, Cat did not produce any M3 Medium Power Trains. ALCO would have been supplied with P.T.s primarily from Mack, with perhaps a few Chryslers thrown in from time to time. Also, "3 cal. .30 machine guns" are listed when 4 can be seen installed. As mentioned previously, one of the fixed MGs was ordered eliminated in June 1942. Oddly, the crew is given as "only" 6 even though this tank was built as a Lee, not a Grant.




This rear photo shows SN 1962 with the typical pepper pot exhaust, suggesting that if this tank was shipped to APG with a Guiberson Diesel, it was a drop in fit, requiring no external changes to the original exhaust layout of the R-975-EC2. Unlike the M3, the M3A1 design did not include a pistol port in the right rear. The large pistol port seen on the top hull hatch door on hull #2 was likely intended to replace it, but as can be seen here, it was indeed eliminated. The plain and flat door (1) was the first iteration and was hinged at the top. From personal examination, we can report that the casting was made by Union Steel and was Part Number D38464, Serial Number 1. The low serial number is one of the reasons we believe that this was the first M3A1 produced by ALCO. The original M3 design provided for an antenna bracket (2) on the left rear, but here we see that another bracket was added to the right (3).  We suspect that SN 1962 was configured as a command tank with the interior stowage rearranged to accommodate an additional long-range radio. Note how the sides of the hull casting went all the way to the rear, which eliminated the shot traps created by the "jogged in" design of the M3. This makes the rubber mud flaps (4) appear ill fitted, but they are mounted in about the same location as on the M3. The taillights (5) were nicely "streamlined," by being inset into the cast hull. However, this practice did not carry over to the M4A1 Sherman, possibly because the inset taillights were difficult to service.




Here we have a photo of SN 1962 taken from about the same angle as that seen in the previous caption. We shot this at APG in 2003 shortly after the tank had been stripped and repainted. At some point, the pepper pot exhausts were removed, and a pair of side plates (1) were added to provide partial support for the retrofitted external air cleaners (2). The pepper pot holes (3) were usually blanked off, but those on SN 1962 are not. Door bumpers (4) were also added. Note that the exhaust pipes (5) are in the "high" position. All of this suggests that the tank's original engine, whatever it was, was changed out for an R-975-C1 Continental Radial. It can be seen that the tank was retrofitted with ventilators (6) during the course of its service as a test vehicle at APG. The box like object projecting a few inches down from the belly plate (7 and inset) would not have been standard to an M3 with an R-975 and may be a clue that this tank once had an alternate engine that required this modification. Unfortunately, the shadows are too heavy in the December 1941 photo of the previous caption to see if the "box" was installed. Original rubber mud flaps (8) are rarely encountered on surviving Lees. It can be seen that the ones on SN 1962 have eroded over the years. Counting heads suggests that these were immediately replaced in M3A1 production with sheet metal parts. Indeed, we have not encountered any other examples of the rubbers in period photos of M3A1s, and that is one of the reasons that we think that this was the first M3A1 produced by ALCO. Comparing this 2003 photo with the December 1941 photos, it can be seen that, at some point, SN 1962 was retrofitted with the spacer modification (9) that raised the return rollers by about an inch.









In this view from the right and a bit overhead, it can be seen that the rear engine deck panel (1) was shortened a bit to fit the cast hull. The engine deck panels on SN 1962 were (and still are) affixed with nuts. It is thought that the decks of subsequent units would have been attached the usual way with hex head bolts. The tool stowage appears to have been in the same configuration as the M3. There are fittings for an idler adjusting wrench to the left of the tow cable, but the wrench is consistently missing in most period photos. As with the M3 pilot, no provision appears to have been made for stowage of the engine crank. The "Mattock, pick, M1 (5-lb. head)" (2) was stored on the right front alongside one of the tripods (3), while the mattock handle (4) was stowed on the engine deck alongside the "Ax, chopping, single bit, 5 lb." The M3 series tool and towing cable stowage was inconvenient when it was necessary to remove the engine deck panels, and the Sherman design relocated these items to the sponsons and upper rear hull plate where they wouldn't interfere. An interesting quirk in the cast hull was the "bump" (5) which presumably provided an inch or two of extra head room to the driver.




Here we have a close-up view of the "bump" (1) just above the driver's hatch. Ventilators (2) appear to have been retrofitted to SN 1962 in the Spring of 1942. The inset shows the left front vent in place in a photo dated May 1942. As mentioned previously, counting heads suggests that Chrysler introduced ventilators in production around May 1942. However, we have not been able to collect enough data to determine the case with ALCO. The photo provides a good view of the unprotected turret ring (3) of the initial M3A1 hull casting. Note the "shelf" and the method of assembly of the antenna bracket (4) welded on to it.




We recorded the SN from the right front tow lug of the differential housing as 1962 with a "C" prefix as seen in the top photo. However, as best we can tell, the "C" is not present on the right rear tow lug stamping (bottom). At first, we had assumed that the "C" might have stood for "cast hull," but there are a couple docs that mention a C prefix on what must have been ALCO M3s, like "Ord.# C-1721...305791" listed in an October 1941 incident report from Ft. Benning. SN 1721 would have been produced in Sept. 1941, well before the first M3A1 was officially accepted. It would be nice to be able to confirm if ALCO M3s had "C" prefixes, but there don't appear to be any known surviving examples. In any case, the Ordnance Department documents providing the serial numbers (no registration numbers are given for ALCO Lees) have it that the M3A1s were assigned serial numbers in a block running from 1687 through 1986. That is demonstrably incorrect; for instance, we showed some photos of SN 1687, the first ALCO M3 Lee earlier in this piece. Our "interpolation," which is shown at the top of the page, is based on counting heads. What appears to have been the case is that the 300 M3A1 Serial Numbers were indeed assigned in a block, but the SNs ran from 1962 through 2261. The first 275 M3s were assigned SNs 1687 through 1961, and the last 110 M3s ran from 2262 through 2371. Readers should think of this interpolation as in "beta" and we would gladly welcome any confirming or refuting evidence.








Our next example is SN 1986, USA 306056 shown above in May 1942. This was labeled "M3A1E1" ("E1" signifies the first experimental version of the M3A1). This unit was General Motors Proving Ground Project 8022 and was used as a testbed for yet another dead-end alternate engine - the Lycoming T1300 which combined 3 aircraft engines into a single unit. Results were promising but service of the power plant was unacceptably difficult, and the project was terminated. The weight of the engine is evident in the greater compression of the rear most bogie unit. Also apparent is that the powerplant was larger than the R975 series and required extended access doors (1) and a "blister" (2) on the rear most engine deck panel. Note what appear to be standard external air cleaners (3), but that the high mounted exhausts pipes (4) are wider than those used on the R975-C1 Radial. The tank is seen without guns, pioneer tools or antenna bracket(s). As with SN 1962, the fire extinguisher pull housing (5) is in an enclosed, nonstandard configuration. Also, like 1962, the engine deck panels are affixed with nuts. The added taillights (6) are often seen on GMPG test vehicles. The power cable for these lights may have come from the antenna hole in the left rear, and the wire may have been held in place by light colored tape.








This Office of War Information (OWI) color photo shows 3 "doored" M3A1s serving with the Demonstration Regiment at the Armored Force School at Ft. Knox, Kentucky in the Summer of 1942. A close look at the lead tank reveals "1988" painted on in blue (inset), so it would seem that this is the same tank as in the previous caption. The door castings (1) were the same on both sides, with the hinges mounted to the rear on the right and to the front on the left. The door seen here appears to have the number "35" cast in. We suspect that this might have been the part serial number of this particular door casting. As a matter of minutia, we would note that the highest number we have seen on one of these door castings is 218. This number would suggest that over 100 cast hulls were made with side door openings, however, counting heads from a very limited sample would lead us interpolate that about 200 hulls out of the 300 M3A1s produced were made with door openings, some of which were built with the doors welded up. We find this somewhat surprising given that the Ordnance Committee recommended the "Elimination of Side Doors From Cast Hull" on 9 October 1941, even before the first unit was delivered. As usual with recommendations for changes, there was the proviso "as soon as can be done without interference with production." The lack of 75mm main guns on the M3A1s behind SN 1988 likely reflect ongoing shortages and/or greater priorities in the Summer of 1942. We would guess that the M3A1 furthest from the camera was retrofitted with the rubber chevron tracks for testing. A few of the first Shermans were photographed in this Alfred T. Palmer Ft. Knox color series such as the M4A2 seen in the background. Of course, as these became available in greater numbers, they replaced the Lee which had been classified as "Substitute Standard" in October 1941, months before the first Shermans even began to roll off the assembly lines.




Our favorite Alfred T. Palmer color photo was probably taken on the same sunny day as the image in the previous caption. It shows a "mixed bag" of Shermans, Lees and Stuarts of the Demonstration Regiment. We believe that the DR received no more than 5 or 6 March production M3A1s as they became available in the Spring of 1942. In this photo, there are 2 more M3A1s in line aside from the obvious one toward the front as indicated by tanks 2 and 3 in the inset. Tank 2 can be seen to have been assembled using the hull casting that featured the turret splash (arrow).




By the foliage, this photo appears to have been taken a few months later and shows "Boots" Tank B-10 of the Demonstration Regiment being towed out of the mud. This unit can be seen to have the upper hull casting that featured the turret splash. We suspect that the bow machine gun ports have been sealed over with tape or fabric as opposed to permanently welded closed. In June 1942, the Ordnance Committee recommended the elimination of the fixed guns, but ultimately it was decided to retain one of the guns. Despite that, photos show that a surprising number of the Lees in the Tunisian campaign had both bow MGs installed. This M3A1 appears to be another example built without the tripod fittings on the left front. We've recorded a few names of other Armored Force School M3A1s, such as "Alert" USA 306075, "Big Ben" USA 306068, and "Bumpy" USA 306126, all of which would have been accepted in March 1942.




The cast hull would have been more combat worthy than the riveted, but at present, we have found no photographic evidence that any of the 300 M3A1s were shipped overseas (as gun tanks) either by design or by accident. They appear to have been distributed to units in training in the US. Most of the available photos show them serving with the 35th and 37th Armored Regiments of the 4th Armored Division. The Division was activated at Pine Camp, New York (now Ft. Drum) on 15 April 1941, and received its first M3 (riveted hull) Lees in the Fall of 1941. Tally Sheets and Product Correction Reports from Pine Camp list a few Serial Numbers, which indicate that the tanks had been accepted at Chrysler in September and October 1941. Of interest is that only SN 115/USA 301113 and SN 116/USA USA 301114 are listed as having come with "Grouser, C-84981" and each reportedly had 158. We can't help but wonder how that many grousers could have been stored in/on a Lee? In any case, at the time, the 4th AD would have been a "heavy armored division," requiring over 200 Medium Tanks. It is thought that they were issued a number of the new M3A1s that began rolling off the line at the ALCO plant (150 miles southeast of Pine Camp) in the Spring and Summer of 1942. The photo above is not very informative but shows a "doored" unit with a top hinged upper hull hatch. Judging by the snow and bare trees, we would guess that this was one of the first M3A1s received by the 4th AD. The man in the spectacles was the original Division Commander, Gen. Henry W. Baird, who was replaced by Gen. John S. Wood in June 1942. We were able to record a couple of Registration Numbers, because the 37th Armored Regiment reported fires in M3A1s USA 306111 and 306132. By our interpolation, both would have been accepted in April 1942. We suspect these tanks were shipped with the original pepper pot exhaust, since on 18 June, Major Frank Kowalski, Jr. submitted "recommendations and corrective measures" regarding fires in medium tanks to the Commanding General of the 4th AD. A 30 June Armored Force Board Memo referenced these and other fires and noted that "Modification Work Order now in effect" no doubt referring to the Quick Fix exhaust and air cleaner mod.




The 4th AD participated in the massive "New York at War" Parade in New York City on 13 June 1942. From some color footage and still photos of the parade, we would judge that the 35th and 37th Armored Regiments combined to field 15 or so medium tanks, and a similar number of light tanks. Most or all of the mediums were M3A1s (The color footage shows a single M3 Lee.) We scanned the photo above at the old Patton Museum Library at Ft. Knox. The high contrast makes it hard to see details, but when we lightened the photo "USA W-306.253" (inset) "appeared" on tank 3. By our "beta" interpolation, it would have been accepted in June, so if accurate, it must have been right off the line at the ALCO plant in Schenectady 172 miles north of NYC. Tanks 1, 2 and 3 all have upper hulls with turret splashes integrated into the castings. Tank 1 can be seen with a welded-up door, while 2 and 3 are "no door" castings. The color footage also shows a spectator rapping on the armor of an M3A1 with a working door. (Note that this segment of the footage is reversed, as the hinges for the M3A1's side door are on the incorrect side.) The M3A1s are noted with counterweights on both guns, suggesting that they were installed with gyrostabilizers. Tanks 1 and 3 have wedge shaped antenna brackets on the left front, while tank 2 simply has a hole in that area. All have MG tripod fittings on the left front, but no tripods, and all appear to have both fixed MGs installed. We suspect that there was a problem with the supply of idler adjusting wrenches as, again, they are not present on these M3A1s. Tank 1 can be seen to have "35-M-11" painted on the differential housing. Typically, this would be interpreted as "35th Armored Regiment, Company M, Vehicle 11." At least 2 of the M3A1s in the parade footage are seen marked as "Company M" which is kind of unexpected, since the highest letter company in an Armored Regiment should have been "Company I."




In this photo, the medium tanks of the 4th AD parade up Fifth Avenue past the reviewing stand in front of the New York Public Library. The lead tanks are the same ones as in the previous caption. This shot was taken from the other side of the street and being able to see the right side of the M3A1s is very informative. Tank 1 (35-M-11) can be seen with its right-side door welded up but retaining a working pistol port. As a matter of minutia, we would observe that this is the only photo of an M3A1 we have seen that shows the welded-up door on the right side. Note the stowage bin on the right rear. We have circled the square shaped chunk of steel that served as a door stop on M3A1s configured with the upper rear hatch hinged at the bottom. In both photos, Tank 2 is noted to have a 37mm gun counterweight without a "collar" as seen on most others. The tactical markings appear to show "35-E-10." This "no doors" M3A1 is not equipped with the rear stowage bin. We thought it might have been reasonable to assume that all "no doors" M3A1s were built with bottom hinged upper rear hatches, but here we have an example that contradicts that since it shows the hatch in the original configuration, hinged at the top. Tank 3, USA 306253, can now be identified as "37-I-24." The rear stowage bin is present on this "no doors" M3A1 but again, the upper rear hatch is hinged at the top. This photo provides a pretty good illustration of the transitional nature of the introduction of changes. Of the 6 M3A1s visible, 5 are "no doors," 4 have a stowage bin on the right rear, but not one is seen with ventilators.




This still from the NYC parade footage shows another M3A1, Vehicle 9 of the incongruous "Company M" of the 35th AR. The explanation may be that under the "Table of Organization and Equipment 17-11" dated March 1942, an Armored Regiment was authorized a Maintenance Company that was assigned 8 medium tanks, so we suspect that "M" does not represent a letter company, but rather the Maintenance Company. Of interest is that this tank can be seen with two ventilators installed on the hull, but not the turret, even though three ventilators was the intended standard configuration on the Lee. We've studied the parade footage and believe that at least 3 M3A1s with the hull ventilators were present, with each also having a stowage bin visible on the right rear. One can be seen as "37-H-23" which we will show in the following caption. Although we have not been able to collect enough data to determine when these items were introduced at ALCO, we can observe that the parade took place on 13 June 1942.


   





Here we have a photo of an M3A1 of the 35th Armored Regiment participating in the Tennessee Maneuvers on 16 October 1942. The side door has been welded on to the hull, and a plate has been welded over the pistol port opening. The "ghosts" of the door hinges can be seen as well. The door casting has what we believe is a serial number on it, in this case it appears to be 3 digits beginning with "1." Of course, with the welding up or elimination of the doors, the grab bar just above was removed, and, in some photo angles, its presence or absence can provide a clue about the tank's configuration. The counterweight for the 37mm gun looks to be the cylindrical type used by Chrysler but with a "collar" added. These collars are seen in a number of other photos, with their size and position varying somewhat. We take this example to be "unvented," since a ventilator would be visible directly above the left front pistol port if it had been installed. According to the Technical Manual, "sun glare" headlight covers were provided as on vehicle material from the start. Muzzle covers for the main guns are not listed as OVM, and the cover over the 75mm gun appears to have some sort of pattern on the fabric. Perhaps it was fashioned from a dishrag? Again, we see the empty tripod fittings and the wedge-shaped antenna bracket on the left front.




Maneuvers were held on a smaller scale in Louisiana in 1942 and '43. The Signal Corps photo above is captioned, "The M3 Cast Job tank being worked on after a break-down at 12:30 P.M. during the Louisiana maneuvers, 10 miles west of Hornbeck, La. 10/1/42 [Oct. 1, 1942]." The tactical markings are in the most common format used during WW II, and indicate that this "no doors" M3A1 served with the 7th Armored Division's 31st Armored Regiment, and was tank 1 of Company D. In this view, one can see how the turret splash ends very abruptly at the midpoint of the hull and has a sort of fin-like appearance (arrow). Also, note how the casting was built up (1) around the armored fuel filler covers. The addition of an antenna bracket on the right rear is something of a mystery. It appears on some ALCO and Baldwin Lees, but not Chryslers. This example has holes (2) for antenna brackets on both the left and right but, for whatever reason, the brackets themselves are not installed. The fire extinguisher pull housing (3) is in what we would consider the standard configuration. The 37mm counterweight is another example of the cylindrical type with collar (4). The stowage bin (5) can be seen overflowing with grousers. There appear to be some round objects (6), possibly cups, just above the bottom hinged door. We reckon this M3A1 would have been accepted in June or July 1942, and we might have expected to see ventilators on it, but if so, the "cups" would have been resting on one, and perhaps another would be just visible on the turret. The angled plates (7) are the same as were added to SN 1962, and were standard fittings on M4, M4A1 and other types of Shermans. We believe their presence here is indicative of a factory installation of the Quick Fix mod by ALCO. As mentioned previously, the installation of the Quick Fix on the M3A1 was listed as "will" start on 4 April 1942 with Serial No. 2114. On the riveted hull it is listed as will start the day before at SN 2298. These sorts of predictions about future production were often wishful thinking, but the fact that the two serial numbers are so far apart is one of the "counting heads" reasons we believe that the M3A1 SNs were assigned in a block running from 1962 through 2261.





The Variants: M3A2 Lee




In the Summer of 1941, just as the first M3 Mediums were beginning to roll off the assembly lines, Rock Island Arsenal completed a prototype in which both the upper and lower hulls were assembled by welding. The photo shows the vehicle at APG on 21 July 1941. Note the prominent weld seam (arrow) where the 75mm sponson casting is joined to the armor plate. Also of interest is that the side door hinges appear to have been screwed on as usual, but then welded on as well. Additionally, the hinge screws themselves appear to have been seal welded. Other photos show that this was also the case with the door on the left side and the engine access doors in the lower rear hull plate. The information panel lists the tank as "M3-2373 (R.I.A. Welded hull)." We take 2373 to be the serial number of the unit. Additionally, "USA W-304193" can be seen painted on the hull. Readers will recall that the RIA M3 pilot, photographed at APG in March 1941, was listed as Serial Number 1/USA 304191 and the M3A1 pilot, photographed in June, was listed as SN 2372/USA 304192. As with the cast hull, the superiority of welded as opposed to riveted construction was obvious. Fabrication time was reduced by the elimination of "a large portion of machine work" [rivet holes], "weight was reduced for a given ballistic resistance" and "splash [from rivets] and other dangerous features were eliminated, although cracks occurred in welds near points of ammunition impact." Consequently, "it was recommended that the welded construction be employed, wherever possible, on Medium Tanks M3 and other armored vehicles."




At the same time, another welded hull was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Corporation. Reading between the lines, we infer that it would have included both the upper and lower hulls, but not much else. Seven photographs were reported to have been taken of the hull after ballistic tests in August 1941, but the only one we have come across, shown above, is not very informative. One thing that strikes us is that there are still a surprising number of rivets visible on the inside. A digest of the Report has it that the RIA pilot was a working tank, "subjected to 556 miles of endurance operation." After that, the pilot and the Carnegie hull "were subjected to three and four rounds of 75-mm AP [armor piercing] ammunition fire, respectively." It was obviously not intended to test these units to destruction. The damage to the "front driver's window and protectoscope glass" appears slight in the photo. Note the dataplate affixed to the wall of the hull. We examined the photo with a magnifying glass, and the vehicle is listed as "Tank Medium, M3" and the Manufacturer as "Rock Island Arsenal." We could not read what was stamped in the "Serial No." box, but a 27 August 1941 APG Report of the firing lists it as "No. 2374." We have some doubts that SNs 2372, 2373 and 2374 were officially assigned to these RIA pilot tanks, since these SNs are listed as having been aboard the Liberty Ship S.S. Virginia Dare, which was part of Convoy PQ 18. The convoy was delayed for 9 weeks after the disaster of Convoy PQ 17. PQ 18 had a much heavier naval escort, but even so, the convoy lost 13 merchant ships with 28 arriving safely at Archangelsk on 21 September 1942. Of the 448 tanks shipped, 126 were reported to have been lost. The Virginia Dare "was credited with shooting down seven German aircraft and received the Gallant Ship Citation" during this run. It seems unlikely that the US would have shipped used pilot tanks to the Soviets, not to mention that earlier, we showed a photo of the cast hull pilot 2372 at APG in August 1943. Rather, we believe that the tanks listed on the Virginia Dare were Chrysler M3s produced in January 1942 as shown in our production chart. Whatever the case, in September 1941, APG was directed to ship both the RIA welded hull pilot and the Carnegie hull to Baldwin Locomotive. Baldwin was directed "to make a complete tank of the Carnegie welded hull and repair penetrations and cracks in the Rock Island welded tank."




Of course, the replacement of riveting with welding in the construction of future armored vehicles was a foregone conclusion. On 11 September 1941, the Ordnance Technical Committee recommended that "welding of approved types be authorized as an alternative method of fabricating tank hulls and turrets." Additionally, “That the Medium Tank, M3, when equipped with welded hull, be designated: Medium Tank, M3A2.” To put this into context, on that same day, which was about a week after the T6 [cast hull Sherman] pilot had been "presented" at APG, the new design was standardized as the "Medium Tank, M4" while the M3 was reclassified as "substitute standard." Furthermore, an RIA teletype dated 18 October 1941 stated that the T6 welded hull pilot was "now under construction here." Finally, on 27 October 1941, Baldwin Locomotive was awarded another contract for the production of 400 Medium Tanks, M4. In the meantime, Baldwin was directed to change its M3 production "from a riveted hull to a welded hull." An internal history has it that on 6 October 1941, "Production of M3A2 begun, gas engine, welded hull." "The first completed tank with welded hull" is specifically listed as Serial Number 1040 in Ordnance documents. It was shipped to APG in November, and "the omission of the connecting angles on the inside of the tank" was noted. We suspect that the "connecting angles" were the riveted pieces seen inside the Carnegie hull shown in the previous caption. Baldwin was contracted to produce new tanks and factory photos (inset) show that the Baldwin M3A2 was built from scratch, and not based on one of the two pilots. Baldwin asked APG to "inspect this tank, particularly as to said deviations and notify this office as to whether these are acceptable or what corrections are desired." The above shows Serial Number 1040 as photographed at APG on 1 January 1942. It should be noted here that only SN 1040 and the RIA pilot, USA 304193, are seen with entirely all welded hulls. SN 1040 was officially accepted in January, but we suspect that APG found issues involving the welding of the 75mm gun sponson casting to the armor plates, since photos show that some riveting was used in that area on subsequent welded hull M3 Mediums.




In this rear view of SN 1040, note the extremely smooth appearance of the armor with the weld seams barely evident. Plate 1 kind of breaks up the smoothness, since it had to be removable for mounting the 75mm gun and was secured with round head slotted machine screws. It can be seen that the idler wheel assemblies (2) were "still" secured with rivets, as was the small twin bow machine gun casting in the front. There is some thought that the engine access hinges (3) were welded, not screwed on, but it is not entirely clear in the photos. We can observe that some surviving Baldwin M4s used these exact same hinges, and they are welded on in some cases. Perhaps Baldwin was authorized to "repurpose" some M3 access doors and hinges leftover from when they were directed to change production from radial to diesel M3s? While the RIA welded hull pilot was built with sheet metal mud flaps, SN 1040 was made with the "usual" rubber ones (4). The RIA pilot did not include an antenna bracket on the left rear, while 1040 can be seen with the early fabricated type (5), and we would mention that work is reported to have begun on this unit on 6 October 1941. The tracks show a bit of wear, and a digest of the APG report has it that the tank was operated a total of 425 miles on and off road. As a matter of minutia, this view provides us with a good view of the slightly "softer" edge (arrow) typical of General Steel D-38530 turret castings when compared with the Continental and American Steel turret castings primarily used by Chrysler.




We would assume that SN 1040 served as a test vehicle at APG and elsewhere. We did not come across a folder on the tank in the accession files in the library at the old Ordnance Museum at APG, so it appears not to have been preserved for historic purposes like the ALCO M3A1. It was filmed at Ft. Belvoir, Viginia in March 1943, where it was shown driving over logs and attempting to break through log barriers of various sizes. One caption reads in part, "Army Engineers construct these obstacles as tests for both tanks and drivers, so valuable experience is gained for actual battle." In this view, it can be seen that the guns and headlights were removed, and that the front fender had suffered some damage. Note that, unlike the RIA pilot, USA 304193, the side door hinges (arrow) are affixed in the standard way with slotted flat head bolts. The Registration Number is visible as 305110. This tank plays havoc with our production chart estimate, since going by that, SN 1040/USA 305110 would have been accepted as an M3 Lee in October 1941. A Baldwin production document has it that the first M3A2 was delivered in November 1941, but this is at variance with the Ordnance Dept. documents which state that the first 4 M3A2s were officially accepted in January 1942. We tend to give the Ord. docs preference in a situation like this. In any case, sometime after the obstacle course trial, it would appear that the Engineer Corps at Ft. Belvoir repaired and rearmed SN 1040 and painted it in a very elaborate, possibly British influenced, 4 color disruptive camouflage scheme (left inset). We looked through the April 1944 "FM 5-20B, Corps of Engineers Field Manual, Camouflage of Vehicles", thinking SN 1040 might have served as a model, but the camouflage paint scheme pattern "For Temperate Zones and Jungle," is shown in the right inset. Based on period photos, it is obvious that US tanks in the field were mostly just left in olive drab.




Earlier we reported that Baldwin was directed "to make a complete tank of the Carnegie welded hull and repair penetrations and cracks in the Rock Island welded tank." This is something of a mystery to us. If this was done, it is assumed that these tanks would have been returned to APG or sent elsewhere to serve as test vehicles, but we know of no later photos. Furthermore, the Baldwin history does not mention doing such work. We might speculate that the tank shown above was based on the Carnegie hull, but there is no evidence of any shot damage repair in this view. In any case, we assume that if an AFV was photographed at APG, there would have been an accompanying report, which in this instance, may or may not have solved the mystery. However, we didn't come across any written information regarding SN 1082, not even a digest of a report, so the question remains for now. This single known photo shows a right-side view of the vehicle at APG on 30 January 1942. This Lee can be identified as having a radial engine by the gap (arrow) and the pepperpot exhaust that is just visible. Since this unit has a Baldwin Serial Number, our preferred theory is that this was the second of the two M3A2 Lees that Baldwin produced new from scratch. We would also theorize that there were issues with welding the large 75mm gun sponson casting to the armor plates, and that some connecting angles and rivets were reintroduced in order to secure it. However, significantly more horizontal rivets are seen here than on later examples of welded hull M3 series Mediums. The "excess" rivets are to the left of the red vertical lines. Of interest here is that, like the RIA Pilot, USA 304193, the door hinges (arrow) can be seen to have been welded on, although, unlike the pilot, the hinges appear to be solid with no screw holes. Ballistic tests had shown that the doors were thrown open or torn off the hull under impact, and experiments such as welding the hinges and installing a more robust interior latch bar were tried, but, ultimately, it was recommended that the side doors be eliminated from the Lee design. Meanwhile, Baldwin was directed to give precedence to their Grant contract, and the 10 remaining M3A2s were produced as Grants - 2 in January; 5 in February and 3 in March 1942. We have photos of T-23622 (Jan. production) and T-23708 (Feb.) on our Grant page. These M3A2 based Grants appear to have what we might call the "standard rivet pattern" on the right side, but it is not entirely certain due to the angle and clarity of the images. Photo courtesy of David Doyle.


The Variants: M3A3 and M3A5 Lee


   

The expansion of the Medium Tank Program was affected by the limited supply of Radial engines that could be produced. As we have reported, the Ordnance Department was casting about for alternate tank engines. In August 1941, General Motors was contracted to perform an experimental installation using M3 Lee SN 28, which was pulled off the line at Chrysler and shipped a short distance to GM’s Detroit Diesel Plant. The installation combined two "off the shelf" GM 6-71 diesel truck engines that were “coupled together by means of a transfer case delivering the doubled power to a single driver shaft.” Together the engines developed about 400 horsepower. The design was deemed acceptable, and on 21 November 1941, the twin diesel engine was designated the "GM Model 6046," and authorized for production as an alternate power plant for the Medium Tank. The day before this, and hard on the heels of the order to change from riveted to welded hulls, Baldwin reported that they were directed "that all M3s are to be diesel driven, starting with the 87th U.S. Tank and the 221st British." The original intent appears to have been for Baldwin to change to production of welded hull, diesel powered M3 Mediums which were to be designated "M3A3." However, the complete changeover to welded hulls was not feasible, and the nomenclature was amended in January 1942, "because approximately half of the diesel tanks at Baldwin Locomotive Works will [still] need to be made with riveted hulls." Henceforth, "M3A3" was reserved for the welded hull, diesel engine models, while "M3A5" was assigned to the riveted hull diesels. Above shows a GM Model 6046 twin diesel on display at the Tank Museum at Bovington. Note the transfer case indicated by the arrow. Photos courtesy of Massimo Foti.




The introduction of the twin diesel into the M3 Medium design was NOT a case of a simple engine swap, and Baldwin was given very little lead time to procure the necessary components for the changeover. The size of the GM Model 6046 necessitated a number of alterations to the layouts of both the engine and fighting compartments. For instance, the addition of the transfer case made the power pack longer than the engine compartment. Consequently, the firewall was altered to permit the transfer case to protrude into the fighting compartment. The width of the side-by-side engines forced the elimination of the two fuel tanks mounted vertically against the firewall in the original design of the M3. Instead, the horizontal fuel tanks were supplemented by a pair of reserve tanks mounted on the engine compartment floor just below the horizontal tanks. The fuel capacity of the diesel models was 148 gallons compared to the 172 gallons of radial engine versions. Externally, the side armor plates (1) and the upper rear hull plate (2) were extended down and out from the tank in order to accommodate and protect the rear mounted radiators. The engine access doors in the lower rear plate of the original M3 design were eliminated because the diesel configuration mounted a pair of mufflers (inset) across the plate. Exhaust gases were directed through a rigidly mounted sheet metal exhaust deflector (3). The engine was serviced through a rather large pair of doors on the engine deck. This configuration was carried over to the Sherman and designated as the "M4A2" in December 1941. The photo above is dated 5 November 1941 and shows the pilot installation of the twin diesel power pack in SN 28/USA 301026, which was originally accepted as an M3 Lee at the Detroit Tank Arsenal in August 1941. Although this photo has an APG information panel, we believe it was actually taken at the General Motors Proving Ground in Michigan, where the vehicle was listed as GMPG Project No. 8038. The tank was reported to have been driven the 547 miles from there to Aberdeen, arriving on 24 November.




Shortly after SN 28/USA 301026 arrived at APG, testing found inadequacies with the original AC "hat type" oil bath air cleaners which were mounted 3 to a side on the twin diesels (inset). The AC Company presented experimental air cleaners "designed for installation in pairs on the rear of the tank," a configuration similar to that under development for use on radial engine medium tanks. As can be seen above, the experimental cleaners required that the rear of the tank be extended out 12 inches. The external air cleaners failed in the diesel application, and ultimately heavier duty interior air cleaners were used in production. Note that SN 28 is described in this APG info panel as "Medium Tank M3A5."




SN 398/USA 304468 was a Chrysler Lee originally built in November 1941. In late 1941, under the designation General Motors Proving Ground Project No. 8000, the tank "less Wright R975-EC2 engine" was shipped to the GM Detroit Diesel Plant "for the installation of two General Motors Diesel 6-71 Engines and two 5-speed Hydra-matic transmissions." This configuration, with one transmission for each engine, appears to have been similar to that used on the M5 Light Tank designed a few months earlier by Cadillac. Tests at APG gave this automatic transmission system what amounted to rave reviews citing better acceleration, greater crew comfort and more stability than the standard manual transmission. In the photo above, the GMPG panel at the lower left is dated 12 Jan. 1942 and labels the vehicle "Medium Tank M3A3 Diesel Hydramatic." The APG info panel across the bottom is dated 6 March 1942, and the tank is described as "M3A5E1" reflecting the change in nomenclature, with the "E1" added to indicate that it was the first experimental version of the M3A5. APG recommended that a single, heavy-duty Hydra-matic transmission be designed in place of the duals. SN 398 was to be used again, relabeled as "M3A5E2," GMPG Project No. 8017. In the end, the reliable 5 speed manual transmission originally designed for the M3/M4 series by the Spicer Manufacturing Company was not replaced by an automatic transmission due to the immediate need for these tanks. However, the T20 series of medium tanks developed to replace the Sherman experimented with various types of automatic transmissions, including the "Torqmatic" adopted for use in the T26E3 (M26).




The drawings above compare the engine deck configuration of M3 and M3A2 radial Mediums (on left) to that of the diesel M3A3 and M3A5 Mediums (on right). All of the armored fuel filler caps on the radial's deck protected filler nozzles for gasoline. Points 1 filled the fuel tanks mounted horizontally along the sponsons in the rear. Points 2 were for the tanks mounted vertically against the firewall on each side of the engine compartment. Point 3 supplied fuel to the auxiliary generator mounted in the left rear of the fighting compartment. As mentioned previously, the vertical fuel tanks were eliminated from the diesel's engine compartment, and filler points 4 were for diesel fuel stored in the horizontal tanks. These were supplemented by a pair of reserve fuel tanks mounted on the engine compartment floor just below the horizontal tanks. Points 5 provided for lubricating oil, and points 6 for water to the radiators. Point 7 was for the auxiliary generator (Little Joe), the same gasoline powered model as used on the radials. The diesel's engine access doors (8) can be compared with the radial's simple air intake opening (9). Both were "protected" from shrapnel and the like only by screens, a serious deficiency that was addressed in the design of the corresponding models of Shermans.




Evidence seen on a few surviving diesel M3 Lees and Grants suggests that Baldwin installed some pressed metal labels on to each of the armored fuel filler covers to help the crews avoid contaminating the tanks with the wrong solutions. Label 1 reads "LUBE OIL", label 2 reads "WATER" and label 3 reads "FUEL OIL." These three fillers are mirrored on the right side of the engine deck. On the left side, there is an additional filler point, label 4 for "GASOLINE" for the auxiliary generator (inset). A few examples show a breather tube (5) emerging from a notch on the fuel filler covers. This appears to have been released for all versions of the M3 plus the M7 Priest as Field Service Modification Work Order G104-W26 to provide for "More positive gasoline tank vent." The idea was to prevent fires by providing "A vent hole of sufficient size to be drilled in the armor gasoline tank cover lids, to permit gas vapors to escape to the atmosphere." This is seldom seen in photos or on surviving M3s. Our photo shows it on a former APG M3A5 Lee which, of course, used diesel fuel. Note the "short and straight" hinge pin about to fall out of the auxiliary generator's fuel filler cover. A chain was attached to "eyes" (6) to keep the pins from being lost, but it is missing in this case. We would observe that on the Sherman, the labels were affixed to the deck near each filler cover, most likely because the labeled covers ended up in the wrong place on occasion. Additionally, on the M4A2 [diesel] Sherman, the fuel type label was elaborated to "DIESEL FUEL OIL." Photos courtesy of Tyler Reid.




In March 1942, the Armored Force Board at Ft. Knox reported a number of fuel line deficiencies upon receipt of what they labeled "Tank, Medium, M3A3, No. W-305153, Ordnance No. 1083." In a 24 August 1942 Report, the vehicle is described as "Medium Tank, M3A5, W305153, manufactured by the Baldwin Locomotive Works...and powered with General Motors Twin 6-cylinder, Model 6046, Series 71 [engine]." The tank had been operated a total of 5225 miles on roads and 600 miles cross country "to develop any failures and to note deficiencies of the engines and their accessories." We believe that SN 1083 was the pilot or first diesel M3 Medium built by Baldwin, and despite the mixed M3A3-M3A5 nomenclature in the two reports, was a riveted hull M3A5 Lee. The report seems a bit "after the fact," as by the end of August, production of the M3 Medium had ended everywhere except at Baldwin, and Sherman production, including the diesel model M4A2 was in full swing. Indeed, over 700 M4A2s had been produced by then, and 90 were on their way to the Middle East as part of the "Emergency shipment" to the British 8th Army. We mention all of this to give readers a sense of what else was taking place at the time, but primarily to document, at least textually, that Serial Number 1083/USA 305153 was a diesel, either M3A3 or M3A5. SN 1083 had been used to test Firestone Experimental [grooved] Bogie Tires, but the trials had been deemed unsuccessful and discontinued at 2440 miles. Unfortunately, the only photos with the report we examined show nothing but some of the failed bogie tires, but it can be seen above that the information panel identifies the tank as "M3A5 Medium Tank No. 305153." The report mentions that, for the test, "rubber, pl[ain] bl[oc]k type" tracks had been used for 1699 miles and "Steel with rubber face on bogie side" tracks had been used for 799 miles." The inset shows a riveted hull Lee at Ft. Knox with an "Armored Board Test" placard on the front. This is identified as an M3A5 in a number of books, although there is no way to tell from the angle of the photo. The steel tracks might be a clue that it was USA 305153.




Despite the fact that the rear configuration of the Lee shown above is not visible, we are able to document it because APG did us researchers a favor and painted "M3A3 1084" on the vehicle. We have collected enough data over the years to be able to say with near certainty that the "key" number for Lees built by Baldwin is 304070. That is, when added to the tank's serial number, it provides the Registration Number. So, 1084 + 304070 = USA 305154. One bit of the data we have collected is "No. W-305153, Ordnance No. 1083" listed in a report cited in the previous caption. We interpolate that SN 1084 was Baldwin's first or pilot model of the welded hull diesel. It is shown above at APG in late 1942 when it was involved in tests of "Track, T54E1, Burgess-Norton Steel for Medium Tank" (1). The rivets shown on the right side are in what we consider the "standard pattern" for welded hull M3 Mediums. Some rivets were also used on the inside section of the sponson casting (arrow), with others running up the front plate. They cannot be seen here, but a few more rivets joined the sponson to the top plates. The side door hinges look a bit oversize leading us to think that they may have been welded on. In the first half of 1942, production at Baldwin was dedicated almost entirely to diesel powered Grants until the British Contract was completed in July. Consequently, very few M3A3 and M3A5 Lees would have been built with working side doors, perhaps just the 11 produced up to April 1942. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate any photos of other examples. However, within that group, we have textual listings from a 27 October 1942 Products Correction Report in which it was reported that M3A5s SNs 1087 and 1088, and M3A3 SN 1089 along with M4A2 SN 2315, had been in service with Company B of the Demonstration Regiment at Ft. Knox. The diesel engines had given problems and despite the assistance of an on-sight GM technician, it was requested that "The manufacturer replace or repair these engines without expense to the Government." We wouldn't be surprised if one or two of the Lees shown earlier in our favorite Alfred T. Palmer color photo were diesel models, but there is no way to tell from a front shot. Another diesel, SN 1090 is listed as an M3A3 and as General Motors Proving Ground Project No. 8007. GMPG projects generally included a report with photos. If any readers have seen this report or photos of GMPG 8007, please contact us.




Officially, Baldwin is reported to have produced 84 M3 and 2 M3A2 Lees, and this would be the mathematical basis for the directive "all M3s are to be diesel driven, starting with the 87th U.S. Tank." Assuming a strict serial order, SNs 1002 through 1085 would have been M3s; SNs 1086 and 1087 would have been M3A2s; and from SN 1088 through 1536 would account for the 239 M3A3 and 210 M3A5 diesel Lees produced. Of course, this is not how it played out in reality, since we are pretty sure that SN 1040 was Baldwin's first M3A2 Lee and SN 1082 was the second, followed by SN 1083 as the first M3A5 Lee and SN 1084 as the first M3A3 Lee. For the time being, our Baldwin production chart at the top of the page, simply presents the serial and registration numbers in numerical order without attempting to rearrange things to account for the discrepancies with some of the known outliers. Caveat emptor. In any case, we strongly suspect that the photo above is of SN 1084. We assume that there would have been an information panel on this, and another right-side photo of the tank taken from ground level, but if so, we have not been able to locate those copies. This tank can be identified as an M3A3 by the engine deck configuration, including the shovel fitting running crosswise on the rear. As mentioned, SN 1084 would have been USA 305154, but a blow up of the Registration Number (left inset) is somewhat inconvenient to our theory as it seems to show the last digit as something other than a "4." We made an attempt to examine the RN with "forensic photo software," but the results were inconclusive, certainly not the magical clarity obtained by crime labs on TV shows. The thing is, a Baldwin "Production of Medium Tanks" document has it that they didn't produce any more M3A3 Lees until July 1942. Consequently, we believe that the photo above must be of SN 1084, since it is our theory that that was the only M3A3 based Lee that had working doors. As with the photo of 1084 from the previous caption, this example can be seen with the side door hinges welded on to the armor plate (right inset). As a matter of minutia, we would observe that the examination of the few period photos and surviving M3A3 based Grants does not show any with welded door hinges.




Speaking of outliers, here we have SN 1099, confirmed by personal examination of both the dataplate and the SN stamped on the towing lugs. By "outlier," we mean that going by our production chart, SN 1099 would have been the only Lee built by Baldwin in May 1942, and should have been a riveted hull M3A5. This tank was on display at the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox, and is now in storage at Ft. Benning. A plaque inside the vehicle notes that it served with the Brazilian Army and was returned to the US in 1976. Of the Central and South American countries, Brazil was by far the largest recipient of Lend Lease armor during WW II. Along with 427 M3 Series Light Tanks, Brazil is reported to have received 104 M3 Lee series and 53 Sherman series Mediums. The first Lee allocation to Brazil was for 5 "M3A3, Diesel" (specifically) in July 1942. We suspect that SN 1099 was produced in July, and might have been one of the first 5 as it is the only example we have come across where the pistol port (1) was retained in the left side door even though it was welded in and had the view port blanked off. We would interpolate that this unit was built with ventilators (2), grousers boxes (3) and rear stowage boxes, although the rear bins appear to be reconstructions possibly because the originals had rusted out. The differential housing has "1099" (inset) stamped on the towing lugs leading us to conclude that it is the original. The casting marks on the differential are typical of Chrysler M3 Power Trains. Baldwin's primary supplier was Mack, but it appears that they received some excess P.T.s and turrets from Chrysler as M3 production ended there in August 1942. We would judge that this tank would have been built with T41 rubber block tracks and welded spoke road wheels, and that the rubber chevron tracks (4) and pressed metal wheels (5) were retrofitted. Also, that the front bogie is "as built" while the middle and rear were retrofitted with the G104-W12, "Install Bogie Gudgeon Spacer," modification that raised the return rollers by about an inch (6).




In this view, we see the nearly as built engine deck configuration. The brackets (1) around the engine air intake screens appear to be retrofits, probably to hold some sort of cover. Note that like ALCO, some Baldwins Lees are seen with two cast antenna "pots" installed (2). The angle bracket (3) is welded on to the removeable plate (4). The top part of the bracket is clean all the way across, whereas the RIA welded hull pilot, SN 1040 and 1082 appear to have had a slotted bolt on each end. The addition of the ventilator behind the top hatch made it so that the hatch would not lie flat when opened. Consequently, the little catch (5) was raised about 2 inches and angled to secure the hatch when in the open position. Note the POL labels affixed to the armored fuel filler covers.




Here we see how the 75mm sponson casting was attached with rivets on the top (1) and front (2). Note the use of pyramidal rivets in this case. Other Baldwins are seen with round heads. Some nuts and bolts (3) secured the sponson casting to the reinforcing strut in the rear. The reinforcing struts (4) were not riveted on the M3A3, but tack welded on as seen here (circled). On most Lees and Grants, the hinges of the driver's visor are noted to be attached with round head slotted bolts, such as used on the side doors. This example and a few other Baldwins are seen to have used a non-removable installation where the hinges are "flush riveted" (5) on to the armor plate. It is thought that a little sheet metal "sun visor" (6) was added to the 75mm gunner's periscope on some or all of the Baldwin Lees produced starting around July 1942.




Lee turrets (Part Number D-38530) were reported to have been cast for Chrysler by American Steel Foundries-Granite City and Continental-Hubbard. For ALCO and Baldwin, General Steel is said to have supplied their D-38530 turrets. The turret of SN 1099 can be seen with an ASF-G caster's logo (top photo). It is installed with a ventilator, and if we assume that it is original to SN 1099, it might suggest that Baldwin was supplied with excess turrets from Chrysler as Lee production ended there. In addition, we are confronted with the mysteries and vagaries of supply chronology if we assume that "127" is the turret serial number. That strikes as low for a Lee built in mid 1942. In a similar vein, turret serial number 293 (middle photo) strikes us high for Chrysler's first Lee, SN 2 on display in Newark. However, note that unlike turret 127, turret 293 was not drilled to hold the "upper cylinder bracket" that secured the piston of the 37mm gun's gyro-stabilizer assembly. The slotted bolts (circled) that held the bracket can be seen in a triangular configuration in the upper photo. The bolts appear to have been seal welded on, a laborious process that is also seen around interior rivets and was introduced to prevent them from flying loose when the tank was hit. The bottom photo shows an ASF-G turret with ventilator on a late production Chrysler Lee. We believe the "2" above the Part Number denotes a casting revision, as does the part serial number with an "A" prefix. On this example but not the other two, the ASF-G logo has been incorporated into the casting below the pistol port (inset). Also of note is that the slotted bolts are not seal welded. The top view of the RIA pilot that we presented earlier shows two "bumps" on the top of the turret and recall that the tank was reported to have been installed with a gyrostabilizer for the presentation given on 24 April 1941. The gyrostabilizer was intended to be standard equipment on the M3 Medium for both the 37mm and 75mm, although its introduction was delayed until January 1942 for industrial reasons.


   

The British view of the gyrostabilizer, at least as published in AFV Technical Report No. 11 (December 1942) was not positive. Regarding the recent fighting in North Africa, in both the M3 and M4 series Mediums, the Brits were not "able to establish by trial that they (gyrostabilizers) confer any advantage at all." Furthermore, it was reported that "formations...demanded that this fitment should be removed...the space and weight which it takes up can usefully be replaced by...extra items of stowage...It has the additional demerit that when it leaks it empties the oil system and incapacitates the power traverse as well." This despite the fact that the US sent technicians to all theaters to demonstrate the benefits and instruct on the "care and feeding" of the gyrostabilizer. In any case, while all Shermans except the 105mm models were equipped with gyrostabilizers, most of the Grants and Lees shipped to the Middle East were not, and the British decided that if modification kits became available, they would not "require" them for retrofit to their pool of existing M3 Mediums. Pierre-Olivier was able to get an interior photo of SN 1099 from an interesting angle inside the turret, and here we see the gyrostabilizer's piston (1) secured to the "ceiling" by 3 lock nuts. The drawing on the right from the Technical Manual shows the various components of the "37 mm gun stabilizer system." We believe that the diesel Lees produced by Baldwin from July to the end of production in December 1942 included gyrostabilizers for both the 37 mm and 75 mm guns. At present, we find no evidence that any Baldwin Lees (or Grants for that matter) were built with the longer M3 75mm guns.












Using early Lees and Grants as reference, we had initially thought that if a turret was not equipped with a gyrostabilizer, the holes would not have been drilled. However, the image above is a blow up of a Signal Corps photo taken at the Desert Training Center and dated 22 October 1942. These Lees are not equipped with counterweights below their 37mm guns but have plugs (1) instead. We take this to indicate that they do not have gyrostabilizers. Even so, the Lee in the foreground can be seen to have the slotted bolts (circled) for the piston. So, we might assume that at some point, the holes were drilled, and the nuts and bolts were installed in anticipation. The caster's logo (2) appears to be the "G inside a hexagon" of American Steel Foundries-Granite City, which we take to have been the turret casting produced in the largest numbers. The "3" inside the stars (3) would indicate that these were tanks of the 3rd Armored Division which was assigned to the DTC from July through November 1942. The entire photo shows at least 100 Lees, including an M3A1, and 3 M4A1 Shermans. The Lee turret was not equipped with lifting rings, but aside from the pilot, the castings incorporated three "nubbins" (4) into which could be screwed heavy duty "eye bolts" (inset) for lifting.




Continuing our examination of Lee turrets, here we have a view of the Continental-Hubbard (H inside a C) turret of Chrysler M3 Lee SN 3711 on display at the Australian Army Tank Museum at Puckapunyal. The cast in number, 7434 (1), far exceeds the total number of Lees that were produced, so seems too high to be the turret serial number. More likely, it is the Heat Treatment number of the piece. This leaves us to conclude that the stamped in number, 1604 (2), would be the turret serial number. The caster's logo (3) can also be seen cast in below the pistol port on this example, but it would appear that that was not the case with every C-H turret. We hope to be able to collect more data, but our best guess for now is that the caster's logo below the pistol port was introduced on the turret moldings of both ASF-G and C-H sometime in 1942.




Surviving Lee turrets are pretty rare, and it is not often possible to get access to permit a study of the casting marks. General Steel Grant turrets have been noted with the turret serial number on the top front and the GS logo and turret part number placed inside on the "ceiling." We suspect it was the same with their Lee turrets but need to collect more information. Pierre-Olivier was able to take the photo above showing the top of the turret of M31B2, Serial Number 81, at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Note the "559" (1) which we think is the turret serial number. It can be seen that this turret was not installed with a ventilator nor was it drilled out to hold the "upper cylinder bracket" that secured the piston of the 37mm gun's gyro-stabilizer assembly. There is no evidence that the "Spot and Signal Lamp" (2) was factory installed on any production Lees. It entered the Sherman production pipeline in late 1942, and it is thought that it was installed on most or all of the M31 series conversions done by Baldwin starting in 1943. The inset shows what we think is the turret serial number, 465, on SN 1355, a September 1942 production M3A5 that was formerly on display at the Ordnance Museum at APG. With thanks to Tyler Reid.




Sometimes turrets cast by different companies can be identified by minor differences in the finished product. The turrets cast by American Steel Foundries-Granite City (top) and Continental-Hubbard (middle) strike us as nearly identical. In both cases, the bump-out (if you will) that accommodated the commander's cupola has a "hard edge." The difference is subtle and often depends on the light conditions, but we would judge that General Steel turrets (bottom) have a softer, more rounded edge.




Returning to M3A3 SN 1099, we have an interior view that shows the plaque (1) that declares that the tank served with the Brazilian Army and was returned to the US in 1976. One can see the irregular line of 4 horizontal rivets (2) and the straight line of vertical rivets (3) that attached the 75mm sponson casting to the welded hull. In this case, there are 10 vertical rivets, that is, there are no missing rivets, as seen on some Lees and Grants. The evidence suggests that 10 rivets was standard on the diesel Lees. All of the rivets can be seen to have been seal welded, a time-consuming process meant to prevent the rivets from flying loose in combat. Of course, this is a welded hull Lee, one can imagine the manhours spent to do this on a riveted hull. Note the working pistol port/protectoscope (4) on the right side. It can be seen that the door was welded in on the inside as well as the outside. The pairs of rivets numbered 5 (vertical) and 6 (horizontal) would have held the hinges for a working side door by means of slotted bolts on the outside and nuts on the interior. We might have expected to see hinge holes in the exterior view, but the surfaces appear to be clean in this case (inset), not real obviously indented or filled in. The hinge fitting (circled) for the pistol port appears to have been flush riveted (flat) on the left and riveted on the right.




The diesel Lees built by Baldwin starting in July 1942 seem to be pretty much the same in appearance with ventilators, grouser boxes and rear stowage bins. The 75mm guns all appear to have been the short M2 type with counterbalances. If any of the diesels were built with M3 guns, we have yet to come across an example. The 37mm guns look to have been counterbalanced as well. When recording these we make a note of the features including "welded doors." However, there is a bit of variety to the appearance of the welded doors. On the left side of the tank, the side where the pistol port was eliminated, we mentioned that SN 1099 is the only one we have seen that has a pistol port installed, although it is welded in and blanked off (1). Other units, such as SN 1332, an M3A5 on display in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (2), are noted to have had the pistol port opening (asterisk) filled in by means of a welded in plate. Note that the pistol port bullet splash (arrow) was retained. This seems to have been the most common configuration used on the diesel Lees. SN 1280 in Sao Paulo (3) can be seen with a "clean" door (3), although the indentations from the door hinges and the pistol port opening are very obvious. There even appear to be two depressions where the grab handle would have been located. It is almost as if there was once a working door and then everything was removed and filled in to get to a welded-up door. The doors on the few other survivors aren't nearly this sloppy. Photos courtesy of Colonel Renato Rocha.




The right side welded-up door is more or less the same on most of the survivors. SN 1332 is typical. Some doors are seen with more hinge indentations/traces than others. However, from a distance, the welded-on doors of Baldwin built diesel Lees look flat, in contrast to the welded-on doors seen in a few period photos of Chrysler Lees on which the hinge holes were "filled in" with rivets. Photo courtesy of Colonel Renato Rocha.




At least two examples in Brazil, both M3A5s, have solid right side armor plates with integrated working pistol ports (1). One might expect to see solid armor plates on the left sides, such as on late production Chrysler M3s, but both have welded on doors in the retained pistol port bullet splash configuration (2). Photos courtesy of Colonel Renato Rocha.




Here are photos of the only known surviving example of a diesel Lee gun tank with solid armor on both sides such as on late production Chrysler M3s and M3A4s. This M3A3 is on display at the Agulhas Negras Military Academy in Resende, Brazil. At present the serial number has not been found. This is also the only Baldwin Lee that has been noted with the round object (circled) attached to the gunner's sight housing. The "round object" has been observed in a few period photos, as well as on a handful of surviving late production Chrysler M3 Lees whose Serial Numbers indicate that they were accepted in July or August 1942. Our best guess is that it served to support a gunner's sight dust cover that was planned to be added late in production. Photo courtesy of Colonel Renato Rocha.


   

We suspect that Baldwin produced a few more diesel Lees with solid armor on both sides including a few that were ultimately built as retrievers. Recall that Baldwin was originally contracted to produce 685 Lees. However, in August 1942, the Ordnance Department submitted a number of specifications to Baldwin and tasked them with designing a Tank Recovery Vehicle based on the M3 Medium chassis. For the initial work, Baldwin's M3 Lee Production Order was reduced by 150 units, and these were converted new to T2/ M31 series diesel retrievers. One such example is M31B1, SN 117 on display at the Armor Museum at Saumur, France. As can be seen above, this retriever has a solid plate with integrated working pistol port on the right, and a completely solid plate on the left.








As noted previously, Brazil is reported to have received 427 M3 Series Light Tanks along with 104 M3 Lee series and 53 M4 Shermans as Lend Lease during WW II. Brazil was the only South American nation that sent a large combat contingent overseas during WW II. The Força Expedicionária Brasileira, or FEB "numbered around 51,600 men, including a full infantry division, and a fighter squadron." The FEB fought in Italy from September 1944 to May 1945. However, their Lend Lease armor was not deployed but remained in the homeland. A Lend Lease Allocations document states that Brazil received a total of 100 Lees including very specifically 77 M3A3s and 23 M3A5s. These were allocated from July 1942 through March 1943. However, another official document, "Quantities of Lend Lease Shipments" has it that they received 104 M3 series Mediums. Although Brazil is not listed as having received any Tank Recovery Vehicles, we suspect that the country actually got 4, including M31B2 SN 81 now in storage at Ft. Benning. One online source states that the Lees "remained in service...well into the 1950s." The photo above is dated February 1960 and shows about 20 Lees taking part in a review, perhaps their last detail? Most of the tanks are seen with welded hulls, but Tank 1 is riveted. Some have replacement tracks of the rubber chevron (2) or steel chevron (3) type. Tank 1 and a few others can be seen with dust cover strips around the 37mm gun plate. A few of the surviving diesel Lees in Brazil have them, and the inset shows the strips on SN 1355, a September 1942 production M3A5 that was on display for many years at the Ordnance Museum at APG.


   

After the Tunisian Campaign, the US Army's only further combat use of the M3 Lee gun tank took place during the amphibious assault on Makin Island 20-24 November 1943. The 193rd Tank Battalion arrived in Honolulu on 7 January 1942, a month after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At first, independent Tank Battalions were equipped with Light Tanks. Starting in 1942, as Medium Tanks became available, most such battalions on the US mainland converted to a Medium Tank organization (3 Medium Companies and 1 Light Company). We haven't come across any records about the progress of the 193rd. It is thought that the unit may not have been fully equipped when it was attached to the 165th Regimental Combat Team of the 27th Infantry Division for the Makin assault. Only Company A with Mediums and Company C with Light Tanks were assigned, although other personnel from the Battalion's Headquarters Company were trained to operate the LVT-1 (Landing Vehicle, Tracked), and used 16 during the operation. A few photographs suggest that Company C's Stuart Light Tanks were diesels. As for the Mediums, from some motion picture footage on Makin, we were able to record the Registration Number of Tank Number 19 as USA 305298 (left photo), indicating it was produced at Baldwin in August 1942. USA 305298 appears to have been typical of the Lees of Company A during the battle - diesels with welded up doors, ventilators, grouser boxes, stowage bins and M2 75mm guns with counterweights. Various histories report that Company A landed with 17 M3A5s on 20 November 1943. We can't confirm if they were all M3A5s due to the lack of records and the limited number of images and their quality. Perhaps Tank Number 6 (right photo) was an M3A3? At this point, the welded hull configuration would have been deemed more "combat worthy" at least to the Ordnance Department, but that was probably not even a consideration to the logistics people tasked with shipping these tanks.




The well-known Signal Corps photo above is dated 21 November and shows a pair of M3A5s shelling King's Wharf. Japanese troops had infiltrated back on to the wharf during the night of D-Day, and their fire was interdicting unloading operations in the lagoon. Some motion picture footage shows at least 3 Lees (Speed Numbers 6, 7 and 19) on the beach opposite the wharf. Another Lee can be seen to be mired in a shell hole. This probably happened the day before during the initial landing. We would assume that these tanks were built with flat block rubber tracks, and that the rubber chevron tracks apparent here were retrofitted. The tanks can also be seen with partial wading trunks on their engine decks. These must have been installed in Hawaii and appear to have been modeled after the type developed by the 5th Army Invasion Training Center in the Mediterranean Theater. Two of the Lees are reported to have drowned out when they fell into shell holes while wading in, but during the 3-day action, the 193rd had about 15 operational Mediums available to support the infantry. This can be contrasted with Company C of the 1st Marine Tank Battalion. The Invasion of Tarawa took place at the same time as the Makin Operation, and the 14 M4A2 diesel Shermans of Company C had not been waterproofed or outfitted with wading equipment. Consequently, many were drowned out in the surf, while others were disabled when their electronics were ruined as sea water flooded in. It was reported that only 5 of the 14 M4A2s were operational at the end of D-Day.




Another well-known Signal Corps photo shows 3 Lees moving down a jungle road past a Jeep with what appears to be "MED 2" painted on the bumper. There were some complaints that the Makin Operation should not have taken 3 days and been as costly as it was. The 193rd TB was given no real training in infantry support. And for reasons unknown, the Army did not develop an effective means of tank-infantry communication until 1945. As a consequence, the armor's firepower on Makin was not utilized to its fullest extent. Out of necessity, infantry, tank and engineer troops in combat quickly came up with their own methods of coordination for destroying enemy strongpoints. "Lessons learned" were passed on and used in future operations. In any case, the lead tank can be seen as "Medium No. 19," which we take to have been USA 305298. Note that there is one fixed machine gun mounted on the left (1). The objects circled looked familiar to us, since we had seen them on SN 1355, USA 305425, a September 1942 production M3A5 that was on display for many years at APG. In the inset, item 2 is the comb or "pawl" device typical of the Chester Tank Depot. This was part of a system engineered as a way to lock or unlock the brakes during shipping without damaging the vehicle's waterproofing sealant. Item 3 is a roller. It is thought that 5/32-inch cables were threaded through the roller and into the fighting compartment by means of a hole made when the middle bolt was removed from the center section of the differential housing. Item 4 is a metal strip that appears to have been used exclusively by CTD to hold a "zinc tag" upon which were stamped instructions on how to use the pawl or comb. The bogies of SN 1355 received the spacer modification that raised the return rollers by about an inch. Assuming that No. 19 and the others had been processed at CTD, say, in January 1943 or later, it seems possible that this mod might have been installed at the time. Unfortunately, in the few available Makin photos, there is too much caked sand on the bogies in the area of the return rollers to make that determination.




Above shows the dataplate inside Serial Number 1099. The Serial Number can be seen stamped into the box at the upper right as indicated by the inset. The Baldwin plant was located in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, and was part of the Philadelphia Ordnance District. From August 1942 to December 1943, Colonel D. N. Hauseman was Chief of the Philadelphia O.D., and his initials can be seen stamped into the box at the lower right of the plate. Oddly, the crew is listed as "6 Men" whereas it is listed as 7 on surviving Chrysler and ALCO dataplates. All of the Grant dataplates and most of Lees that we have seen are made of cast brass and have survived the years nearly unchanged. Sometime in the middle of 1942, the Ordnance Department ordered that dataplates be made of an alternate material in order to conserve brass. These have been described variously as “steel with a thin plating of nickel or cadmium,” or simply “pot metal.” They were subject to deterioration by rust as the protective clear coat, if any, wore off. We would judge that the example shown above is an original Baldwin plate, representative of one introduced on their Lees at the transition from brass to steel. It has survived time better than most steel plates, possibly because the tank was displayed inside a museum for many years. On a side note, years ago, we visited a Railroad Museum and were told that the library had a list of the "serial numbers" of all of the tanks built by Baldwin. As it turned out, these were Baldwin "Construction Numbers," possibly the sort of numbers they used on their locomotives. For the M3 Medium series the numbers ran from 62541 through 63910, no doubt reflecting the original contracts for 685 Grants and 685 Lees. In any case, these numbers don't appear on any surviving Lee or Grant dataplates that we have encountered. They may be elsewhere on the tanks, but we have yet to "find" them.


The Variants: M3A4 Lee




In July 1941, just as M3 Medium production was getting underway, the Ordnance Department asked the Chrysler Corporation if it could design an alternate tank power plant "in a hurry." The expedient that emerged used the "off the shelf" 6-cylinder engine from Chrysler's "Royal" line of automobiles and combined five of them into a "star" configuration. By mid-November 1941, the pilot engine was assembled and installed in a Lee, which was road tested at the Dodge Truck Proving Ground since the test track at the Detroit Tank Arsenal had not yet been completed. We think that the donor tank was Serial Number 320, USA 304390, but regret that we have not come across any photos. It was reported that the engine compartment was lengthened by 18 inches as opposed to the 11 inches of the production models, and we can't help but think that the difference would be noticeable in photos, perhaps by simply "counting rivets." In the event, the Army found Chrysler's "stop gap" design acceptable, and in December 1941, Ordnance contracted for the installation of 109 "experimental multiple engine power plants" in the Medium Tank, M3. This configuration was given the nomenclature "M3A4" and approved for production later that same month. The view above was taken in October 1942, almost a year after the first power plant had been assembled. The "tank repair shop" at the Ordnance Depot at Camp Young, California was manned by a cadre of the newly formed 302nd Ordnance Regiment. The Government was assisted by the National Automobile Dealers Association in recruiting trained civilian personnel for such maintenance outfits. Pvt. Charles Pangburn and Sgt. Clyde Weinbrunner provide an idea of the great size of the "Chrysler multi-bank engine." Chrysler's model number for this power plant was "A-57." Some of the total of 30 spark plugs (circled) can be seen at the top of the individual flat head engines. The radiator was so large that it could not be contained within the space of the upper and lower hulls but required an armored "blister" above the engine deck and another on the belly plate.




What we believe was the second M3A4 pilot model was shipped to APG in early 1942 where it was tested and photographed in February. As can be seen above, the tank was USA 304741. APG Reports list it as "Chrysler Multi-Engine Power Plant in Medium Tank M3A4 #671." Had Serial Number 671/USA 304741 been built as a regular M3 Lee, it would have been accepted in December 1941, as shown in our chart at the top of the page. We have not listed it as an M3A4 in that month, simply because the first of the 109 M3A4s produced were not officially accepted until June 1942 according to the Ordnance Department's "Procurement Master Plan," the document we use as the "final word" on US tank production. The adaptation of the Chrysler A-57 Multibank to the M3 Medium was not a simple engine swap. The massive power plant required an 11-inch elongation of the hull of the original design. The center and rear bogie units were moved further back, so that there was an 10-inch gap between the road wheels as opposed to the 3-inch gap between the road wheels on other types of M3 Mediums. As can be seen here, SN 671 was still fitted with the original type of bogies. Note how the side plates went all the way to the rear and were joined to the upper rear hull plate. This was different from the other M3 models (except the M3A1) which were "jogged in" in the rear.




This view of SN 671 shows a bit the "M3A4 Engine Installation." As with the GM Twin Diesel power plant, the A-57 Multibank was so large that there was no room for vertical fuel tanks in the front corners of the engine compartment. However, the elongated hull enabled the sponson fuel tanks to be enlarged to hold 80 gallons each. The filler points for these gasoline tanks are shown at positions 1 and 2. As mentioned previously, the size of the massive radiator required an armored "blister" (3) above the engine deck. The water filler point (4) for the radiator was mounted in the center of the "blister." Like the other types of M3 Mediums, the engine air intake (5) was protected by nothing more than a screen. The tools were not stowed on the engine decks as on other M3 Mediums, possibly to make it easier and quicker to gain to access the complex engine. Although no pioneer tools are present, the fittings can be seen mounted on top of both sponsons. A pair of armor castings (6) affixed to the upper rear hull plate provided outlets for the A-57's exhaust. Just visible at the bottom of the photo are the open engine access doors in the lower rear hull.




The Wright/Continental radial engine weighed "1137 pounds, dry" as opposed to "5400 pounds, dry" for the A-57. The volute springs of the M3 Medium's bogies were barely adequate in supporting the weight of the original engine. Consequently, and perhaps fortunately, Chrysler found it necessary to design and incorporate heavier duty bogie units as part of the M3A4 configuration. The new heavy-duty bogie as seen here had beefed up volute springs and a trailing return roller arm. These new bogies were, of course, greatly superior to the originals. Even so, industrial conditions did not make it possible for Ordnance to mandate an immediate, "without obsolescence" change. Consequently, except for the M3A4, M3 series Medium production finished out with the original bogies. Of course, as the designer, Chrysler was in the position to mass produce and install the heavier duty bogies to all of its M4A4s, including the pilot model which was completed on 9 May 1942. Other builders began Sherman production with the older bogies, but as quickly as they could be produced, the new bogies, which for convenience, we refer to as "M4 bogies," replaced the original "M3 bogies," and by the Fall of 1942 were standard equipment on all M4 series Shermans.




Above shows what we believe was the first production M3A4. This tank can be seen with features that would suggest June 1942 or later acceptance, such as "no doors" and ventilators. The design did not require grouser boxes like other late production M3 series Lees because the side plates ran straight to the back which allowed for a pair of grouser compartments to be created in the rear. The grousers could be accessed by removing the oblong plate circled. Note that the grouser cover plates are not present in the photos of SN 671/USA 304741 shown previously. The front wall of the grouser compartment is denoted by the rivet line indicated by an arrow. The M3A4 was not installed with rear stowage bins possibly because they would have interfered with the pioneer tool stowage on the sponsons or perhaps blocked access to the grouser compartments. In any case, the evidence is that all of the production M3A4s would have been similar in appearance. However, the Registration Number, USA 309733, is again out of sync with the "later" chronology, since it "signifies" an M3 Lee built in April 1942 by our reckoning. Official M3A4 production figures are given as 33 in June, 73 in July and 3 in August 1942. The discrepancy might be explained in part by the wording of the December 1941 contract, "Said Medium Tanks, M3, shall be furnished by you from production models currently being manufactured by you...and the hull of each shall be modified by you at the appropriate stage of production in order to accommodate said Experimental Multiple Engine Power Plants." The Ordnance Department's desperation for an alternative power plant along with its desire to replace the Lee with the Sherman as quickly as possible is reflected in their back-and-forth correspondence with Chrysler. The Government had contracted for the production of "the Pilot T6 which became the M4A4" on 5 January 1942, not even 2 months after the first Multibank was completed and installed in an M3 Medium. Ordnance wanted Chrysler to switch over to the Sherman after 2752 Lees (approximately June 1942, SN 4123), whereas Chrysler wanted to break at 4000. In the end the changeover occurred on 20 August 1942 after 3352 Lees had been produced. It can't be said that the 109 M3A4 Lees served as testbeds for the "Experimental Multiple Engine Power Plant" or for the M4A4 Sherman for that matter, since by June 1942, the Government had gone all in, and for the next year, committed its first ever purpose-built tank plant to the production of over 8000 M4A4s. The first 2 were accepted in July and 167 in August as the last M3s and M3A4s rolled off the line.




The above is from the June 1942 series of Detroit Tank Arsenal factory photos. The Registration Number of the M3A4 can be read as USA 3010292 or perhaps 3010293. Either way, it would "indicate" an M3 Lee accepted in May 1942, so is another example that is out of sync with the "later" M3A4 chronology. An additional photo in the series clearly shows an M3A4 as USA 3010149, yet another outlier. If Chrysler attempted to reconcile the discrepancies by identifying the date of production along with the serial and registration numbers of each of the 109 M3A4s produced, we have yet to find the relevant documents. We suspect that the first 7, or perhaps the first 15 M3A4s, may have been the outliers. The first 7 were produced on Production Order T-1473, completed 13 June 1942. The next 8 on P.O. T-1506 completed 23 June 1942. The remaining 94 were produced on P.O. T-2593, completed 4 August 1942. We don't have much counting heads data but would guess that the last batch of 94 was "in sync." In any case, it can be seen that the Registration Number of the M3 in front of the M3A4 appears to be USA 3010748 which would indicate June acceptance, and so is in sync with our chronology. Note that there were 3 removable engine deck plates (1) behind the radiator blister. Each appears to have been about 16 inches deep. This was changed on the M4A4 design to a single hinged engine deck plate (2) about 33 inches deep, along with a non-removable 12-inch plate (3) that was welded to the hull. The M4A4 pilot would have been at APG when this photo was taken, so we believe that the tank seen here would have been Serial Number 4805, the first production M4A4, or in any case, one of the earliest M4A4s based on the "high" turret lifting ring (4). There is another M3A4 two units in front of our subject.




In his book, "M3 Lee/Grant," David Doyle has it that, "Chrysler records indicate that all the production M3A4 tanks were shipped to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas where they were assigned to the 6th Armored Division." That certainly appears to have been the case, since nearly all of the available photos show them serving with the 6th AD during Maneuvers in Louisiana in August and September 1942. The photo above is captioned, "These tanks of an Armored Div., unloaded at Louisiana, will be used in the Third Army Maneuvers. 8/28/42." The lead M3A4 can be identified as 6th Armored Division by the "6" inside the turret star. All 7 of these tanks are alike in appearance with M3 75mm guns, no doors, "M4" bogies, and no grouser boxes or stowage bins. A hint that they are installed with ventilators is provided by the angles of the open upper hull hatches. As mentioned, the photo is dated 28 August 1942 and the 109 M3A4s were manufactured June through August 1942, so would have been shipped brand new to the 6th AD at Camp Chaffee, assuming they received all of them. (Recall that at least 1 M3A4 was photographed at the DTC in August 1942.) It is reported that the division's wheeled vehicles drove down to Louisiana, while the tanks were sent by rail, two to a car judging by the photos. The 6th AD was formed from cadre men of the 1st and 2nd ADs, and organized as a "heavy armored division," which on paper would have had 232 Medium Tanks and 158 Light Tanks in 2 Regiments (68th and 69th), each of which would have been composed of 1 Light and 2 Medium Tank Battalions. We can only assume that the 6th AD was equipped with some earlier M3 Mediums as the cadre prepared to receive and train some 10000 inductees at Camp Chaffee in the Spring of 1942. In any event, the 109 M3A4s would not have been half of the unit's full allowance of Mediums. By the end of August 1942, 169 M4A4s would have been produced and it seems likely that the 6th AD would have received a few of those as well.




This photo is also dated 28 August 1942, and we believe shows some of the same M3A4s as in the previous caption, but perhaps an hour or two earlier, since the tanks are not manned, and the turrets are pointed to the rear. The tactical markings painted on the differential housing denote "68th Armored Regiment, Company D, Vehicle 17." We have been wanting to observe that, based on counting heads, Chrysler did not build its Lees with dust cover "snaps" or "press studs" around the 75mm gun. However, every once in a while, they seem to show up in period photos, like on the second tank in line here (arrow). The first two units (at least) can be seen with the "round object" (circled) attached to their gunner's sight housings. As mentioned, these have been observed in a few other period photos, as well as on a handful of surviving late production Chrysler M3 Lees and one Baldwin M3A3. The inset shows the object on M3 Lee SN 4540 on display at The American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA. Again, our best guess is that it served to support a gunner's sight dust cover that was planned to be added late in production.




Again, this Signal Corps photo is dated 28 August 1942, and the caption reads in part, "Medium tank arrives securely tied to flat car." The vehicle can be seen chocked and blocked, but there is no evidence that it is tied down. Perhaps any such tie downs had already been removed? It is obvious that the familiar U-shaped tie down fittings were not attached to the front and rear bogies and used in this instance. The bogie brackets are observed with raised lines (1) running across the castings. We were able to examine one of these from a surviving M3A4 and could see the "N inside a circle" caster's logo of the National Malleable and Steel Castings Company of Sharon, Pennsylvania. These are commonly noted on Chrysler Shermans. Many National Malleable examples include the date that they were cast. A close examination of this print revealed that the Registration Number was USA 3058027 (2), indicating July 1942 acceptance. The name "Diablo" (3) can be seen painted on the side. The tactical markings are only partly visible as "D-17." However, it seems pretty likely that this is the same M3A4 as in the previous caption.




In March 1942 the War Department eliminated the office of Chief of Cavalry, effectively disbanding the old horse cavalry. In the meantime, having witnessed the stunning success of the German Blitzkrieg since September 1939, the Army was frantically trying to mechanize its forces. They went so far as to combine 5 automobile engines to make a power plant for a 30-ton tank. The photo above was taken in September 1942 and is captioned,""Blue" tanks supported by Cavalry, advance in downpour of rain during maneuvers in Louisiana." Shortly thereafter, the horse troopers rode off into history. This Lee can be recognized as an M3A4 primarily by the "M4 type" bogies. The absence of grouser boxes and rear stowage bins provide secondary clues. The tactical markings identify it as "68th Armored Regiment, Company I, Vehicle 16." The turret was reversed on "Diablo" in the previous caption, but here I-16 can be seen to be an example with the dust cover strip fittings around the 37mm gun mantlet.




Most of the few Signal Corps photos of the 6th AD M3A4s show tactical markings of the 68th Armored Regiment, but here we see "D-3" of the 69th AR. The caption is a little more informative than the others, "An M3 [sic] rolls down ramp from flat car on which it was shipped from Camp Chaffee, Ark. to Boyce, La. 8/28/42." This tank does not have the dust cover strips around the 37mm gun mantlet, and the 75mm appears to be the earlier, short M2 gun with counterweight.




The 6th AD returned to Camp Chaffee in late September 1942, but only stayed long enough to pack up and turn over its quarters and equipment to the incoming 14th Armored Division. The 6th was ordered to the Desert Training Center where it continued to train from October 1942 through March 1943. As best we can tell, their armor was left behind at Camp Chaffee. The photo above is captioned, "Stalled M-3 [sic] tank at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, November 10, 1942." By the date, this may show an M3A4 "inherited" by the 14th AD, but we can't say that we know of any photos of M3A4s with 14th AD markings visible. Their souvenir history mentions that the 14th AD was formally activated on 15 November 1942, and during the day, "There was a sham battle, in which medium tanks (running heavily to the old side-winding M-3's) and light tanks, supported by infantry, attacked an objective." We suspect that when the inductees began to arrive in December 1942, the armored units of the Division were equipped with a mixture of M3A4s and M4A4s. The insets are a pair of tiny photos from the souvenir history which show one of each type. It is also mentioned that the Division set up "A school in Chrysler multi-bank engines" in January 1943. In any case, the Signal Corps photo above shows the M3A4 being towed by an M1 wrecker truck, but we've cropped it in order to focus on the Lee. A close examination of the glossy print at the US Archives revealed the Registration Number to be USA 3058018 indicating July 1942 acceptance. The M2 gun with counterweight is likely the original, but could also be a replacement. This tank does not appear to have the dust cover strips around the 37mm gun, but does appear to have the round object attached to the gunner's sight housing.




Earlier we featured a photo that showed a few Lees and Shermans at the Ordnance Depot at Camp Young, California. One of the Lees was an M3A4. Based on the identical weathering pattern on the left rear, this tank also appears in the photo above captioned, "Desert Training Center...view of tank which was damaged by fire. Aug. 1942." The M3A4s and a few of the earliest M4A4s were shipped with the grouser compartment holes blanked off. However, it was found that the fuel tanks of the M3A4s and early M4A4s suffered an excessive heat condition, which caused melted solder joints. Consequently, gasoline leaked into the engine compartment, and became a great fire hazard. This situation does not appear to have been addressed on the M3A4s possibly due to their short service life. However, on the M4A4 and early M4A1s, which had similar heat issues, the situation was remedied by the addition of a pair grouser compartment covers with air inlet grills that permitted greater air flow around the fuel tanks. At the Detroit Tank Arsenal, the grouser compartment covers or "air scoops" were introduced on the M4A4 early in production in August 1942. The dust cover strips around the 37mm gun are present on this example. As can be seen here, M3A4s mounted the taillights (1) under the upper rear hull overhang. Shermans, including the M4A4s, had these mounted on the rear sponsons. The exhaust outlets (2) were repositioned under the upper rear hull overhang on the M4A4.




Here we have a surviving M3A4 that had had its paint washed away after many years out in the elements, and yet the named "Goldbricker" (1) was still clearly visible. The differential housing was missing, but "69-G- " (2) could be seen in the center of the upper rear hull plate. We have no doubt that these were WW II era markings, indicating "69th Armored Regiment, Company G." The Vehicle Number might have been "4" but it is hard to say for certain. The original Registration Number painted on in black by Chrysler was no longer visible, but a repainted and repositioned "USA 3029021" (3) could be seen on both sides. By our reckoning, this would correspond to Serial Number 4363, and indeed we recorded that number stamped on the right rear tow lug and stamped into the hull wall (4) underneath where the dataplate had been mounted.




A year or so after we examined "Goldbricker," the photo above was posted online. The original Registration Number as painted on by Chrysler is clearly visible as "U.S.A W-3,029,021" and "Goldbricker" is painted on in the same location as we saw it some 70 years later. This photo was likely taken "in the field" since pup tents are visible in the background. We would observe that "Goldbricker" does not have the band or star on the turret, such as appears on the M3A4s in the Louisiana Maneuvers photos. Perhaps the photo was taken not long after the tank was received at Camp Chaffee? This tank lacks both the dust cover strips around the 37mm gun as well as the round object attached to the gunner's sight housing. On the surviving "Goldbricker," some additional tactical markings, "6 TG 749 Δ," were noted on the upper rear hull plate on the left as shown in the inset. We translate these as 6th Tank Group, 749th Tank Battalion. We would think that "Goldbricker" might have been inherited by the 14th Armored Division when they were posted to Camp Chaffee, and then perhaps after that it was provided to the 749th Tank Battalion sometime after they arrived at Camp Bowie, Texas in February 1943. Sgt. J.W. Breakbill of the 749th describes a bit of his training there, "They put us in a M3 tank with 5 Chrysler engines mounted in it. Very hot inside when you were buckled up. The turret traverse was only 45 degrees. You set astraddle the transmission, like sitting on an oven turned wide open. We were in those tanks for three weeks, learning were everything was so we could run it blindfolded. Then they took us out to learn how to drive them."






The Variants : Shop Tractor T-10 [Canal Defense Light]




US built Shop Tractor T10s served in Europe during WW II, so we think it is appropriate to devote a few captions to them on this M3 Lee page. The photos above show both the M3 and M3A1 based CDL conversions that were preserved "for historical purposes" at the Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground. They were photographed in February 1949. The riveted hull was "Salvaged" while notes on the cast hull photo indicate that it was "To be reconditioned and issued to Auto. Div." in September 1950. This appears to have been in answer to a request from the US Eighth Army in Korea "for a means of direct visible battlefield illumination." Ultimately, it was decided that standard 18-inch searchlights could be provided at a small fraction of the cost of purpose made searchlight tanks. In any case, neither of the T10s appear to have survived in the APG collection past the 1950s. Based on the few available photos, it would seem that working side doors were not a requirement of the conversion program. On the other hand, all photos examined to date show the units retrofitted with M4 bogies (1). Recall that in the February 1942 Report regarding ALCO M3 SN 1687, "It was recommended that all rotor clearances [around guns] be provided with shields and splash proofing." Although we have never seen it on an M3 gun tank in service, the 75mm Rotor Shield (2) modification appears to have been produced and retrofitted to most or more likely all of the T10s. The "box" (3) above the 75mm gun may have protected a direct sight telescope. It is thought that the T10s were equipped with two driver's periscopes positioned side by side. The cast hull unit has these mounted on or through what look like round ventilator housings (4). The riveted hull has the periscope centered over the driver's position mounted in a similar fashion, while a periscope guard (circled and inset) indicates another installed directly through the "roof" plate. Reconfigured, open(?) grouser boxes (5) and rear stowage bins (6) appear to have been required, along with an additional head lamp (7), mounted on or above the fixed machine gun casting. We don't believe that the T10 was equipped with fixed machine guns, but a ball mount (8) for a .30 caliber machine gun was included on the CDL turret. Again, based on photos, the T10 conversion program appears to have mandated sand shields, but as was the case with Shermans in service overseas, most crews removed them immediately.




Starting in August 1943, the 701st, 736th, 738th, 739th, 740th and 748th Tank Battalions (Special) trained with T10s (also code named "Leaflet tanks") under Top Secret conditions at Camp Bouse, Arizona. They were deployed to the European Theater of Operations beginning in the Summer of 1944, but due to the extremely secret nature of the project, no missions were assigned to either the British or US CDLs. By the Fall, trained tank crews were in great demand and four of the idle US CDL units were converted to conventional Tank Battalions, while two were converted to Mine Exploder Battalions. Author Steven Zaloga reports that "In February 1945, with operations along the Rhine likely, 65 Leaflet tanks were taken out of depots to be used to guard key bridges against German night attacks. They were issued to three tank battalions: the 738th, 739th and 748th." The original purpose of the CDL program was offensive in nature. Its powerful strobe light, what Aberdeen called a "blinding ray," was designed to assist night attacks by confusing and paralyzing enemy defenders. In practice, the CDLs were used as searchlights against enemy night attacks at Rhine River crossing points or to provide illumination for engineers attempting to erect or repair bridges. The 738th Tank Battalion (Mine Exploder) appears to have been first to use CDLs in combat on the night of 9/10 March 1945 at Sinzig near the Remagen Bridge. "At 2400 hours, Lt. Olson, Co "C", with four (4) CDLs was given mission to furnish illumination for Engineers at F670175 on west side of river...a direct hit scored on one (1) CDL, damaging turret and wiring." The CDLs continued to perform such missions until mid-April when the 3 Battalions were ordered to turn them in. For instance, on 17th April 1945, the 738th turned "thirty-four (34) CDLs...in to 955th Ord." The snapshot above shows one of the units of A Company, 738th TB (ME) being transported in Mönchengladbach, Germany. (Along with CDLs, the 738th operated Mine Exploders, Dozers and Psychological Warfare (Loudspeaker) tanks.) Judging by the foliage on the trees, this photograph was likely taken in the Spring of 1945.




So ended the combat service of the Shop Tractor T10. The 10th Army on Okinawa ordered 60 CDLs but they had not yet arrived when "organized resistance" ended on 22 June 1945. At that point, the number requested was cut back to 18 "for tactical and organization try out." For the planned invasion of Japan, a few advocates proposed that each separate Tank and Tank Destroyer Battalion be augmented with a platoon of 5 CDLs in their Headquarters Companies. Again, as on the Rhine, their original intended offensive purpose was ignored, and "CDL tanks will be employed in bivouac and positional defense and also to illuminate areas for night firing." In other words, these were to be used as extremely expensive searchlights. On 18 July 1945, the War Department notified the Pacific Theater that an additional 181 "were available for shipment from UK." This seems to suggest that about 250 CDLs or roughly half of those built, had been supplied to the ETO. Furthermore, should the PTO desire, "These tanks can be shipped upon request to ZI [Zone of the Interior, i.e. US] for modifications consisting of extended end connectors, wading stocks, moisture proofing of radio equipment, installation of RC-298 telephone and AN/VRC-1 radio, addition of exhaust fans for hull ventilation, and protective screen over rear deck of hull." And it was noted that the 60 already on their way had been so modified. Thus, we gain some insight about the "ultimate" version of the Shop Tractor T10. There should have been nearly 250 CDLs in the US, so it is a mystery why the 181 offered to the PTO needed to come from the UK. At any rate, the photo above shows more than a dozen T10s on rail cars in Nashua, Iowa in April 1945. These units were obviously processed for shipment, but the installed sand shields suggest that they had not received the mid 1945 modifications, or at the least, not the extended end connectors.