Gunn's Tank

Might as well throw my two cents in. First, the tank is an M3 medium. Period, no further modifiers. It's neither a Grant nor a Lee, as both of those were British references to the same model. The spotting features of the "M3" are the riveted hull and the high profile (cupola) turret. Later variants used welded hulls after experiences in combat because of spalling, the effect inside a tank of rivets being sheared off and becoming projectiles when the hull is struck by a shell. The presence or absence of rivets was not the determinant of the "Lee" v. "Grant" names (as the original M3s had both names in British service). The riveted tanks hurried to the British were called Lees--but when the British had lower profiled turrets put on the hulls to reduce their silhouettes, they called those "Grants". In general the welded variants became known to the Brits as Lee IIIs, IVs, and Vs. The US Army simply called them M3 mediums. They had no nickname.

As a further note, when the British relief column comes up at the end, the two lead M3 mediums are the cast (rounded) hull M3A1 variants (Lee IIs in British parlance), followed by several M2A4 light tanks, which were used only in training during WWII and pre-dated the more familiar Stuart/Honey M3 and M5 light tanks. Their spotting features are their very low profile (virtually no hull), single turrets and prominent driver's aperture.

:)

Good job Platt ! You know your stuff !


"The more you know. The more you know you don't know."
Benign Mastronardy - HS Chemistry Teacher