M39 (tank)

M39
M39 in the Munster tank museum
General properties
crew	2 + 8
length	5.28 m
width	2.87 m
height
Dimensions	16.3 t
Armor and armament
Armor	13 mm all around
Main armament	12.7 mm MG M2
agility
drive	Continental R-975-C4, 9-cylinder, 4-stroke radial engine with magneto ignition. Displacement 15.9 l 295 kW (400 hp) at 2,400 rpm
suspension	Torsion bar
Top speed	80 km / h
Power / weight
Range	240 km

M39 medical tank in the Korean War

The M39 was an American tracked armored vehicle based on the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer . Originally designed as a tractor for anti-tank units, it also was used as armored vehicle supply, reconnaissance and command vehicle and finally the last year of World War II and in the Korean War as an armored personnel carrier . With effect from February 14, 1957, the vehicles were retired from the US armed forces; however, they were still used by the US allies.

history

With the tank destroyer M18, the US Army introduced a highly mobile weapon system. However, it soon turned out that large parts of the anti-tank battalions, especially the rifled guns, could not follow it on the battlefield and thus the mobility of the M18 could not come into its own. For this reason, development work began on the armored utility vehicle T41 , the first tests of which were successful on March 7, 1944. The production of an armored tractor ( armored utility vehicle T41 ) and a command and reconnaissance variant ( armored utility vehicle T41E1 ) were considered. On June 26, 1944, the conversion of 650 M18 tank destroyers (including ten T41E1s), which were undergoing a general overhaul at the manufacturer, to T41s was ordered. In November the T41 was adopted into the standard armament of the US Army and renamed the armored utility vehicle M39 . The T41E1 was only produced and delivered in a number of ten vehicles, but not included in the standard armament.

With the retirement of the rifled 76 mm and 90 mm anti-tank guns after the end of World War II, the M39 were used as armored personnel carriers and were used in this function in the Korean War.

Use in the Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr was in 1956 about 100 vehicles from US stocks offered, of which 32 were acquired in initial as armored MTW. The training battalion in Munster was the only armored infantry battalion to be equipped with them. The M39 was replaced by the HS 30 as early as 1960 .

technology

The M39 used the hull of the M18 tank destroyer almost unchanged. Instead of the tower, however, he had an open-top crew room for eight men in the T41 / M39 variant or seven men in the T41E1 variant. The benches were located at the rear and front end of the crew room. A driver and a co-driver under full armor protection completed the crew. Since the open combat area soon turned out to be a problem - it made the crew susceptible to artillery fragments and fire - an armored attachment made of 10 mm thick sheet metal was designed as early as March 1945, which was attached about 20 cm above the hull walls. There was no introduction. Despite the eight hatches, the cover hindered sitting down too much and also worsened the already oppressive confinement of the crew compartment.

The armament of the M39 consisted of a 12.7 mm M2 machine gun on a turntable above the open combat area. The ammunition load for the attached anti-tank gun consisted of 42 76 mm cartridges. Reconnaissance vehicles were also equipped with a Bazooka anti-tank weapon and three anti-tank mines . The other equipment consisted of an SCR 610 radio and, in the case of the T41E1 reconnaissance and command vehicles, an SCR 506 or 608 with APU .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ M39 on panzerbaer.de, accessed on April 6, 2008

literature

• Hunnicutt, RP: Stuart. A History of the American Light Tank. Vol. 1 Novato 1992, pp. 385-8.

Web links

Commons : M39 Armored Utility Vehicle  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• M39 infantry fighting vehicle in the Bundeswehr