M3 Stuart

M3 Stuart
An M3 Stuart in Switzerland
General properties
crew	4 (commander, gunner, radio operator, driver)
length	4.52 m
width	2.35 m
height	2.64 m
Dimensions	12.7 t
Armor and armament
Armor	13-51 mm
Main armament	37mm cannon
Secondary armament	4 × 7.62 mm MG 1919
agility
drive	air-cooled Continental W-670 250 hp at 2400 rpm
suspension	Vertical cone suspension
Top speed	58 km / h (36 mph ), road
Power / weight	19.7 hp / t
Range	120 km

The M3 Stuart (official name Light Tank M3 ) was a light American tank that was used in World War II from 1941. It was seldom used as a main battle tank, but all the more so because of its speed, mainly for reconnaissance , where it did well. This tank, like its later developed version M5 , was also known by the nicknames "Stuart" (named after JEB Stuart , a general of the American Civil War ) and "Honey".

history

The M3 light tank was a further development of the pre-war M2 model and went into series production in early 1941. The nickname Honey was an allusion to its small size from the colloquial English , which means something like "darling". Its structure was conventional, with the engine in the stern and the gearbox in the bow. The drive with conical suspension corresponded to that of the medium tanks M3 Lee / Grant and M4 Sherman . The rear idler was lowered to extend the chain support. At the beginning of series production, the tower and tank were completely riveted, then the tower and finally the tank were welded. The crew comprised the driver and radio operator in the bow, the commander and the gunner in the tower. As with all American tanks of the Second World War, the commander had a 360 ° M6 corner mirror for observing the battlefield under armor protection. The armament consisted of a 37 mm KwK and three 7.62 mm machine guns . As drive served a 7-cylinder - radial engine of Continental motor 250 or 262 hp. In contrast to this, 711 vehicles had a 9-cylinder Guiberson A-1020 diesel engine (also a radial engine). The M3 reached a speed of over 58 km / h and had a driving range of 112 km. The battle mass increased from 12.4 t for the M3 to 14.4 t for the M3A3. The three versions of the M3 came to a total of 13,859.

The M5 replaced the M3 in series production in early 1943. In addition to numerous improvements to turret and hull the main difference was the M3 in a new drive: Two Cadillac - V8 - petrol engines seemed combined to form a twin-engine 2 × 148 hp to a Hydra Matic - automatic . The armor on the M5 had been reinforced and the performance corresponded to that of the M3. The battle mass was 15 t.

Its successor as a light tank was the M24 Chaffee from 1944 . This was equipped with the same drive block as the M5, but had a much more modern design and was by far better armed and armored.

Versions

M3-A3 Stuart

• M3 - 5811 pieces
• M3A1 - 4621 pieces
• M3A3 - 3427 pieces
• M2A

• M5 - 2074 pieces
• M5A1 - 6810 pieces

Varieties

A variant of the M5 was the light storm tank M8 , which carried a 75 mm howitzer in an open-topped turret. However, relatively few of these vehicles were built and used. The chassis of the M3 was used in the M4 High-Speed ​​Tractor artillery tractor .

commitment

Stuart - Fort Knox, VI, 1942

The first war missions before the United States officially entered the war in 1941 had some M3 deployed by the Chinese National Revolutionary Army in the Sino-Japanese War that had been going on since 1937 . The M3 performed quite well in the fight against the Japanese, who at the time only had a single tank model.

The M3 saw its first use in World War II and thus its real baptism of fire on the British side during the fighting against the Axis powers Germany and fascist Italy in North Africa . It was mainly used for reconnaissance, because it benefited from its high speed of around 60 km / h. In direct combat against other tanks, it was of rather poor value because of its relatively weak armament and armor, and numerous Stuarts who encountered larger and more powerful German tanks almost inevitably lost out. Even the Italian M13 / 40 tanks managed to destroy the M3 relatively easily. An almost bizarre incident occurred during the fighting in Tunisia in late 1942 , when a 37mm hit on the turret by a Stuart briefly caused the failure of a Tiger tank by blocking its turret pivoting mechanism.

The M3 Stuart was also used in some advance groups of the United States Army and always accompanied by an infantry group of up to 8 infantrymen. If an anti-aircraft machine gun was attached to the tower, the group leader had the opportunity to kneel on the rear of the tank and support his group with this machine gun under the protection of the tank tower.

Some Stuarts were also delivered to the Soviet Union as part of the Lend-Lease-Act . The Red Army is avoided after a few losses to use the Stuarts further than battle tanks, and also used them in practice only to educate.

Individual M3 Stuart captured in North Africa and on the Eastern Front were used by the Wehrmacht under the designation M3 740 (a). M3 Stuart captured on the eastern front were mostly used without a tower as full chain tugs. The German troops in North Africa, however, used the M3 Stuart as a battle tank. Among other things, twelve captured M3 Stuart were temporarily used in the "Combat Squadron of the Commander-in-Chief" Erwin Rommel .

In the later course of the war in Europe, too, it became apparent that the Stuart was outdated and unsuitable as a main battle tank. It could be easily destroyed by German tanks and anti-tank guns . In addition, his armament with 37 mm cannon was now much too weak to be able to do anything worth mentioning. Accordingly, they rarely appeared openly in tank battles. The Stuarts mostly took on the task of clearing up, as before. From 1944 it was used again on a larger scale for the landing in Normandy (see South Alberta Regiment ), but later and in the final phase of the war in Germany it only played the role as a reconnaissance and support vehicle. Combat losses in Northwestern Europe (European Theater of Operations, ETO) amounted to 1507 vehicles for the US Army for the M3, M5 and M24 series and 248 and 185 for the British Army for the M3 and M5 / Stuart VI series.

Another important area of ​​application for the Stuarts was the US Pacific War against the Japanese Empire (see Battle of Tenaru ). Because of their small size and light weight, they were made for use in the regions of Southeast Asia, which are geographically less favorable for tanks . The Japanese army immediately used every captured Stuart against the Americans, as they had only a few tanks themselves and these were mostly inferior to the M3. Interestingly enough, in some cases the M3 now in Japanese hands succeeded in destroying some attacking M3s owned by the Americans. In these remote theaters of war, the Stuart proved to be an effective weapon, albeit against relatively weak opponents.

After 1945, the M3 and M5 were no longer used by the USA because they were outdated. Some countries allied with the USA took over numerous vehicles and, like some countries in the Third World , used them for a few years.

In 2016, Paraguay used some M3 Stuart and M4 Sherman to train new tank crews.

Technical data M3

M3-A1 Stuart

• Armament: 37 mm M5 cannon, 4 × 7.62 mm machine guns (.30 caliber)
• Weight: 11.47 tons (empty) / 12.7 tons (with crew)
• Engine: air-cooled Continental - Wright R-670 seven-cylinder - radial engine with 184 kW (250 hp)
• Top speed: 58 km / h (36 mph )
• Length: 4.52 m (178 inch)
• Width: 2.35 m (88 inch)
• Height: 2.64 m (104 inch)
• Crew: 4 men
• Year of construction: 1941–1942
• Number of pieces: 5811

literature

• Alexander Lüdeke : captured tanks of the Wehrmacht - Great Britain, Italy, Soviet Union and USA 1939–45. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03359-7 .
• War Department: Light Tank M3 - Technical Manual of July 15, 1942

Web links

Commons : M3 Stuart  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lüdeke: Beutepanzer der Wehrmacht , 2011, pp. 114–115.
2. ^ Paraguay keeping M3 Stuart and M4 Sherman tanks in service . In: Tank and AFV News . January 1, 2016 ( tankandafvnews.com [accessed October 14, 2017]).