Another Lend-Lease. Tank M3 "Lee". Three-story nightmare
Those readers who are closely watching our show are accustomed to the fact that the equipment and weapons that we were supplied were quite effective for the period of delivery. These were fairly advanced designs. Yes, with flaws, but advanced and often superior or unparalleled with us.
The hero of our story today is so controversial that it causes loud controversy even today. Almost all experts and lovers of combat vehicles of the past speak of its unsuccessful design initially.
No wonder that this tank was removed from production as quickly as it was accepted. By the way, few people know this, but this particular tank is the record for speed of creation. Not a single combat vehicle in the world has been developed and put into service in such a short time.
So, the hero of our story is the American medium tank М3 Lee, better known here as МХNUMXс "Lee".
Here you just need to make a little historical help regarding the Soviet designation tank. The American M3 and the Soviet Lend-Lease M3s tank are actually the same machine. Just the letter “c” is nothing more than the designation “average”.
There is another aspect that just needs to be covered at the beginning of the material. Among those who study tanks from World War II, there is a perception that another tank, known as the M3 Grant, is American, but ordered by the UK is nothing more than an exact copy of the M3 Lee.
Yes, "Grant" really copied "Lee", but it had a lot of differences to be an independent machine. No wonder he received the name of General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the troops of the northerners during the civil war.
Recall, General Robert Edward Lee commanded the Southerners at the same time. And the American version of the M3 "Lee" is named after this general. A sort of specific Anglo-American humor, the essence of which is not entirely clear to us.
Especially considering that Grant beat Lee.
By the way, both cars received the name from the British as a gift. In Britain, cars went under other indices.
Similarly, the opinion of some readers about the differences in engines. We often hear about Grant diesel engines and Li gasoline engines. Alas, but "Grants" had both petrol and diesel engines. Why and how this happened is not the topic of today's material.
Let's start the story. February 1942 of the year. City Sloboda Kirov region. Here is the formation of the 114 Tank Brigade. Soldiers and brigade officers are surprised daily. Scouts and signalers get motorcycles "Harley". The drivers are strange cars "Ford-6", "Chevrolet", "Dodge".
But the tankmen are most surprised. In the brigade they come completely "not ours" in appearance tanks МХNUMXс and light МХNUMXл. 3 new, not known in the Red Army medium tanks.
That is how the acquaintance of Soviet soldiers with the new American tank. The deliveries of M3 in the USSR began in February 1942.
The first fight M3 "Lee" took in May 1942 of the year. Our army attempted an offensive on the Barvenkovsky bridgehead during the second battle of Kharkov. Alas, we remember how this attempt ended. Our troops suffered a brutal defeat.
Recall, then we lost a thousand 171 killed, 100 thousand wounded, 240 thousands of prisoners. Lost (destroyed, abandoned, captured) 1 240 tanks. The Germans and Romanians then lost 8 thousands killed, 22 thousands wounded, 3 thousands missing.
What did the soldiers and officers of the 114 tank brigade see? Why did the appearance of the cars have so stunning effect on tankers?
The fact is that the new car was a “three-story”. In the literal sense of the word. On the ground floor, in the sponson, an 75-mm gun was installed with a horizontal pointing angle 32.
The second floor, a tower with a circular rotation, is equipped with a 37-mm cannon with a twin machine gun. The tower was driven by a hydraulic drive, but if necessary, can be rotated and mechanical.
But there was a third floor. True, fortunately, this floor could not boast of a gun. In the commander's turret a machine gun was installed, which could be used both for ground and air targets.
Immediately the question arises about the most powerful gun. Why is it located in the sponsor, and not in the tower?
By the way, we again move away from the narration for a second. The word “sponson” should be clarified to land readers. Word something navy. So, sponson is a ledge above the side (in the navy) or “growth” on board an armored vehicle (for those who are used to leaning on the ground).
So why in sponsorship? The answer is simple. The gun caliber 37-mm has ceased to arrange tankers. Functions anti-she had not performed. And according to the American tradition, the designers did not really think about the problem.
If 37-mm is not enough, then you need to take one to satisfy all. And somewhere to shove. So the 75 mm M2 cannon was selected. And then, according to the logic of things, it is necessary to refine or develop a new car body and a tower. In fact, you need to change the car itself.
But, we recall, there was a war, and the US Army really needed a well-armed medium tank ...
So came the sponson on the right side of the case. The gun lost a huge part of the shelling sector. However, the adoption dates have not changed.
Why did this happen to this machine? Here it is necessary to consider the history of the creation of tank units in the United States. We already wrote that by the beginning of World War II, the Americans did not have tank troops.
The only tank that the Americans had was the extremely unfortunate M2 (1939-41 was produced). The tank was produced in two modifications and the 146 machines (52 М2 and 94 М2А1) were assembled in total.
By copying many of the nodes of this machine, the designers created the M3. Transmission, power plant, chassis. Many are talking about the archaic layout of the tank M3. Indeed, by the 40 years of the 20 century, this arrangement looks ridiculous.
In general, the situation is “I blinded him from what was.” And at the disposal of American designers was very little.
The body of the tank M3 has a prefabricated structure. Armored sheets of rolled armor were fastened to the precast frame with rivets (or bolts). The bottom frontal part consists of three separate cast parts, bolted together. This is seen in the photo.
For access to the tank along the sides of the hull rectangular doors were provided, the driver got into his place through a hatch located in the right side of the upper frontal sheet, his viewing devices were also located there.
To the left of the driver's hatch in the lower front plate there was an embrasure for installing a coaxial machine gun.
The cast sponson for the 75-mm gun was mounted in the right front part of the body and fastened to it with rivets.
For access to the engine compartment in the stern and the bottom there were hatches, and its roof was removable. Air to the engine was supplied through armor boxes mounted above the tracks. They also contained fuel tanks.
The cylindrical cast tower was installed shifted to the left on the ball bearing and equipped with a hydraulic actuator. The gun was mounted in a mask, it also housed a machine gun and a periscope sight.
For observation in the sides of the tower there were viewing slots covered with glass blocks and hinged armored covers.
The commander's turret of a cylindrical shape with a machine gun was located on top of the tower with a shift to the left, the turret was rotated manually. Access to the tower was carried out through a double door in the roof of the commander's turret.
Let's look at the potential opponents of the Americans - the Germans. What German car was opposed to an American? The adversary M3 should have been Pz.IV. The German tank was also armed with a 75-mm cannon.
If we talk about the design as a whole, the car had a number of critical flaws. This is a weak reservation. This is the height. This is a completely ugly placement of weapons, which simply “consumed” the potential that could be obtained from a machine with such weapons.
The Americans quickly realized that the tank was not just crude, but also unpromising. That is why in the American army to meet the M3 was problematic already in 1944-45. And the number of these armored Americans are not the first.
In total, 6258 units of this tank of all modifications were released. Modifications differed mainly engines and manufacturing technology. Of these, 2 / 3 were transferred over Lend-Lease to the British and the USSR. A small part (about a hundred cars) transferred to other countries.
Congratulations, shake off this nightmare to those who needed it more.
The British can rightly call the M3 "Lee" their car. It was in the British army was the largest number of these tanks. More 2 thousand units.
Winston Churchill. Not afraid to lurch on the fronts.
The British received this horror first and applied it in battles for North Africa. Suddenly (for want of something better), “Li” liked. He was fast enough, armor German tanks, he made it without any problems, if properly positioned the car in relation to the enemy.
Another historical character, Montgomery himself, near his personal tank.
True, “Lee” himself could hold enemy shells with difficulty, the armor of an average tank was 37 mm. Despite all the shortcomings, this tank was the only British who could withstand German tanks in Africa, he was even called “the last Egyptian hope” during the fighting for El Alamein (July-August) even in 1942 year (July-August).
In the USSR, 1 386 tanks were shipped. This is according to American data. According to Soviet data, the USSR received all 976 machines. Losses of almost 30% of supplies are still of interest to historians and specialists. Machines either drowned in the northern seas, or lost in the Iranian deserts.
But be that as it may, this imperfect, archaic, absurd machine in the first period of the war still played a role. When the tank wedges of the Germans rushed into the open spaces of Russia, when our industry did not have time to give the front new T-34 and other machines, the M3 went into battle. Often the first and last.
A little known fact. These tanks took part in the great tank battle of the Second World War - the Battle of Kursk. We found a photo of the M3 "Lee", who died just in this battle in July 1943 of the year. Tank "Alexander Nevsky."
Even in the 1944 year, "Lee" still fought in our army. And one, probably the most stubborn, took part even in the defeat of the Japanese in the Far East. Somehow the partisans are remembered with the crosses of St. George for the First World War ...
The tank received the derogatory nicknames of ordinary Soviet tankers, it was called “monopoly”, “kalanch”, used the adjective “two-storey” and “three-storey” for it, assigned ironic indices: SH-7 (“sure death of seven”), BM-7 ( "A mass grave for seven") and stuff like that.
Well, the traditional tactical and technical data of the hero:
Mass, t: 27,9
Length, mm: 5639
Width, mm: 2718
Height, mm: 3124
Ground clearance mm: 432
Armament:
- 75 mm gun M2
- 37 mm gun M5
- 3 (4) 7,62-mm machine gun М1919А4
Booking: steel armor homogeneous
- body: 51 mm
- board: 38 mm
- feed: 38 mm
- bottom: 13 mm
- tower: 51 mm (forehead), mm 38 (board)
- housing roof-mm 13
Engine types: R-975EC2, GM 6046, Guiberson T-1400 Series 3, Chrysler A-57 Multi-Bank
Highway speed, km / h: 39
Power reserve, km: 193
Crew, person: 7
The hero of our story today is so controversial that it causes loud controversy even today. Almost all experts and lovers of combat vehicles of the past speak of its unsuccessful design initially.
No wonder that this tank was removed from production as quickly as it was accepted. By the way, few people know this, but this particular tank is the record for speed of creation. Not a single combat vehicle in the world has been developed and put into service in such a short time.
So, the hero of our story is the American medium tank М3 Lee, better known here as МХNUMXс "Lee".
Here you just need to make a little historical help regarding the Soviet designation tank. The American M3 and the Soviet Lend-Lease M3s tank are actually the same machine. Just the letter “c” is nothing more than the designation “average”.
There is another aspect that just needs to be covered at the beginning of the material. Among those who study tanks from World War II, there is a perception that another tank, known as the M3 Grant, is American, but ordered by the UK is nothing more than an exact copy of the M3 Lee.
Yes, "Grant" really copied "Lee", but it had a lot of differences to be an independent machine. No wonder he received the name of General Ulysses S. Grant, commander of the troops of the northerners during the civil war.
Recall, General Robert Edward Lee commanded the Southerners at the same time. And the American version of the M3 "Lee" is named after this general. A sort of specific Anglo-American humor, the essence of which is not entirely clear to us.
Especially considering that Grant beat Lee.
By the way, both cars received the name from the British as a gift. In Britain, cars went under other indices.
Similarly, the opinion of some readers about the differences in engines. We often hear about Grant diesel engines and Li gasoline engines. Alas, but "Grants" had both petrol and diesel engines. Why and how this happened is not the topic of today's material.
Let's start the story. February 1942 of the year. City Sloboda Kirov region. Here is the formation of the 114 Tank Brigade. Soldiers and brigade officers are surprised daily. Scouts and signalers get motorcycles "Harley". The drivers are strange cars "Ford-6", "Chevrolet", "Dodge".
But the tankmen are most surprised. In the brigade they come completely "not ours" in appearance tanks МХNUMXс and light МХNUMXл. 3 new, not known in the Red Army medium tanks.
That is how the acquaintance of Soviet soldiers with the new American tank. The deliveries of M3 in the USSR began in February 1942.
The first fight M3 "Lee" took in May 1942 of the year. Our army attempted an offensive on the Barvenkovsky bridgehead during the second battle of Kharkov. Alas, we remember how this attempt ended. Our troops suffered a brutal defeat.
Recall, then we lost a thousand 171 killed, 100 thousand wounded, 240 thousands of prisoners. Lost (destroyed, abandoned, captured) 1 240 tanks. The Germans and Romanians then lost 8 thousands killed, 22 thousands wounded, 3 thousands missing.
What did the soldiers and officers of the 114 tank brigade see? Why did the appearance of the cars have so stunning effect on tankers?
The fact is that the new car was a “three-story”. In the literal sense of the word. On the ground floor, in the sponson, an 75-mm gun was installed with a horizontal pointing angle 32.
The second floor, a tower with a circular rotation, is equipped with a 37-mm cannon with a twin machine gun. The tower was driven by a hydraulic drive, but if necessary, can be rotated and mechanical.
But there was a third floor. True, fortunately, this floor could not boast of a gun. In the commander's turret a machine gun was installed, which could be used both for ground and air targets.
Immediately the question arises about the most powerful gun. Why is it located in the sponsor, and not in the tower?
By the way, we again move away from the narration for a second. The word “sponson” should be clarified to land readers. Word something navy. So, sponson is a ledge above the side (in the navy) or “growth” on board an armored vehicle (for those who are used to leaning on the ground).
So why in sponsorship? The answer is simple. The gun caliber 37-mm has ceased to arrange tankers. Functions anti-she had not performed. And according to the American tradition, the designers did not really think about the problem.
If 37-mm is not enough, then you need to take one to satisfy all. And somewhere to shove. So the 75 mm M2 cannon was selected. And then, according to the logic of things, it is necessary to refine or develop a new car body and a tower. In fact, you need to change the car itself.
But, we recall, there was a war, and the US Army really needed a well-armed medium tank ...
So came the sponson on the right side of the case. The gun lost a huge part of the shelling sector. However, the adoption dates have not changed.
Why did this happen to this machine? Here it is necessary to consider the history of the creation of tank units in the United States. We already wrote that by the beginning of World War II, the Americans did not have tank troops.
The only tank that the Americans had was the extremely unfortunate M2 (1939-41 was produced). The tank was produced in two modifications and the 146 machines (52 М2 and 94 М2А1) were assembled in total.
By copying many of the nodes of this machine, the designers created the M3. Transmission, power plant, chassis. Many are talking about the archaic layout of the tank M3. Indeed, by the 40 years of the 20 century, this arrangement looks ridiculous.
In general, the situation is “I blinded him from what was.” And at the disposal of American designers was very little.
The body of the tank M3 has a prefabricated structure. Armored sheets of rolled armor were fastened to the precast frame with rivets (or bolts). The bottom frontal part consists of three separate cast parts, bolted together. This is seen in the photo.
For access to the tank along the sides of the hull rectangular doors were provided, the driver got into his place through a hatch located in the right side of the upper frontal sheet, his viewing devices were also located there.
To the left of the driver's hatch in the lower front plate there was an embrasure for installing a coaxial machine gun.
The cast sponson for the 75-mm gun was mounted in the right front part of the body and fastened to it with rivets.
For access to the engine compartment in the stern and the bottom there were hatches, and its roof was removable. Air to the engine was supplied through armor boxes mounted above the tracks. They also contained fuel tanks.
The cylindrical cast tower was installed shifted to the left on the ball bearing and equipped with a hydraulic actuator. The gun was mounted in a mask, it also housed a machine gun and a periscope sight.
For observation in the sides of the tower there were viewing slots covered with glass blocks and hinged armored covers.
The commander's turret of a cylindrical shape with a machine gun was located on top of the tower with a shift to the left, the turret was rotated manually. Access to the tower was carried out through a double door in the roof of the commander's turret.
Let's look at the potential opponents of the Americans - the Germans. What German car was opposed to an American? The adversary M3 should have been Pz.IV. The German tank was also armed with a 75-mm cannon.
If we talk about the design as a whole, the car had a number of critical flaws. This is a weak reservation. This is the height. This is a completely ugly placement of weapons, which simply “consumed” the potential that could be obtained from a machine with such weapons.
The Americans quickly realized that the tank was not just crude, but also unpromising. That is why in the American army to meet the M3 was problematic already in 1944-45. And the number of these armored Americans are not the first.
In total, 6258 units of this tank of all modifications were released. Modifications differed mainly engines and manufacturing technology. Of these, 2 / 3 were transferred over Lend-Lease to the British and the USSR. A small part (about a hundred cars) transferred to other countries.
Congratulations, shake off this nightmare to those who needed it more.
The British can rightly call the M3 "Lee" their car. It was in the British army was the largest number of these tanks. More 2 thousand units.
Winston Churchill. Not afraid to lurch on the fronts.
The British received this horror first and applied it in battles for North Africa. Suddenly (for want of something better), “Li” liked. He was fast enough, armor German tanks, he made it without any problems, if properly positioned the car in relation to the enemy.
Another historical character, Montgomery himself, near his personal tank.
True, “Lee” himself could hold enemy shells with difficulty, the armor of an average tank was 37 mm. Despite all the shortcomings, this tank was the only British who could withstand German tanks in Africa, he was even called “the last Egyptian hope” during the fighting for El Alamein (July-August) even in 1942 year (July-August).
In the USSR, 1 386 tanks were shipped. This is according to American data. According to Soviet data, the USSR received all 976 machines. Losses of almost 30% of supplies are still of interest to historians and specialists. Machines either drowned in the northern seas, or lost in the Iranian deserts.
But be that as it may, this imperfect, archaic, absurd machine in the first period of the war still played a role. When the tank wedges of the Germans rushed into the open spaces of Russia, when our industry did not have time to give the front new T-34 and other machines, the M3 went into battle. Often the first and last.
A little known fact. These tanks took part in the great tank battle of the Second World War - the Battle of Kursk. We found a photo of the M3 "Lee", who died just in this battle in July 1943 of the year. Tank "Alexander Nevsky."
Even in the 1944 year, "Lee" still fought in our army. And one, probably the most stubborn, took part even in the defeat of the Japanese in the Far East. Somehow the partisans are remembered with the crosses of St. George for the First World War ...
The tank received the derogatory nicknames of ordinary Soviet tankers, it was called “monopoly”, “kalanch”, used the adjective “two-storey” and “three-storey” for it, assigned ironic indices: SH-7 (“sure death of seven”), BM-7 ( "A mass grave for seven") and stuff like that.
Well, the traditional tactical and technical data of the hero:
Mass, t: 27,9
Length, mm: 5639
Width, mm: 2718
Height, mm: 3124
Ground clearance mm: 432
Armament:
- 75 mm gun M2
- 37 mm gun M5
- 3 (4) 7,62-mm machine gun М1919А4
Booking: steel armor homogeneous
- body: 51 mm
- board: 38 mm
- feed: 38 mm
- bottom: 13 mm
- tower: 51 mm (forehead), mm 38 (board)
- housing roof-mm 13
Engine types: R-975EC2, GM 6046, Guiberson T-1400 Series 3, Chrysler A-57 Multi-Bank
Highway speed, km / h: 39
Power reserve, km: 193
Crew, person: 7
Information