Armour in Profile - Vol.1 Issue 1.pdf

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of the United States Army, 1945-2018
ARMOURED FIGHTING VEHICLES
M.P Robinson, David Grummitt & Leif Robinson
From Sherman to Patton.
M.P. Robinson
examines the evolution of the United
States Medium Tank from 1945 to 1960.
REFORGER: 1968-1988.
M.P. Robinson
looks at the
Return
of Forces to
Germany
exercises during the Cold
War.
Last of the Pattons.
M.P. Robinson
celebrates the mighty M60 Main
Battle Tank.
The Abrams: four decades of
excellence.
Leif Robinson examines
the world’s premier Main Battle
Tank.
The M1 Abrams today.
David
Grummitt looks at how the United
States’ Main Battle Tank is meeting
the challenges of today.
The King of Battle.
David Grummitt
examines the long-serving M109 Self-
Propelled Howitzer.
ARMOUR IN PROFILE
Armoured Fighting
Vehicles of the
United States
Army, 1945-2018
Published by
Guideline Publications
Unit 3, Enigma Building,
Bilton Road, Denbigh East,
Bletchley, Buckinghamshire
MK1 1HW, UK
Tel: 01908 274433
Fax: 01908 270614
www.guidelinepublications.co.uk
Editor
David Grummitt
Writers
David Grummit
Leif Robinson
M.P Robinson
Profiles
Mark Rolfe
Design
Mark Smith
Printed in the UK.
An M60A1 Main Battle Tank of the 1
st
Tracked Vehicle Battalion of the 3
rd
Marine Division,
United States Marine Corps, takes part in a live-fire exercise during Exercise Bear Hunt
held in South Korea in 1984.
(US Navy/Cpl. S.T. Quade)
T
David Grummitt gives a brief history of the United States armoured forces to 1945.
from similar problems to those
that plagued the early years
of the British Royal Armoured
Corps: tanks were seen as
subordinate to the traditional
arms of infantry and cavalry
and there were no efforts to
establish an independent
armoured branch or design
effective combined-arms tank
tactics. In 1928 there was an
initiative to develop a new tank
arm, but this was thwarted by
insufficient funding a year later.
One positive development,
however, was the work of the
American tank designer, J.
Walter Christie. Although his
innovative suspension design
was spurned by the American
army, it was adopted elsewhere
and went on to inspire the
suspension system of the
Soviet T-34, the most influential
tank design of World War II.
During the 1930s the United
States had no real success
in developing an effective
medium tank and little more
in designing a light tank. The
M1 Combat Car and M2 Light
Tank saw limited service, with
the latter even serving with the
USMC in Guadalcanal in 1942,
while the M2 medium tank
entered production in 1939
with only 112 units produced.
In response to the obvious
success and importance of
tanks in the opening campaigns
of the War, however, the Armor
Branch of the US Army was
created on 10 July 1940.
During World War II the
armoured forces of the US
Army and USMC emerged as
vital factors in the eventual
Allied victory. In late 1941 the
first M3 Lee medium tanks
entered service. It was an
interim solution, combining
the obsolete turret-mounted
37mm of the M2 with a hull
sponson-mounted 75mm gun.
he current United
States Armor Force,
the branch of the
US Army that has
oversight of the armoured
fighting vehicles of both
the armoured and infantry
units and trains the tank
commanders of the US Army
and United States Marine
Corps (USMC), can trace its
origins to World War I. The
United States entered the
Great War in 1917 and by the
end of the year the United
States Tank Corps had been
established on the Western
Front, comprising of French
Renault light tanks and British
Mk. V and Mk. VI medium tanks.
The tanks made their combat
debut in autumn of 1918 and
were employed in the Meuse-
Argonne offensive, the final
Allied push of the War and still
the largest offensive (involving
over 1.2million American
soldiers) in US military history.
In February 1918 the Tank
Service of the National Army
was established to train tank
crews and a training facility was
established on site of the Civil
War battlefield of Gettysburg.
The following month the Tank
Service was renamed the Tank
Corps of the National Army.
Further camps were established
throughout the year and by
Armistice Day the Tank Corps
had 483 officers and 7,700 men
in its service. Production also
began of the M1917, a licence-
built copy of the French Renault
FT tank, but only 950 of the
projected 4,400 tanks were
built before hostilities ended
and this first American-built
tank never saw actual combat.
In 1919 it was proposed that
the National Army and its
constituent tank forces be
disbanded and the following
year the remaining two heavy
and four light tank battalions
were absorbed into the infantry
branch. An indigenous tank
design, the two-man Ford 3-ton
M1918, was also abandoned
with the end of the War.
In the 1920s and 30s
American armour suffered
A
A
B
A young George S. Patton, one
of the most charismatic and
influential US tank generals of World
War II, stands alongside a Renault
FT light tank in 1918.
(US Army)
The M2A3, a light tank introduced
in 1938. This was a modification
of the twin-turreted M2A2 with a longer
wheelbase and more widely spaced
bogies to improve the ride.
(US Army)
B
www.militarymodelcraftinternational.co.uk 3
Some 6,200 were produced up
to 1942 and they saw action
in North Africa, on the Eastern
Front and in the Pacific with
the Americans and their allies.
The M3 was superseded in
production by the M4 Sherman,
one of the most iconic tanks
of all time, in February 1942.
The Sherman tank, of which
some 49,200 were built
between 1942 and the end of
the War, was one of the most
important weapons of World
War II, serving in all theatres of
war. It also served as a potent
symbol of American military
and industrial power. While it
may have been inferior to the
German Panzer IV, Panther and
Tiger tanks, the sheer number of
Sherman tanks in the American
and Allied armies prevailed.
As well as the M3 Lee and
M4 Sherman tanks, the United
States developed a range
of other tanks that would
shape US armoured doctrine
in subsequent years. The
successors to the M2 light tank
were the M3 and M5. Both
were armed with the 37mm
gun, while the latter had a
redesigned hull. In the Pacific
the M3/M5 was often used
in tank-to-tank encounters
against the generally light
Japanese tanks, but in North
Africa, Italy and North-West
Europe, it was used in the
traditional cavalry roles of
reconnaissance and scouting.
The M5 was superseded in 1944
by the M24 Chaffee light tank.
Fast, agile and armed with a
75mm gun, this was one of the
most effective American tank
designs of the War and saw
service in the Korean War and
beyond with other nations. The
experience of the M4 Sherman
against the heavier German
tanks led to the development
of the M26 Pershing. Armed
with a 90mm gun it was
the only US tank that could
engage the German Pz.Kpfw
V Panther or Pz.Kpfw VI Tiger
and King Tiger on anything
like equal terms. Eventually
2,222 were produced, but only
twenty were delivered and
saw action in Europe before
the end of World War II.
In this collection of articles,
we will examine the history and
deployment of US armour in
the years from 1945. From the
battefields of Korea, through
the jungles of Vietnam and
the deserts of Iraq, we’ll see
how the US Armor Force has
developed into the preeminent
tank force in the world today.
The combination of the
Abrams Main Battle Tank and
the Bradley Fighting Vehicle,
supported by the Paladin self-
propelled howitzer, ensures
that the Armoured Brigade
Combat Teams of today’s US
Army continue the proud
traditions of their forebears and
meet the challenges of war and
peace for decades to come.
C
C
D
E
F
A colourful M4A3E8 Sherman
prepares for the Han River offensive
during the Korean War.
(US Army)
An M48A3 Patton, laden with
infantry, searches for Viet Cong
in the Vietnamese jungle.
(US Army)
M60A1s of 2nd Marine Division,
USMC, on exercise in South Korea
in 1982.
(US Navy/Sgt. Aaron F. Potter)
The M2/M3 Bradley Fighting
Vehicle is an integral part of the
United States armoured forces of today.
Serving both an as infantry fighting
vehicle and for cavalry reconnaissance
and scouting, its ability to fight
alongside the Abrams Main Battle Tank
is central to US warfighting doctrine.
(US Army/Spc. Ryan Tatum).
D
E
F
4 Armour in Profile
M.P Robinson examines the evolution of the United States Medium Tank from 1945 to 1960.
1
FROM SHERMAN TO PATTON
O
f the various tanks
produced during World
War II the American M4
Medium ‘Sherman’ series was
notable for its basic quality
and as a template for future
production programs. The
M4A1 and M4A3 were both
produced in updated 76mm
gunned versions that served in
the US Army until the middle
of the 1950s. In 1945 the M26
was intended at first to be
the army’s heavy tank and
subsequently as the successor
medium tank to the M4 series.
It introduced the basic features
common to the next generation
of American medium tanks.
These included the adoption
of the torsion bar suspension,
the low profile hull and the M3
90mm gun. The turret was a
substantial steel casting and
the hull incorporated cast and
welded sections. The extensive
use of cast armour remained
consistent in American medium
tank design for the next 20 years.
By the end of the war over
300 T26s and M26s had been
sent to Northwest Europe
and over 2,200 were built by
1946. In Germany, the M3
90mm gun proved to be an
effective weapon against the
Wehrmacht’s Panther and
Tiger I tanks at normal combat
ranges. The M3 gun went on
to be developed further in
the successor M47 and M48
designs. The first postwar
medium tank upgrade was a
stop-gap effort to re-engine the
M26 pending the development
of better types, which resulted
in the refurbishment program
that produced the M46 Patton.
The Pershing and Patton’s real
baptism of fire came in Korea,
where the type’s 90mm gun
proved capable of penetrating
the T-34/85 frontally at all
combat ranges. As a result,
there was a scramble to get
enough M26 and M46s rounded
up, overhauled and shipped to
South Korea for the Army and
for the Marines. The hilly Korean
terrain of proved to be hard
going for the underpowered
M26, which was also criticised
for its high fuel consumption.
The reserve of power that was
1
2
In early 1948 the problem of the
Pershing’s poor power to weight ratio
was addressed by replacing the original
Ford GAF engine. The new Continental
AV1790-3 engine and Allison CD-850
cross-drive transmission offered 740 HP.
The Allison transmission functioned as a
steering, braking and transmission unit.
The modified design was re-designated
M46 and was nicknamed Patton. The M46
upgrade was intended to be a stopgap
measure to improve the M26’s mobility
2
until such time that it could be replaced
by the T42 Medium Tank. When the
M46’s powertrain was improved with a
modified cooling system and transmission
improvements, it received the designation
M46A1. In total, 1,160 M26 and M26A1s
were transformed into M46s and M46A1s
from November 1949. This Marine Corps M46
was photographed operating in support of
Turkish forces in Korea in 1953.
(US NARA)
An M47 tank at the Third Cavalry
Museum, Fort Hood, Texas.
www.militarymodelcraftinternational.co.uk 5

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