My late uncle was an M3 tank driver with the 1st Armored Division - Co. B - 13th Armored Regiment in North Africa. He was killed-in-action at 0630 on Sunday November 29, 1942 in Souk el Arba, Tunisia during a Stuka dive bomb attack that was a direct hit in his slit trench. My siblings and I never had the opportunity to know our uncle who adored his “little sister” ... our mother. R.I.P. Mother and Uncle Jim. I love you both so dearly. 🇺🇸
PANZER Insight Thank you. I appreciate your comment. Most certainly THE Greatest Generation. My mother missed and prayed for her brother every day of her life. A missing but loved family member whose grave I will visit in July. Don’t know how to post a picture of him here. Forever Young. ♥️
@@31Alden sadly you can't place pictures here. But I have seen the same lose in my grandmother, who also lost here brother, he served in the Dutch army, he survived the battle, but died from what we think was Crohn's disease, a disease I share now, but I still have everything my grandmother got from her brother to remember him.
The M3 Lee, was an American medium tank named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Intended as a replacement for the unsuccessful M2 Medium Tank, the M3 was produced and designed in a rush after the war broke out. The basis for the M3 proofed to be incredibly successful and the development of the M3 helped to speed up the development of the M4 Sherman. Even due the M3 was a rushed obsolete, awkward design it served as a frontline tank the entire length of the war and proofed to be really effective in the Pacific campaign, but the high silhouette and main gun position were still a big downside, but it was reliable, had good armor and, great firepower. In Britain, the tank was called the Grant named after Union general Ulysses S. Grant. British army didn't like the overall design of the tank, but pushed for it's production since it was the only model suitable for instant mass-production, and it became the warhorse of the British army during 1941-42. The M3 was produced from 1941 until 1942 and approximately 6,258 were made.
My apologies i miss read from the book Armored Thunderbolt and iam trying to find it in one of my other books allso with some old footage The Sherman Tank in World War II Spi by Steven Zaloga and it was the animations that went up WHEN it was hit by armor piercing shell not the fuel
This was also the Grant in a slightly different configuration. It was the first allied tank to appear in Africa against Rommel with a 75mm main gun. The 37mm in the turret fired an excellent canister round, deadly to enemy infantry. The Grant/Lee held the line until the M4 Sherman arrived, and was then sent to the far east - India - where it was superior to all Japanese tanks it encountered through the end of the war. It was the (Allied) Tiger Tank of the far east!
@@swampdonkey1567 the quote I'm focusing on is "The Grant/Lee held the line until the M4 Sherman arrived", which isn't true as there were many other tanks before the Lee in the desert holding the line already.
USSR tank's crews called this tank a "mass grave", it was traded as per lendlease agreement. It was completely useless against german tanks) lots of them were lost in battles, diggers are still finding parts of these machines in russian and belarusian swamps.
@@evgenyr3342 it was very clearly not "useless" against German tanks, as we can see from the performance against those tanks in north Africa. The Russians lost a lot of every type of tank, because their training and tactics sucked.
Yeah ... that scene where those tanks are rolling off the assembly line into the darkness of the night says a lot. They'd build these things, ship them overseas, they'd be destroyed and they'd just make more, working on through the night until the next shift arrived to take over. .
These early US tanks were mainly destroyed because crew training was poor in these early months of america entering the war because they simply did not yet have any battle experienced crews which could teach the new once. Yet the M3 was by all means not a terrible tank. The 75mm gun was better then anything germany could bring to the table at that time, the mobility was fairly good and the armor was good enough, although it was rivited. Still the US learned from their mistakes and the result would be the glorious M4 Sherman which together with the T-34 truely won world war 2 and defeated fashism. I would say that the M4 is the true symbol of freedom. Where ever US and british crews fought with their shermans, there remains freedom and democracy untill this very day.
@@jakobc.2558 Yeah. Germany in 1934, when they started rearming, had an Army that had intentionally been used as a training ground for future Officers and Staff NCO's - so as their Army filled out - at least at first - they had some well trained leaders. The German Army was restricted in size by the Versailles Treaty until Hitler came into power and discarded it. The American Army, which was about the same size, (though NOT intended as a training ground for future leaders), was that way because of Congress and stayed that way until 1940 when the writing was on the wall that there was going to be another war. So - not only did the Germans have men who had started gaining combat experience in 1939 - these were men who may have been in the Army for 5 years or so before that. The US and the UK both had strong Navies. The US had two Oceans and the UK the Channel. Both however had small armies and ... you just don't train an army over night. .
People laugh at the M3, until they actually look at what the other powers were building at the same time. Even with the rivets - which could become projectiles inside the tank if struck even my machine guns at close range - the M3 was a very unpleasant surprise in the Western Desert. I have seen a couple of pictures of these serving in Europe late in the war, poor pictures, one pretty obviously was being used for C&C, main gun removed, antennae mounted all over. The other? Who knows what but probably the same. They were roomy inside, made more so by the removal of the 75mm and it's ammo.
@@BrumKid Brum Kid that's not remotely true, their survivability was better then any other tank at the time. And to the M3 Lee, it wasn't at all a bad tank if you look what other countries were developing at the time, like whiskeytango said.
The sad music when the motivational speaker was talking made me think of how tragic it was to watch these things go to war only to be on most occasions massacred.
The Russians called the M3 a "coffin for 5 men". It just could not stand up to the German medium to heavy tanks...it was fine against infantry and fixed positions. The movie "Sahara" starring Bogart is a very fine example of the M3's capabilities. Brave men all who went to battle in these machines.
@@leeham6230 Germans who captured the M3 were impressed with the amount of room they had in that tank, they enjoyed that. But the fact remains that both the Sherman (M4) and M3 would almost certainly burn furiously if penetrated by a round due to the high octane (100 octane aviation fuel) that the radial engine required. Whereas the Germans were using a low grade 80 octane fuel. When I lived in Germany, I discussed this with a fellow who was a gunner on a Panzer IV, he said every Sherman lite up instantly if hit. He survived the lose of three Panzer IV's.
This is why US and Allies were the bravest tankers in the world. And why we won the war. You can have the best stuff, but never have the best men. Evil always loses. Thanks for the Video.
@@vemundr9263 Nope Germans always say in videos they never feared any ones tanks. Because they had the best tanks in the war. If you have no fear, but you get back into a tank like a job but never to experience fear of dying on a grand scale. you enter with no anxiety your at peace. But to force yourself back into a tank/tanks time and time again knowing you may never come back that's true bravery. So not until German tankers start admitting they've experienced true fear it becomes irrelevant.
@@claytonmcclain182 soviet union was evil but still have the braver men then the us. Imagine being cramped inside a t34, with vey little chances of surviving against many german heavy tanks. The only thing that can boose your moral is the number of comrades along with u
it was a teewner between the interwar division of infantry and artillery support tanks and the WW 2 change to medium and versitle tanks. It filled the void till the Sherman came along. a good weapon to use in North Africa. If used within its limits it could hurt you. Better versions of the tiger made it impractical for use against larger German tanks. Still could give the Japanese lots of trouble.
@@thundercheck3691 The germans were still using panzer 1s and 2s during the blitz and the lee was a big improvement on the British tanks in North Africa when they were introduced. Whatever their faults were and its clear what they were they matched what the germans had until the upgunned panzer 4 and tiger 1 turned up on the scene in numbers and by then the allies were winning in the desert
@Hal McAdams The germans sent Tigers to North Africa so they could be sent by ship whats more important is numbers and the logistics of operating many thousands of miles from home. American equipment was built on a much more universal standard than not just the German equipment but everyone else as well. The American automobile industry was used to anticipating the needs of the end user ie the conscript soldier and made equipment that met their needs. The headlight of a wilis jeep could be turned around to work on the engine for example. The brits liked the 75mm gun because it could fire an HE round at anti tank guns solid shot was almost useless against them and was easy to service and reliable. The turrent lay out wasnt good but the germans at the time used 57mm panzer 3s and panzer4s with a 75mm short barrelled gun that was used against soft targets which wasnt ideal either they needed to support each other. For an early war tank I think its one of the better ones overall
Have a question. How come that this tank work and fires at the target accurately without any conflicts between decision of the driver and the gunner or is it just the driver was also the gunner too?
High velocity anti armor projectiles could go through at 2,000 yards. That steel gives a false sense of security till you see what actually happened to our crews.
Producing M3 Lee are starting before 2nd world war starts so when participating in North Africa operation were not sufficient success in field against German Tiger, anti tank cannon88mm even leader position in side tawer were most effective thanks nice video
Soviets did not like it - just too lightly armoured --They called it the 5 man coffin. As for the Brits -- it was bette than anything they had at the time
It was not better then anything we had at the time. Just so happened that there were loads of them. Took us removing a man and a tonne of redundant machineguns for it to br servicable.
Are this design of American tank showing capability or suitable ability in war of north Africa against tigers German tanks ?(NO) but Sherman was better than M3 Lee tank to nice video thanks
A lot of vehicles were painted that color in the north African campaign, the SAS was famous for using trucks painted pink, one model was called the Pink Panther
Uncle Sam wanted the best, he got the best and the sexiest. Sweet sweet baby lee makes the tiger and panther tanks look like Mickey Mouse. Even makes the leopard 2 look like a pile of steaming Arby’s roast beef sandwich diarrhea. Unbelievably ahead of its time. It’s a 22nd century mbt
They called them the Ronson (lighter) for when they got hit they were know to light up like the lighter, a single Tiger tank devastated a platoon of Shermans just outside of the town of Nennig(Germany)goes to show the quality of German equipment of that time.
The Ronson theory is a myth the Lee and Sherman was never called that during the war, they also wouldn't catch fire that easy and it proofed that the late German tanks like the Panther would catch fire much easier then the Sherman, because the Panther had serious fuelline problems.
