Quote:
Originally Posted by Legbreaker
Which says a lot for how tanks were perceived back in the early days. What's worse is what replaced it, or should I say, failed to replace it....
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All too true...the replacement for the MkVIII was the M-2 and M-2A1...just think M-3 Stuart with a raised idler wheel and a well sloped front deck. The M-2A1 actually saw combat, with the Marines on the 'canal.
The M-3 Lee/Grant, was an interm design until the engineers could figure out how to mount a 75mm cannon inside a cast turret. It actually saw more service with the British/Commonwealth (the Aussies used them right up into 1945), it also held the record for the highest elevation combat action when tankers of the 3rd Carabiniers captured the 9,000 foot summit of Kennedy Peak during the operations around Tiddim, Burma (that record was broke by the M-48 during the Indio-Pakistan War when combat reached 12,000 feet).