The Stuart is one of the most iconic vehicles of WW2, but in recent years it’s hard not to
feel like it’s been overlooked. A true jack of all trades, the vehicle has fought all over the world
for nearly 90 years, entering service as early as 1936 and still serving in certain armies today.
Naturally, for a vehicle that somehow went from this to this, there’s a lot to talk about,
so I’ve had to split it into two parts. In this video I’ll talk about the tank’s
origins and its service in World War two, focusing on the M2 and the M3. Enjoy.
Our story begins in the early 1930s with the M2. Not to be confused with the M2,
the M2, the M2, the M2, or the M2. Thanks for that, America.
Anyway, the development of the M2 Light Tank is an almost perfect case study on how the role of
the tank changed through the interwar period, especially in American doctrine. The original
vehicle took a lot of inspiration from the very successful Vickers six-ton, but was not a
complete copy like the early T-26’s of the USSR. C The prototype of the M2, the T2, actually used
the same suspension as the Vickers, but this was swapped out for the iconic Vertical Volute Spring
(or VVS) suspension that would be ubiquitous on American vehicles throughout the war.
The T2E1 went into production in 1933 as the M2A1. The M2A1, perhaps the first tank in the “Stuart”
family, was armed with a .50 cal machine gun in a single, rotating turret, with a .30 cal machine
gun in the hull for the co-driver. The drive shaft connecting the engine in
the rear to the drive sprockets in the front went along the centre line of the vehicle in
a raised box. This meant that when the commander rotated his turret he had to constantly reposition
his feet to make room for the driveshaft between them, lending to a very uncomfortable experience.
This was solved by using twin turrets in the M2A2, adding an extra crew member and allowing for each
man to stand either side of the shaft. The 2nd turret had another .30 cal machine gun mounted,
and allowed the vehicle to fire in 3 directions at once. These vehicles were known by their
crews as “Mae Wests”, named after an actress of the time who also mounted twin turrets of her own.
The M2A2 was shown to perform significantly better than the M2A1, and as such became the standard
light tank of the American Army. It had the same armament as the Medium Tank M1, while enjoying
more armour, better mobility and costing half as much. It went into full scale production in 1936.
The M2A3 was put into production two years later, enjoying a host of upgrades to the engine,
suspension and transmission, which ended up increasing the length of the tank slightly. The
front armour was increased to just under an inch in attempt to make the vehicle immune
to machine gun fire and the turrets were changed to only use flat armour plates,
eliminating the complex curved plates used on the turrets of the M2A2.
In December 1938 a single M2A3 was taken from the production line to be modified into a new variant
of the vehicle. After analysing the performance of armoured vehicles in the Spanish Civil War,
the Americans (like many other nations) had come to the conclusion that tanks
had to have large calibre armament, and machine guns just would no longer cut it.
The M2A3 taken from the production line would therefore mount a 37mm cannon, in a new,
two man turret. Each man would stand either side of the driveshaft and just have to deal with the
consequences when the turret was moving. The armour thickness of the vehicle,
both turret and hull, would be at least an inch thick, apart from the sloping frontal plate,
which was slightly less than that, but actually had greater effective thickness.
This would be developed into the M2A4, the most numerous variant of the M2 by a significant
margin, and also the one with the most machine guns, with sponson mounted .30 cals added for
the driver to use as well as an optional AA mount on the roof and the coaxial .30 in the turret.
Production of the M2A4 began in 1940 and continued until April 1941, when production
lines switched to the M2’s successor, the M3. However the M2A4, unlike the other M2 variants,
did actually see service. 36 vehicles were sent to Guadalcanal to serve with the Marines,
and participated in combat in the Pacific theatre until 1943, fighting alongside M3 Stuarts and
blasting 37mm cannister shells into treelines. 36 more M2A4s were sent to Britain in early 1941,
the first batch of an order of 100 vehicles that was never actually fulfilled, as Britain choose
to buy the improved M3s instead. Nobody seems to know exactly what happened to these tanks, with
some sources saying they saw combat in Burma while others maintain they never left Britain at all.
While the rest of the M2s didn’t see combat, 3 M2A2s did explore the Antarctic,
in the 1939 United States Antarctic Service Expedition, the same expedition that saw the
debut of the mighty Snow Cruiser. The M2s were heavily modified and were used on the bases to tow
sleds – one of these tanks even remains visible there today, albeit not in great condition.
The M2A4 was very much seen as a stop-gap vehicle by the Army, and plans were already
in place for the M3. This vehicle would mount the same 37mm gun with a new recoil system in
a very similar chassis, albeit with more armour. The sides, rear and sloped frontal armour of the
vehicle would be the same as the M2A4, but the frontal plate would be increased to an
inch and a half thick as well as the turret front, while the side and rear of the turret
would be increased to an inch and a quarter. The easiest way to tell an M3 from an M2 is
the suspension – the M3 has a large idler wheel at the rear,
increasing the amount of track in contact with the ground and making for a smoother ride overall.
The M3 was a good tank, with an excellent mix of armour, mobility and firepower for 1941.
At this point in 1941 though, the US wasn’t at war, so the majority of M3s were sent abroad to
bolster the depleted British and Commonwealth armoured units. The British would immediately
send the M3 into combat in North Africa, under its new official designation – The Stuart.
Despite the official British designation being Stuart, named after confederate general J.E.B
Stuart, in British service they were often referred to as Honeys, due to its smooth ride
and generally good reliability. In British service, vehicles with the Continental W-670
petrol radial engine would be known as the Stuart I, while vehicles with the Guiberson Diesel radial
would be known as the Stuart II, but both would just be considered M3 under American designation.
5800 M3s would be produced, with around 1300 of these being diesel vehicles.
The M3 was itself improved in early 1942, creating the M3A1. The boxy riveted turret was replaced
with a simpler, cylindrical, welded design, the sponson machine guns were removed, and the two
man turret crew were finally given a turret basket as well as a vertical stabiliser for the M6 gun.
Some late M3s were produced with the new turret, creating a vehicle known as the Stuart Hybrid.
Some 4600 M3A1s were produced, named the Stuart III in British service or the Stuart IV if they
were one of the 200 odd diesel M3A1s. And they received mixed reviews. The new turret was
nice – it was significantly safer under fire than the old riveted design and was easier to produce,
but crews had issue with the turret basket. It was a good idea in theory, and allowed the
crew to rotate with the turret and not have to worry about stumbling over the driveshaft,
but it meant the turret crew were incredibly cramped. The co-driver down in the hull also
relied on a gap in the turret basket being properly aligned so he could clamber out the top,
so if the vehicle took a hit while the turret was sideways, he had no way out of the vehicle,
with his hull MG a huge obstacle to climbing out of the front visor like the driver could.
Crews sometimes just removed the turret basket altogether, but I’m sure it was
nice to have the option. The next variant, the M3A2, would be identical to the M3A1,
but would use an all-welded construction. In the end this tank never left the drawing
board. Instead, work focused on integrating this idea into the next variant – the M3A3.
The M3A3, or the Stuart V, was heavily influenced by the M3s future successor, the M5, and used an
almost completely new hull with a new, roomier turret. The powerplant and drivetrain were the
same under a new all-welded hull, with all flat armour replaced with sloping armour.
The front plate was changed to a single slope, with the “corners” of the older
vehicles eliminated and replaced with angular shoulder plates. This construction allowed for
a lot more room on the inside of the vehicle, and so could hold more fuel and ammunition.
The turret was new as well, with a large bustle at the back housing the radio to give the men inside
some breathing room. The turret crew got two large hatches on the roof and the driver and co-driver
each got their own hatch on the roof of the hull. The vehicle was a few tons heavier than M3A1,
and so was a bit slower, but it was felt to be a worthy trade-off for increased protection,
survivability, and crew comfort. The M3A3 would never see service
in the US Army outside of the military police, for a reason I’ll get to in the next video. It
did see plenty of service with 4 other key nations – Britain used it to supplement their older M3s,
converting them into Stuart Recce tanks or Stuart Kangaroo APCs, both involving removing the turret.
The M3A3 was also supplied to the Free French and the Chinese, seeing combat all over the globe.
Perhaps the most interesting user were the Yugoslavian partisans, who used the M3A3
as their primary armoured vehicle in their fight for liberation, at times even mounting
20mm flak or Pak 40 anti-tank guns onto the chassis when the turret had been destroyed.
All in all just under 3500 M3A3s were produced, bringing the total to 14,000.
In the 1970s Brazil would do something
slightly mental with their M3s, but that will almost certainly have to be its own video,
so make sure to subscribe down below if you want that, as well as the 2nd
part of this video which will cover the M5 Stuart and the M8 Scott self-propelled gun.
Like I teased in the intro, Paraguay actually still has a decent number of barely modified M3 Stuarts in active service,
using them for parades and for training alongside a number of M4 Shermans. Clearly,
they know a good little tank when they see one. Hope you’ve enjoyed this one! And I’ll hopefully
see you next week for Part 2. Until then, drop a like, hit subscribe,
and come hang out in the discord. Thanks to all my patrons, and I’ll see you all in the next one.