U.S. M3A1 HALF-TRACK

The M2-M3-M5 Half-Track is a family of American half-track armored personnel carriers from the Second World War. The first prototypes of this family's vehicles were made in 1938, and serial production continued in the years 1941-1944, ending with the production of tens of thousands of vehicles of this type! The M2-M3-M5 Half-Track family of vehicles was either powered by the engine White 160AX with 147 HP or IHC RED-450-B engine with 142 HP. The armament of the vehicles was very different and dependent on the version, but most often consisted of two machine guns: Browning M2HB cal. 12.7 mm and Browning M1919 cal. 7.62 mm. The first attempts to introduce half-tracked vehicles to the US Army took place in the 1920s, but only at the end of the 1930s, after many experiments, they led to the intended effect. In 1938, a prototype was created Half-Track Personnel Carrier T7, and a little later this vehicle was changed to a body similar to the Scout-Car M3 - this is how the progenitor of the whole family was created M2-M3-M5 Half-Track, i.e. Half-Track Scout T14. It was this version that finally entered mass production in 1941. In its course, three main variants of this armored personnel carrier were created. The first was M2 Half-Track, which could carry up to 10 people and served as a transporter and artillery tractor for 155 mm howitzers. Later, the M3 Half-Track version appeared, which was a 13-person armored personnel carrier with an enlarged crew compartment and an extended hull. It also had a door at the rear of the fuselage. It was a highly versatile vehicle that served as a transporter, artillery tractor, ambulance, command vehicle or communication vehicle. In December 1942, the M5 Half-Track version came into production, which was very similar to the M3 version, but differed in the place of production (International Harvester plants), the drive unit and was produced primarily for foreign customers. Family vehicles M2-M3-M5 Half-Track They began their combat route with the fighting in the Philippines in 1941-1942, and were later used on a very large scale by American troops both in the Pacific region, in North Africa, and during the Italian campaign and Northwest Europe until 1945. Vehicles M2-M3-M5 Half-Track they were used by many countries, including Great Britain or the Soviet Union, which received a lot of them under the Lend-and-Lease program. They were also used by the Polish Armed Forces. After 1945, they took part in many armed conflicts, for example: the Korean War (1950-1953), the Six-Day War (1967) and the Yom-Kippur War (1973).