U.S. HOWITZER MOTOR CARRIAGE M8

The M8 Scott was an American self-propelled gun from the Second World War. The first prototypes were built at the beginning of 1942, and serial production was carried out in the period 1942-1944. In total, approximately 1,780 examples of this vehicle were built. The M8 was powered by a double engine Cadillac Series 42 with a total power of 220 HP . It was armed with a single 75mm M2 or M3 howitzer and a single 12.7mm Browning M2HB machine gun. The M8 was created as a result of the efforts of the American army command to introduce self-propelled artillery to line units as soon as possible, with the US accession to World War II in December 1941. In order to shorten the time of testing and analysis, it was decided to use the chassis of the M5 Stuart tank in the first versions and to use it for many other components. The result was a light SPG with decent mobility, but relatively weak primary armament. Only two versions of the M8 were produced during series production. The first - designated M8 - was based on the chassis of the M5 tank, and the second - designated M8A1 - was based on the chassis of the M5A1 tank. M8 vehicles served in the Italian campaign (1943-1945), during the fighting in Normandy, France and West Germany (1944-1945), but also in the Pacific. After 1945, vehicles of this type entered the armaments of several countries, primarily France, which used them in the war in Indochina (1945-1954) and in Algeria (1954-1962).