US Army Grant tanks?

[phat trev]

Did the US Army use the 'British' Grant tank, if so which units and where- MTO, PTO?

 

I have found some images online of a few M3A5 Grant with the US Star on the side, these are captioned as belonging to a training unit and a single artwork of a green M3A5 captioned as Burma, C Squadron 3rd Carabiners which might be interesting.

 

Looking for something different to finish a 1/72 Mirage Grant build. 

Edited October 2, 2023 by phat trev

[dogsbody]

Info:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3_Lee

 

 

 

Chris

 

 

[John Tapsell]

Not entirely clear from your post if you know this, but the Carbs were a British cavalry unit (eventually absorbed into the current Royal Scots Dragoon Guards). I don't know if they operated M3A5s, but most of the British and Indian M3s used in Burma were Lees rather than Grants - most came direct from North Africa after they were replaced there by Shermans.

 

For inspiration, read up about the Battle of Nunshigum, near Imphal in Burma. The Carbs were awarded it as a Battle Honour and RSDG still commemorate that day (13 April).

 

As far as I'm aware, no US units operated M3 Grants - they were sepcifically modified and manufactured to suit British requirements. The British used both Lees and Grants. The white star was used as a standard Allied recognition feature so shouldn't be taken as an indication of nationality.

[Kingsman]

To be clear, no US forces ever used Grants.  And there was never an "M3A5 Grant".  Grants existed outside the US Ordnance system and received no official "M" designation.  Diesel Grants were all UK-designated as Grant IIs, whether using welded M3A3 or riveted M3A5 hulls.  But there were no diesel Lees or Grants in the Far East.

 

The distribution of Grants and M3 Lees in the Far East was 517 Lee I and 379 Grant I - all radial petrol engined.  AFAIK 3rd Carabiniers operated Lees, although the Lee and Grant were essentially interchangeable in units and some were mixed.  The Lees were a mix of earlier and later production variants: M2 gun with side doors, M3 gun with no side doors.

 

The white star was adopted as the universal Western Allied recognition mark in all theatres.

 

A small cadre of US troops were embedded with British forces in North Africa to gain combat experience and did operate British Grant Is. 

 

The only known operational use of diesel Lees anywhere was by a single platoon of the US Army's 193rd Tank Battalion at Makin Island in the Pacific.  The UK received only 49 diesel Lees, all kept in the UK AFAIK.  Brazil received 100 but did not deploy them with the Brazilian Expeditionary Force to Italy.  Diesel Grants were used by British forces in North Africa and supplied to Australia, where they stayed.

[phat trev]

Thanks for this amazing knowledge, sorry for the incorrect detail on my original post, I am not too clued up on all things armour history but learning here and there, mostly via modelling various tanks. 🍻