Paraguay keeping M3 Stuart, M4 Sherman tanks in service

IHS Janes 360 ^ | 12-29-2015 | Erwan de Cherisey

[Snickering Hound]

The M3 Stuart light tank and M4 Sherman main battle tank, both nearly 75 years old, appear to be going back into service with the Paraguayan Army as operational trainers.

Although the Paraguayan Army made a brief use of Italian Ansaldo CV33s, the M3 and M3A1s were its first real tanks. A total of 15 M3s were delivered in 1970 in three successive lots as donations from neighbouring Brazil. Paraguay's Stuart tanks first served with Cavalry Regiment N°3 (Regimiento de Caballería N°3: RC3), part of 1st Cavalry Division (División de Caballeria 1: DC1), headquartered at Campo Grande near Paraguay's capital, Asuncion.

Since then - and aside from their part in the 1989 coup d'état that ousted General Alfredo Stroessner, then President of Paraguay - M3s have occasionally participated in the country's 15 May military parade in Asuncion. For the most part the tanks were mainly out of action, having been stored following a threatened army coup in 1996, until the last several years in which efforts have been made to get a portion of the fleet back in operational condition.

[W.Lee]

“Ronsons”, that was it. Now I have to remember where I read that. As I recall, it was because they would burst into flames after taking a hit. At least according to the Brits.

[Starstruck]

Stuart beats AK47

Won't fit in my gun cabinet and my wife has this thing about tanks in the yard.

[W.Lee]

I used to love that comic about a Stuart called “J.E.B.” from back in the early ‘60s.

[GreyFriar]

Thank you for the really ancient “Dino-Tanker” ping.

[tumblindice]

Achtung Treadheads:
http://generalpatton.org/news/news.asp
They are restoring a Sherman as part of a new Korean war exhibit.

[rlmorel]

I don’t doubt that under the exigencies of combat and operations, coupled with the experience of doing dozens and dozens of them, along with having all the tools, parts and everything, that it could be done so much faster.

But, yes...our parents and grandparents were extremely capable people!

[xp38]

Depends what the no tank people have at their disposal. A good anti tank weapon can shift the odds dramatically.

[archy]

I did not know that there were any M3’s in service anywhere. Same with the Sherman. They do have collector value.

As an Department of the Army civilian ordnance technician in the early 1980s, then switching over to the Navy, one of the projects I was involved in was an effort to develop 20 and 25mm gun mounts for the M3/M6 37mm main guns of the M3 and M5 light tanks and the M8 armored car, still very much in use in South and Central America and elsewhere. The 37mm high explosive round supply was was running very short and in the little 1.5-inch diameter 37mm, there wasn't much of a charge anyway; about like a hand grenade. So prototype mounts and feed mechanisms for the tank guns were rigged for 20mm and 25mm automatic cannons, really more useful for crowd control and putting down palace insurrections anyway.

And then the bright idea hit: why not rework the 37mm to take the 30x173mm round of the A10 Warthog's GAU-8 rotary-barrel cannon. It was tried and tested, first in a single-shot fixed testbed gun, and to their horror, Army testing found out it would zip right through the armor of an M113 personnel carrier. Or an M2/M3 Bradley-both sides, front to back, whatever. Or most anything else they tried it against, including several friendly foreign vehicles, save the front armor of an Abrams tank and I don't think they wanted to know the answer to that one.

Even better: the WWII 57mm M1A1 antitank gun known as *the six-pounder* to the Brits.

By the way, the Brazilians reworked some of their old M3/M5 chassis, and they too still have some small military value, though now less desirable to collectors. But even the X1 and its cousins are now museum pieces.

The X1A1 was the tank version, fitrted with a nothing-to-sneeze-at 90mm main gun. And their upgrades to the WWII American M41 tank have brought it right into the XXI Century as well:

[Old Sarge]

I could spend all day with a comic book, `Haunted Tank (?)', many, many years ago.

OMG, you remember that, too??

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

I am sure Paraguay’s view on it is it works just fine against its own citizens and other third world creatures.

I’m sure they don’t think they’re going to hold back an invasion from a real army.

[TTFlyer]

No matter how mighty the WWII AFV, they all fell to the humble rocket-propelled shaped-charge of the panzerschreck, the panzerfaust, and the bazooka.

Tanks attract fire from anti-tank guns, anti-tank rockets, artillery, other tanks, and aircraft. Tanks needed a crowd of infantry ahead of and around them to survive in WWII.

You often see film of Red Army soldiers riding into combat hanging on to the sides of a T-34. They needed to do that on the open Steppes for a number of reasons, but it was very often suicidal for the troops. Russian soldiers were expendable.

Allied soldiers learned early on not to ride on tanks in combat. They would walk behind them but that was extremely dangerous work as well.

[Calvin Locke]

Makes me want to milk a Serbian cow!

Everybody knows that Serbian Donkey Cheese, aka "Pule", is a hot item right now. Why'd he want to milk a cow instead of a donkey?

While Pule is better selling, it still doesn't get the same respect as Venezuelan Beaver Cheese though.

[forgotten man]

The Germans called them “Tommy cookers.”

[archy]

In other news Boliva is closing a deal on the purchase of a half dozen Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Bs.

Not hardly. And try not to get in a tank fight with the Bolivian tankers; they run the SK-105 Kürassier introduced to the South American arena by Paraguay, and sporting a 105mm main gun.

[Calvin Locke]

They had gasoline engines, not diesels.

The IJN "Betty" bomber was called the "Type 1 Lighter" by its crews, iirc.

[tumblindice]

That and Sgt. Rock: Budda budda budda!

[archy]

Do we still sell them parts for these things?

We do. New tracks are being made, both here and on the international market. As new light fighting vehicle designs come and go, some of their parts have been adapted to earlier vehicles. And weapons systems and fire control upgrades are a part of the picture in which my fingers occasionally dip into the pie.

[tanknetter]

Haunted Tank was a classic.

Particularly since it was haunted by the ghost of Jeb Stuart. The tank’s commander was a descendent of Stuart, and Jeb’s ghost would dispense tactical advice to keep the crew alive.

[tanknetter]

To me what’s interesting is that they have M3 Stuarts and not the later M5 Stuart.

[archy]

Stuart beats AK47

Won't fit in my gun cabinet and my wife has this thing about tanks in the yard.

You could move to Zimbabwe?

Former Rhodesian Army Stuart at the Zimbabwe Military Museum, Gweru