The FReeper Foxhole's TreadHead Tuesday - M3 Lee Medium Tank - May 4th, 2004

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[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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Medium Tank M3 Lee Series

Design/Production

To match the newest German tanks there was a need for a tank that could carry a 75 mm gun. The M3 was ordered straight from the drawing board and Baldwin and the American Locomotive Company each made pilot models by April 1941. Production began in August 1941 and ended in December 1942.

It was intended only as a stopgap tank before the M4 Shermans arrived. When the M4 started production the M3 was designated Substitute Standard in October 1941. In April 1943, they were classified as Limited Standard and in April 1944 were classified as obsolete.



Chrysler leased a 113 acre site for a new factory in Warren, Michigan.

The turret could be rotated by hydraulics or by hand. The cupola normally rotated with the turret but could be rotated by hand.

The driver and radio operator occupied the front of the hull. The 75 mm gunner sat on the left of the gun. The 37 mm gunner, gun loader and commander were in the turret. Both guns had gyrostabilizers and periscopic sights. The driver's door and the pistol ports had protectoscopes for indirect vision.

An auxiliary generator provided electricity when needed.



75 mm gun had muzzle velocity of 1,920 ft/sec, range of 13,090 yards, and penetrate 2.9 inches at 1,000 yards.

37 mm gun had muzzle velocity of 2,900 ft/sec, range of 12,850 yards, and penetrate 1.8 inches at 1,000 yards.

Medium Tank M3 Lee

Date of first acceptance: June 1941


The riveted construction of the medium tank M3 is obvious here. This vehicle is not fitted with stabilization since it lacks counterweights on the 37mm or short 75mm M2 guns. The machine gun in the commander's cupola is present in its right aperture, and one of the driver's hull machine guns has been retained. Track grousers are stored in the box below the driver's hatch, and the tank's siren is positioned below the 75mm gun. Here the crew, Cpl. Larry Corletti, Pvt. Murril Chapman, and Pvt. Louis Robles, practice dismounting from a disabled vehicle. (Picture taken 12 Feb 1943 by Sgt. Calvano; available from the U.S. Army Center of Military History.)

Initial production type with riveted hull, cast turret, and side doors. Production of this model ceased Aug. 1942.

The medium tank M3 was based on the medium tank M2, utilizing its suspension, power train, and other mechanical parts. The British version of the M3 was dubbed cruiser tank Grant I, and differed in some details. The main armament of the tank, the 75mm gun, was mounted in the right-hand sponson since no turret capable of holding a 75mm gun had yet been designed in the US. The M3 medium tank was an interim design until the medium tank M4 could enter production with its 75mm gun turret. The M3 was called Lee I by the British. Late-production tanks had the doors originally on each hull side eliminated in favor of a floor escape hatch, and one of the driver's fixed machine guns was deleted as well; the resulting hole was filled with a steel plug. The crew of late M3s was reduced to six men when the driver also took over the role of radio operator. Very late production M3s had new heavy-duty suspension bogies with 8" (20cm) instead of 7" (18cm) volute springs, and the track return rollers were moved to the rear of the new bogies. Late vehicles also had the 75mm gun periscope replaced with a telescopic sight, and another periscope was installed above the driver's position. The armament of late-model tanks included the M3 75mm gun and M6 37mm gun.



Tanks with stabilization systems installed can be differentiated from those without by the presence of a cylindrical counterweight under the 37mm gun, and a counterweight at the end of the 75mm gun barrel if the tank is armed with the shorter 75mm gun M2. The longer 75mm gun M3 did not require a counterweight to be compatible with the gyrostabilizer.

The difference in the 37mm and 75mm guns is as follows: The 37mm gun M5 was 6" (15cm) shorter than the M6, and the M5 had a manually-operated breechblock instead of the M6's semiautomatic breechblock. The 75mm gun M2 had a shorter barrel than the M3 and had a vertical breechblock to the M3's horizontal breechblock. Otherwise, the 75mm guns were identical.

Medium Tank M3A1 Lee

Date of first acceptance: January 1942


This cast, smooth-lined M3A1 is armed with the short-barreled 75mm gun M2, and since neither it nor the 37mm guns are fitted with counterweights, this tank also lacks stabilization. The holes can be seen for the hull-mounted machine guns. This tank also has the early suspension bogies which have the return roller on top of the brace. The aperture to the left of the 37mm gun was for the gunner's periscope. The machine gun in the cupola emerged from the right opening; the left was for a vision slot. There is a ventilator above the pistol port in the front of the hull, and there are antenna mounts behind the turret and behind the front hull pistol port. This tank is wearing the T48 rubber chevron tracks.

Cast hull. Late models had escape hatch in hull floor instead of side doors. Produced by American Locomotive Company.

Except for the cast upper hull, the M3A1 was largely identical to the M3. The door in the right side hull roof was placed on the rear slope of the 75mm gun sponson. This hatch was hinged from the front on early vehicles, and opened to the rear on later models. The British referred to M3A1 as Lee II. Twenty-eight M3A1s were completed with the Guiberson T-1400-2 diesel engine, and were designated as M3A1(diesel).

Medium Tank M3A2 Lee

Date of first acceptance: January 1942


M3A2 Lee

All welded hull. Baldwin started production but after 12, a new engine was installed, became M3A3.

The M3A2 was identical to the M3 except for the M3A2's welded hull. The British designation for M3A2 was Lee III.

Medium Tank M3A5 Lee

Date of first acceptance: January 1942


Most of the identifying features for M3A5 are on the rear of the vehicle, since the major difference between M3A5 and M3 is that the former is powered by twin diesel engines rather than the radial gasoline engine. This tank is not fitted with stabilization since it lacks counterweights under the 37mm gun and around the end of the short 75mm gun M2's barrel. It also is running on the T49 parallel bar steel tracks. (Picture from Development of Armored Vehicles, volume 1: Tanks.)

Riveted hull. Late production models had longer M3 75mm gun.

The radial gasoline engines of previous medium tanks M3 were also needed for training aircraft, and an engine shortage was foreseen. To help with the situation, the General Motors 6046 was created. The GM 6046 diesel engine was a pair of GM 6-71 truck engines, each of which could be operated independently if so required. The engines were meshed together on a helical gear which was mounted on a propellor shaft connecting to the tank's transmission. The side and rear armor plates on diesel-engined M3s extended below the level of the track return run, and the rear hull plate was sloped to accomodate the larger diesel engine. The engine compartment was accessed through a single lower rear plate instead of the twin doors on the radial-engined M3s. An exhaust deflector was installed to reduce the dust signature of the tank, and two armored doors with air intake louvres were installed over the tank's engine compartment. The M3A5 was borne out of the dire shortage of tanks which necessitated the installation of the diesel engine in riveted-hull tanks as well as welded-hull vehicles. M3A5 was referred to by the British as Grant II.

Medium Tank M3A3 Lee

Date of first acceptance: March 1942


M3A3 was essentially an M3A5 with a welded rather than riveted hull. The sharp lines on the hull of this tank indicates that it has been welded rather than cast. (Picture from Development of Armored Vehicles, volume 1: Tanks.)

All welded hull. Side doors welded or eliminated.

The M3A3 was a welded-hull Lee with the GM 6046 diesel engine. The British called diesel-engined M3A3s Lee V and Continental-engined M3A3s Lee IV. This may only be a paper designation, as no M3A3s were produced with the Continental R975. The British, trying to keep pace with the plethora of tank types emerging from the US, reserved designations for expected production models. Lee IV is apparently just such a designation that was reserved but whose vehicle never saw production.

Medium Tank M3A4 Lee

Date of first acceptance: June 1942


The large Chrysler multibank engine installed in M3A4 necessitated a longer hull to fit in the tank. The distance between the bogies was also therefore increased, and the rear deck roof and engine compartment floor had bulges to accomodate the A57 engine. (Picture from Development of Armored Vehicles, volume 1: Tanks.)

Riveted hull. Side doors eliminated. Due to shortage of tank engines Chrysler combined 5 car engines together to provide power.

The M3A4's A57 engine was actually five Chrysler automobile engines geared to run as a single motor, and was devised to help alleviate the shortage of tank engines. The size of this conglomeration required extending the hull of the M3A4. There is a distinctive space between the suspension bogies of M3A4s which is about 6" (15cm) longer than that of other M3s. Bulges in the engine compartment floor and roof accomodated the A57's fan and radiator, respectively. M3A4 was called Lee VI by the British.

[SAMWolf]

The British Tank Commission came to the US in June 1940 to purchase American tanks or have British tanks produced by American companies as there was a grave shortage of tanks in the British Army. The National Defense Advisory Committee refused to allow British designs to be produced in US factories as it was felt that the British would be defeated soon.


Grant I

In Oct. 1940 orders were placed with Baldwin, Lima, and Pullman. New cast turret, radio equipment in turret instead of in hull were specially ordered by the British, and were named the Grant. These were sent to Africa.

Standard M3s that were sold to Britain and were designated the Lee.

Description

Grant I: M3 with British turret. Had no cupola. Fought in battle of Gazala on May 27, 1942.

Grant II: M3A5. Had US turret.

Lee I: M3.

Lee II: M3A1

Lee III: M3A2. None delivered to Britain.

Lee IV: M3A3 with Continental engine.

Lee V: M3A3 with diesel engine.

Lee VI: M3A4.

Scorpion III

Grant Command: Some had turret gun replaced with dummy gun. Extra communications equipment was added.

Grant Scorpion III: 75mm gun removed. Anti-mine device added.

Grant Scorpion IV: Same as Scorpion III but with 2nd Bedford engine added.

Grant CDL: Turret replaced by spotlight. Some used to illuminate night crossings of Rhine and Elbe in 1945. Some sent to Far East but never used.

Usage

200 Grants were delivered to the 8th Army in the Western Desert in early 1942. 4th Armored Brigade had 167 Grants at the Gazala battle on May 27, 1942. It gave a boost to morale as it could out-range the panzers.

Grant CDL

250 Lees were sent to the 8th Army in June 1942. By the Battle of Alamein in October 1942 almost 600 M3 tanks had been delivered.

When the M4 replaced these tanks in the desert the M3s were shipped to Burma. A few went to Australia.

[SAMWolf]

The US M3 Medium Series in Australia

Introduction



The most prolific foreign built armoured vehicle to serve in the Australian Army prior to the current M113A1 family of vehicles was the United States built M3 Medium Tank series. Altogether, some 757 M3 Mediums were received in Australia during 1942, and some of these served until 1955 in reserve units. This tank equipped the armoured regiments of 1st Australian Armoured Division and allowed training to proceed with relatively modern and reliable vehicles.

Deliveries to Australia

A commonly held belief is that the M3 Mediums were shipped to Australia at the end of the North African campaign. Examination of records shows this to be most unlikely. The indications are that all the M3 Medium tanks for Australia were shipped directly from the USA, although the tanks formed part of orders from the British War Office on the US Government. During the second part of 1942, the M3 Medium formed a large portion of British tank strength in the Middle East, and it would seem most unlikely for tanks of this type to be removed from the Middle East at such an important time. It was the most modern of the AFVs equipping the British 8th Army until the arrival of the first of the Sherman series in North Africa during August/September 1942.


'Grant' Mk.I, 1st Armoured Division, Puckapunyal VIC, Australia, June 1942.

Further evidence found shows that, in April 1943, the Australian Chief of the General Staff wrote to the Minister for the Army in reference to why Australia had supposedly received “defective tanks”, in reference to later model Lees not being fitted with side doors. The CGS commented that between November 1941 and May 1942, when the tank strength of the Commonwealth Armies was perilous, that the allocation of M3 Medium tanks from US production was as follows:

 

	M3 LEE	M3 GRANT	TOTAL
Australia	255	522	777
India	517	379	896
Middle East	75	657	732
United Kingdom	119	97	216
TOTAL	966	1655	2621

The delivery dates of these vehicles to Australia shows that by the end of April 1942, 54 M3 Mediums had arrived in country and by December 1942 a total of 757 M3 Mediums were on hand. All were therefore delivered to Australia within a period of nine months. (The discrepancy of 20 tanks with the above table is due to loss in transit.) Photographs of M3 Mediums on the wharves or in depots immediately after their arrival in Australia show them in a dark colour, most probably Khaki or Olive Drab, indicating the United States as their place of origin. Also, comments by Australian Ordnance personnel on receipt of the early shipments of M3 Mediums indicated that very good packing and preservation material was used, indicating a factory job. In fact many vehicles were carefully stripped of their packing and preservation and the details noted by the Australian Ordnance personnel, so that these could be used in the future for the proposed shipment of tanks from Australia to overseas destinations. This would most probably refer to the proposal to send the newly formed 1st Australian Armoured Division to serve in the Middle East after it was equipped and trained.



The first tanks arrived only a few months after the first prototypes of the Australian Cruiser Tank were completed, and by the time the go ahead for the AC production was given, substantial numbers of M3 Medium tanks were in Australia and already equipping the units of the 1st Armoured Division. This was one of the factors which led to the termination of the Australian-built tank programme in the middle of 1943.

M3 Medium Types in Australia



By the end of 1942, some 502 Grants, both radial and petrol engined types, and 255 Lees had been received in Australia. A breakup of the 737 M3 Mediums still on strength in June 1944 was as follows:

• M3 Medium Grant (Petrol) - 266
• M3 Medium Grant (Diesel) - 232
• M3 Medium Lee (Petrol) – 239

Thus it would appear that the three main types were roughly one third each of the total number of vehicles.



As for the actual models of M3 Mediums supplied to Australia, it has proven difficult to find a breakup of the types, but the following details, gleaned from photographs and archive documents, may be of interest. Certainly most of the early supplied tanks were the M3 Grant, with radial petrol engine. However, in one photograph of Grants parading at Puckapunyal in May or June 1942 there appears an M3 Medium Grant with radial petrol engine and welded hull - an M3A2. According to US sources, only 12 M3A2 tanks were built between January and March 1942, and photos only show the US type (Lee) turret fitted. The M3A2 Grant may therefore be a very unique vehicle. How many M3A2 Grant tanks arrived in Australia cannot be ascertained.

The M3A5 Grant with rivetted hull would appear from photographic evidence to be the more common type of diesel engined Grant. There were numbers of M3A3 Grant with welded hull and the GM 6-71 twin diesels, and an examination of available photos shows possibly about l5-20% of Australian diesel-engined Grants were based on the welded hull M3A3.



The first Grants received carried the M2 75mm sponson gun with short barrel. Later deliveries had both the M2 barrel with counterweight or the M3 75mm with longer barrel.

Most of the tanks delivered in April and May 1942 were fitted with the so called WE 210 Double I rubber block track, but later the plain rubber block track was the more common type. Grousers could be fitted to the tracks, and on tanks seen later in the war, these were fitted in grouser racks carried on the glacis plate of the tank.

The M3 Medium Lee was also supplied in large numbers as noted above. All appeared to be petrol engined and had all rivetted hulls. At least one armoured unit, the 2nd Army Tank Battalion, was fully equipped with Lees in 1944. It appears that some early Lees were provided from a mid-production batch, having hull roof ventilators and hull side doors, and some of these were used for conversion to the Tank Recovery vehicle. Most Lees photographed had the hull side doors eliminated, and it appears that no Lee was supplied with a turret cupola as per the US vehicle – all photographic evidence shows a Grant style cupola fitted to the ones in service. The Australian Army believed these late model Lees to be unsuitable for service, and at one stage a programme was proposed for the modification of Lees. The 16 major modifications proposed included the fitting of hull doors, fitting a bulge to the turret to take a radio set, fitting turret hatches as per the Grant, fitting a 2-inch bomb thrower to the turret and installing 6mm armour plate to the ammunition bins. Not all the modifications were eventually undertaken, but certainly the turret hatches were fitted to make the vehicles at least useable for training.



Some sources state that the Australian M3 Lees came from surplus British stocks from the Burma campaign. Given the fact that all M3 mediums were received in Australia by the end of 1942 makes it most unlikely that this was the case, and a glance at the table above shows that India received their M3 Mediums in the same allocation as those for Australia.

To say the designation of the Mediums in Australia was confused would be an understatement. The Australian-produced driving and maintenance manual for the diesel Grant dated 1943 gave the designation as Tanks Grant II, Medium M3A5. However, a 1944 amendment stated "For Tanks Grant II Medium M3A5 read Tanks Medium M3 General Grant III" and "The M3A5 tank known in Australia as the General Grant III has both welded and rivetted hull. The explanation in the Census of Warlike Stores (Mechanical Vehicles) November 1945 adds further to the confusion with these descriptions.

Tanks Medium M3 General Grant I
Radial Petrol Engine Turret (British design) has top half of rolled plate, otherwise cast armour.

Tanks Medium M3 General Grant II
Similar to above but turret entirely of cast armour.

Tanks Medium M3 General Grant III
Diesel engine, otherwise similar to Grant II.



The registration numbers of the M3 Medium in Australia offer some details of the vehicles. The first arrivals which paraded at Puckapunyal in May and June 1942 during the early public appearance of the 1st Australian Armoured Division, were all petrol-engined Grants. These carried registration numbers in the 9001-10000 series, allocated according to an Australian Mechanisation Circular issued in March 1942. After mid-1942 M3 Grants were seen with registration numbers in the 23000, 24000 and 25000 series. These appear to be British War Department numbers, as they correspond to those issued by the British for M3 Medium Tanks. Some M3 Grants photographed in mid-1942 carried the British WD number, complete with T prefix, as well as an Australian 9000 series number. M3 Lees often carried numbers in the 25900 and 26000 series.

Modifications

A number of modifications were made or proposed during the war. An Tank Recovery Vehicle was designed and built in Australia during 1943, and it appears most production models were built on M3 Lees. A dozer tank, utilizing the M1 blade assembly as fitted to the M4 Sherman series was also built. Most Grants in service during 1944 and 1945 were refitted with M4 suspension units with trailing return idlers, as the M3 types were no longer available from the United States. Based on the experience of the Matildas in jungle operations, where the Japanese concentrated their fire against the lower hull and tracks of the Matildas, an applique armour plate was designed and built for the transmission housing of the Grant. This was about 38 mm thick and made from cast steel. Likewise. “bomb” covers for the rear engine deck hatches were made, and anti-grenade meshing was supplied for the top of the fighting compartment. These protective modifications can all be seen on the M3A5 Grant and M3A5 Grant Dozer preserved at the RAAC Memorial and Army Tank Museum at Puckapunyal.



Other proposed projects included the fitting of an Australian Cruiser Tank Mark 3 turret mounting a 25 pounder gun, fitting a Frog flamethrower in a Grant turret and fitting a Hedgehog Rocket projector to a Grant. These did not amount to anything due to the cessation of hostilities.

Post War Use

All petrol-engined Grants and all Lees were declared obsolete at the end of the war and were disposed of. In August 1947, a total of 149 Grant diesels were available for issue, although not all were serviceable. The formation of the post-war Army in 1948 saw the main armoured units of the Royal Australian Armoured Corps being one regular regiment equipped with Churchills, and two Citizen Military Force (Reserve) armoured brigades, one equipped with M3 Medium diesels and the other with Matildas.



The Grants and their variants were allocated to the 2nd Armoured Brigade, based in Victoria. The 4/19th Prince of Wales’s Light Horse Regiment and the 8th/13th Victorian Mounted Rifles Regiment both used the Grants. Even post war, modifications to the Grants continued. The Yeramba Self-Propelled Gun, designed and built in Australia and based on the M3A5 hull, was used by 22 Field Regiment (SP) in support of the 2nd Armoured Brigade. A Beach Armoured Recovery Vehicle (BARV) was also built on the M3A5 hull and used by the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (RAEME) Training Centre until the 1960s.

By October 1955 only 50 Grant diesels were available for the series of annual CMF camps for the 2nd Armoured Brigade, and they were then taken out of service and disposed of. Thus ended a service life of some 13 years for M3 Medium diesel-engined tank with the Australian army, a very commendable effort, and a tribute to their durability.

Paul D. Handel

Additional Sources:

www.wwiivehicles.com
anzacsteel.hobbyvista.com history.acusd.edu
ww2photo.mimerswell.com
mailer.fsu.edu/~akirk/tanks
perso.wanadoo.fr/did.panzer
www.army.lt/armor
members.ozemail.com.au/~janterpol
www.club-tm.ru/cgi
www.cranston-military-prints.co.uk

[SAMWolf]

M3 Modifications



M31 Tank Recovery Vehicle: Based on M3. Dummy gun replaces 75 mm. Simulated turret installed. 60,000 lb winch installed. It could tow light, medium, and heavy tanks across country. It could remove a medium tanks turret. Used a Continental R-975-C1 engine and was riveted.



M31B1 Tank Recovery Vehicle: Based on M3A3. Used a G.M. 6046 Diesel engine and was welded.



M31B2 Tank Recovery Vehicle: Based on M3A5. Used a G.M. 6046 Diesel engine and was riveted.



M7 Priest:Had turret removed and box structure installed with 105 mm howitzer.



155mm Gun Motor Carriage T6 (M12): Used M3 Chassis.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Tribute to a Generation - The memorial will be dedicated on Saturday, May 29, 2004.

Thanks to CholeraJoe for providing this link.

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Iraq Homecoming Tips

~ Thanks to our Veterans still serving, at home and abroad. ~ Freepmail to Ragtime Cowgirl | 2/09/04 | FRiend in the USAF

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PDN members and fans. We hope you will consider this simple act of patriotism worth passing on or taking up as a project in your own back yard. In summary:

Who They Are: Operation: Stitches Of Love was started by the Mothers of two United States Marines stationed in Iraq.

What They Are Doing: We are gathering 12.5"x12.5" quilt squares from across the country and assembling the largest quilt ever produced. When completed we will take the quilt from state to state and gather even more squares.

Why They Are Doing This: We are building this quilt to rally support for the Coalition Forces in Iraq and to show the service members that they are not forgotten. We want the world to know Nothing will ever break the stitches that bind us together as a country.

Ideas to start a local project:

Obtain enough Red, White and Blue material (cloth) for a 12.5 x 12.5 quilt square.
If you have someone in your family that sews, make it a weekend project and invite neighbors to join you.

Consider this tribute as a project for your civic group, scouts, church or townhall group.

Locate an elementary school with an after school program in your neighborhood or locate an after school program in your neighborhood not attached to a school and ask if you could volunteer one or two afternoons and create some squares with the kids.

Invite some VFW posts to share your project in honor of their post.

Send us webmaster@patriotwatch.com for digital photos of in progress and finished project for various websites, OIFII.com and the media.

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[snippy_about_it]

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It's TreadHead Tuesday!


Good Morning Everyone

If you would like added to our ping list let us know.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Snippy. You're getting good at matching the tank. :-)

[snippy_about_it]

Thank you Sam. I'm learning! I love TreadHead Tuesdays. Time to hit the hay, see you in the a.m.

[Neil E. Wright]

Hiya gang! Here's a little bump up for the FOXHOLE!!!!
Keep up the good work!!! :)

±

"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty."
Toward FREEDOM

[Iris7]

The most interesting WWII American tank, as I see it, is the T28 assault gun, also known as the T95 Gun Motor Carriage. The only surviving specimen is in outdoor display at the Patton Museum, Fort Knox. The machine weighs 95 tons, the frontal armor is 12" thick, and the gun mantelet is 11-1/2 inches thick. I checked this last myself, and thought it was more like 14" thick. The shields covering the tracks are 4" thick.

Somebody sure had the right idea about armor! Good armor is good, better armor is better!

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[radu]

Good morning everyone!

To all our military men and women, past and present, and to our allies who stand with us,
THANK YOU!

And all are held dearly in my heart.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

[The Mayor]

May the God of all grace, . . . after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. —1 Peter 5:10

Today's burdens can strengthen you for tomorrow.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning PE.

[GATOR NAVY]

Lots of specs here-how did these tanks actually perform in combat? They look very vulnerable as tall as they were.

[Valin]

On this Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on May 04:
1006 Abd-Allah Ansari Persian mystic/poet (Monadjat)
1631 Mary I Henriette Stuart daughter of Charles I/Queen of England
1655 Bartolomeo di Francesco Cristofori Italy, piano builder
1796 Horace Mann US, educator/author/editor (pioneered public schools)
1796 Joseph Pannell Taylor Brigadier General (Union Army), died in 1864
1820 Julia Gardiner Tyler 2nd wife of President John Tyler (1841-45)
1825 Thomas Henry Huxley scientist/humanist/Darwinist
1826 Frederick Church US romantic landscape painter (Hudson River School)
1877 Arthur Lang US, boxer/businessman (Died Aug 8, 1992 at 115)
1881 Aleksandr F Kerenski Russian premier (1917-Prelude to Bolshevism)
1889 Francis J Spellman US Cardinal
1909 Howard Da Silva [Silverblatt] Cleveland OH, actor (Ben Franklin-1776)
1914 Abdel Karim Kassem general/premier/dictator of Iraq (1958-63)
1918 Kakuei Tanaka Japanese PM (1972-74), convicted of bribe-taking
1922 John Paul Hammerschmidt (Representative-R-AR, 1967- )
1924 Dennis Weaver actor (Gunsmoke, McCloud)
1926 Milton "Milt" Thompson US NASA-test pilot/chief-engineer (X-15)
1928 Betsy Rawls Spartanburg SC, LPGA golfer (Hall of Fame, US Women's Open-51, 53, 57, 60)
1928 Hosni Mubarak Egyptian "President" (1981- )
1928 Maynard Ferguson Verdun Québec Canada, jazz trumpeter (Birdland, Roulette)
1929 Audrey Hepburn [Edda Kathleen van Heemstra Hepburn-Ruston] Brussels Belgium (Breakfast at Tiffany's, My Fair Lady)
1930 Roberta Peters New York NY, operatic soprano (New York Metropolitan)
1934 Pete Barbutti Scranton PA, comedian (Garry Moore Show)
1938 William J Bennett US Secretary of Education (1985-88)
1941 George F Will political analyst
1948 Billy O'Donnell harness racer driver of the year (1984)
1951 Gene Greenwood (Representative-R-PA)
1951 Jackie [Sigmund Esco] Jackson Gary IN, rocker (Jackson 5-ABC)
1956 Michael L Gernhardt Mansfield OH, PhD/astronaut (STS 69, 83, 94, sk 100)
1959 Randy Travis [Randy Bruce Traywick] Marshville NC, country singer (Forever and Ever Amen, Diggin' Up Bones)
1961 Mary Elizabeth McDonough Van Nuys CA, actress (Erin-Waltons)
1973 Melissa Boyd Miss Ohio USA (1996)
1973 Michelle Martinez Dallas TX, Miss America (Texas-Top 10-1997)

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Deaths which occurred on May 04:
1605 Ulisse Aldrovandi Italian biologist/medical, dies at 82
1855 Camille Pleyel Austria piano builder/composer, dies at 66
1879 William Froude British civil engineer/shipbuilder (F Integer), dies at 68
1885 Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic monarch of Serbia (1842-58), dies at 78
1891 Sherlock Holmes "dies" at Reichenbach Falls
1938 Carl von Ossietzky German pacifist/writer (Nobel 1935), dies at 48
1955 Louis Breguet French aviation pioneer, dies at 75
1970 Allison Krause 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 Jeffrey Miller 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 Sandy Scheuer 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1970 William Schroeder 1 of 4 students at Kent State University killed by Ohio National Guard
1974 John Wengraf actor (Pride & Passion, 12 to the Moon), dies at 77
1975 Moe Howard [Moses Horowitz] comedian (3 Stooges), dies at 77
1980 Josip Broz Tito leader of Yugoslavia (1945-80), dies at 87
1980 Kay Hammond actress (Blithe Spirit, 5 Golden Hours), dies in Brighton UK at 71
1981 Bobby Sands Irish IRA-terrorist, dies after hunger strike
1987 Paul Butterfield singer/harmonica player, dies of drug abuse at 44
1992 Ismael Galeano "Commandant Franklyn" (Contra), dies
1992 Vitali Andreyevich Grishchenko Russian cosmonaut, dies at 50
1994 Karl Francis Hettinger Onion Field survivor, dies at 59
1997 Alvy Moore actor/producer (Mr Kimball-Green Acres), dies at 75

---

Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1966 MALONE JIMMY M.---NORFOLK VA.
1967 GRAHAM JAMES S.---ARDMORE PA.
[GOOD CHUTE WAVED IN DECENT, REMAINS RETURNED 08/14/85]
1967 ROGERS CHARLES E.---GARY IN.
1968 KING PAUL C. JR.---WALTHAM MA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
1471 Battle of Tewkesbury - King Edward IV vs Ex-queen Margaretha
1493 Spanish Pope Alexander VI divides non-Christian world between Spain & Portugal
1494 Christopher Columbus lands in Jamaica
1540 Venice & Turkey sign Treaty of Constantinople
1626 Indians sell Manhattan Island for $24 in cloth & buttons
1626 Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherlands
1652 Battle at Etampes: French army under Turenne beats Fronde rebels
1715 French manufacturer debuts 1st folding umbrella (Paris France)
1728 Georg F Händels opera "Tolomeo, re di Egitto" premieres in London
1776 Rhode Island declares independence from England
1780 American Academy of Arts & Science founded
1780 Charles Bunbury on Diomed wins 1st Epsom Derby
1783 Herschel reports seeing a red glow near lunar crater Aristarchus
1814 Bourbon reign restored in France
1818 Netherlands & England sign treaty against illegal slave handling
1839 The Cunard Steamship Company Ltd forms San Bonifacio
1843 Great-Britain annexes Natal
1846 US state of Michigan ends death penalty
1847 New York State creates a Board of Commissioners of Emigration
1851 1st major San Fransisco fire
1858 War of the Reform (México); Liberals establish capital at Vera Cruz
1861 At Gretna LA, one of 1st guns of Rebel navy is cast
1862 Battle at Williamsburg VA
1862 Yorktown VA - McClellan halted his troop before town as it is full of armed torpedoes left by CS Brigadier General Gabrial Rains
1863 Battle of Chancellorsville ends-Beaten Union army withdraws
1864 Ulysses S Grant crosses Rapidan & begins his duel with Robert E Lee
1865 Battle of Citronville AL; Richard Taylor surrenders
1865 Battle of Mobile AL
1871 1st baseball league game (National Association of Baseball Players), (Fort Wayne 2, Cleveland 0) Deacon Jim White gets 1st hit, a double
1878 Phonograph shown for 1st time at Grand Opera House
1883 John Gordon Cashmans begins "Vicksburg Evening Post" (Mississippi)
1886 Haymarket riot in Chicago; bomb kills 7 policemen
1893 Cowboy Bob Pickett invents bulldogging
1896 1st edition of London Daily Mail (½ penny)
1896 Grease fire ignites ½ ton of dynamite at Cripple Creek CO
1897 23rd Kentucky Derby: Buttons Garner aboard Typhoon II wins in 2:12.5
1898 24th Kentucky Derby: Willie Simms aboard Plaudit wins in 2:09
1899 25th Kentucky Derby: Fred Taral aboard Manuel wins in 2:12
1910 Canadian parliament accept creation of Royal Canadian Navy
1910 Tel Aviv founded
1915 Italy drops Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary & Germany
1916 At request of US, Germany curtails its submarine warfare
1917 Arabs sack Tel Aviv
1918 Yankees set record with 8 sacrifices, beat Red Sox's Babe Ruth 5-4
1919 1st legal Sunday baseball game in NYC (Phillies beat Giants 4-3)
1923 Bloody street battles between Nazis, socialist & police in Vienna
1923 New York state revokes Prohibition law
1924 8th modern Olympic games open in Paris France
1924 German Republic election fascists & communists win
1925 League of Nations conference on arms control & poison gas usage
1926 General strike hits Britain
1927 1st balloon flight over 40,000 feet (Scott Field IL)
1927 Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences forms
1927 Nicaragua agrees to a US supervised presidential election in 1928
1929 Lou Gehrig hits 3 consecutive homeruns, Yankees 11, Tigers 9
1931 Mustafa Kemal Pasja becomes Turkish president
1932 Al Capone, convict of income tax evasion, enters Atlanta Penitentiary
1935 61st Kentucky Derby: Willie Saunders aboard Omaha wins in 2:05
1938 Douglas Hyde (a protestant) becomes 1st president of Eire
1940 66th Kentucky Derby: Carroll Bierman aboard Gallahadion wins in 2:05
1942 Battle of Coral Sea begun (1st sea battle fought solely in air)
1942 Food 1st rationed in US
1942 German occupiers imprison 450 prominent Dutch as hostages
1943 National League's Ford Frick demonstrates revised balata ball to reporters by bouncing it on his office carpet ball proves to be 50% livelier
1945 German troops in Netherlands, Denmark & Norway surrender
1946 5 die in a 2 day riot at Alcatraz prison in San Fransisco bay
1946 72nd Kentucky Derby: Warren Mehrtens aboard Assault wins in 2:06.6
1946 Washington Senator's Cecil Travis gets 6 straight hits before being stopped
1948 The Hague Court of Justice convicts Hans Rauter (SS) to the death
1952 Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Fresno Golf Open
1953 Pulitzer prize awarded to Ernest Hemingway (Old Man & The Sea)
1954 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1956 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1957 83rd Kentucky Derby: Bill Hartack aboard Iron Liege wins in 2:02.2
1957 Alan Freed hosts "Rock n' Roll Show" 1st prime-time network rock show
1957 Anne Frank Foundation forms in Amsterdam
1961 13 Freedom riders began bus trip through South
1961 Malcolm Ross & Victor Prather reach 34,668 meters (record) in balloon
1963 89th Kentucky Derby: Braulio Baeza aboard Chateaugay wins in 2:01.8
1963 Pitcher Bob Shaw sets record of 5 balks in a game
1964 "Another World" & "As the World Turns" premiere on TV
1964 70 GATT-countries confer in Geneva
1965 Willie Mays 512th homerun breaks Mel Ott's 511th National League record homerun
1966 Soviet Government signs accord about building Fiat factory in USSR
1967 Lunar Orbiter 4 launched by US; begins orbiting Moon May 7
1968 1st ABA championship: Pittsburgh Pipers beat New Orleans Buccaneers, 4 games to 3
1968 94th Kentucky Derby: Ismael Valenzuela aboard Forward Pass wins in 2:02½
1968 Dancer's Image disqualified due to drugs after winning 94th Kentucky Derby
1970 National Guard kills 4 at Kent State in Ohio
1970 Premier Kosygin affirms existence Russian military advisors in Egypt
1972 Vietcong forms revolutionary government in Quang Tri South Vietnam
1973 1st TV network female nudity-Steambath (PBS)- Valerie Perrine
1974 100th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr aboard Cannonade wins in 2:04
1979 1st woman prime minister of Great Britain (Margaret Thatcher)
1981 Yankee Ron Davis strikes out 8 consecutive Angels, ran record of 13 strikeouts of last 14 faced, also saved Gene Nelsons 1st win, 4-2
1982 British torpedo boat Sheffield off Falkland hit by Exocet rocket
1983 China People's Republic performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Rebublic of China
1984 Dave Kingman's fly ball never comes down (stuck in Metrodome/Humperdome ceiling)
1985 111th Kentucky Derby: Angel Cordero Jr on Spend A Buck wins 2:00.2
1986 President Babrak Karmal resigns as party leader of Afghánistán
1989 US launches Magellan to Venus
1989 US space shuttle STS-30 launched
1990 Angela Bowie reveals that ex husband David slept with Mick Jagger
1990 Latvia's parliament votes 138-0 (1 abstention) for Independence
1991 117th Kentucky Derby: Chris Antley aboard Strike the Gold wins in 2:03
1991 Morris K Udall (Representative-D-AZ), resigns due to Parkinson disease
1991 President Bush is hospitalized for erratic heartbeat
1996 122nd Kentucky Derby: Jerry Bailey aboard Grindstone wins in 2:01
1994 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a historic accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
2000 The "ILOVEYOU" e-mail virus infected computer networks and hard drives across the globe, spawning various imitations.

---

Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

Tonga : Crown Prince's Birthday
Zambia : Labour Day (Monday)
National Turn Off Your TV Week (Day 2)
US : Student Memorial Day (1970)
Goodwill Industries Week (Day 3)
National Walking Week (Day 2)
National Family Week (Day 3)
National Herb Week (Day 2)
National Music Week (Day 3)
National Naked Day
National Homebrew Day
Gazpacho Aficionado Month

---

Religious Observances
Christian : Commemoration of St Florian, patron of firemen
Lutheran, old Roman Catholic, Anglican : Feast of St Monica, mom of St Augustine of Hippo
Jewish : Lag B'Omer (love for Holy Land Day) (Iyar 18, 5759 AM)

---

Religious History
1256 Pope Alexander IV founded the Roman Catholic religious order of the Augustine Hermits.
1493 Pope Alexander VI issued "Inter caeterea II," which divided possession of the New World discoveries by Spain and Portugal along a longitudinal line running 250 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
1746 The Moravians in Pennsylvania established the Moravian Women's Seminary at Bethlehem. It was the first educational institution of its kind established by the "Unitas Fratrum" in (colonial) America.
1784 Birth of Carl G. Glaser, German music teacher. Of his many choral pieces, Glaser is primarily remembered today for his hymn tune AZMON, to which the Church today sings: "O For a Thousand Tongues."
1970 In deciding the legal case "Walz v. Tax Commission of New York," the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a New York statute exempting church-owned property from taxation.

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried."

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Actual Newspaper Headlines...
Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

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Why did the Chicken cross the Road...
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken 2000, which will not only crossroads, but will also lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook, and Internet Explorer is an inextricable part of eChicken.

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Stocks To Watch In 2004 Watch for these consolidations in 2004 and make yourself a bundle...
Zippo Mfg., Audi Motor Car, Dofasco and Dakota Mining will merge to become, of course...ZipAudiDoDa.

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Guide to REAL driving...
Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane-change is considered "going with the flow."

[Darksheare]

Morning, radu.

[snippy_about_it]

Hi Neil. Good to see you "fall in" now and then. Thanks for the kind words.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for bump Neil. Always appreciated.