| Original caption: “A lot of headaches for the Axis are packed in this combination of good American soldier and good American equipment. An M3 medium tank and a trainee of the armored forces completing the course at Fort Benning, Georgia.” An early model M3 tank, named by the British as the “Lee” tank, displays its riveted design. In the field, if there was time, the rivets were welded to prevent spalling. The tank has an M6 37 millimeter (1.45-inch) gun in the turret and an M2 75 millimeter (3-inch) gun in the side sponson. Note the dual 30 caliber M1919 Browning machine guns fixed to fire forward, near the tank’s left headlight. These guns were deleted in later models. There was another M1919 in a coaxial mount with the M6 37 (1.45-inch) gun in the turret, with a 4th M1919 in the small cupola on top of the turret. This mounting was unpopular, as it was difficult to train on target. The driver’s viewport is open. 2 more M3 Lee tanks are following the tank in the center. On January 11, 1942, the Atlanta Journal described the new M3 tank: “It is easy to understand why tanks require expert mechanics, when you consider that the M3, for instance, has fourteen thousand separate parts. Eighteen feet long, ten feet high, and eight and a half feet wide, the M3 carries a crew of seven men, a seventy-five millimeter gun, a thirty-seven millimeter antiaircraft gun, and four machine guns.” “The inside of each tank is lined with about a hundred pounds of sponge rubber to protect the crew from bumps and from the terrific concussion that occurs when a shell hits the tank head-on. The tank itself will stand more than the men in it. Its front plates might withstand a heavy shell, but the concussion would perhaps be too much for the crew. Fire from the Army’s standard antitank gun, the 3thirty-seven millimeter, however, would stop neither the tank nor the crew.” “The strength of the hull is now being improved, and production will be increased as the M3 tank gives way to another medium tank. The new tank will mount the .seventy-five millimeter gun in the top turret, and the hull will be cast instead of riveted.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii0918.jpg |
| Image Size | 877.14 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2920 x 2355 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 1, 1942 |
| Location | |
| City | Fort Benning |
| State or Province | Georgia |
| Country | United States |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-65597(79) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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