Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "M3 Medium Tank: A Modern Antique" video.

  1. If you think about it, the M3 must have been a committee design. For it had a turret that was pretty close to the early Mark III panzer -- at 37mm --- and its 75mm HE gun was not too far off the early Mark IV panzer. The result shows that committees are not creative creatures. The big hang-up was that America did not have the industrial capacity to craft turret rings of the requisite size so early in the war. That's why the 75mm was placed in a sponson. Once America COULD crank out Sherman sized turrets and turret rings -- the M3 was kicked to the curb. It did have one grace. It had motor -- transmission -- suspension and track elements common with early Shermans// M-4s. This meant that US tank divisions could train with tanks very close to those they'd ultimately bring into battle. Most M-3s never left CONUS. Most training simply did not involve firing guns. Tensioning track, motor maintenance & repair, radio protocols, --- on and on it goes.
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