M3 Lee/Grant

The British used this American medium tank extensively in North Africa. The M3's considerable firepower (the 75 mm M2 (L/31) main gun) and good armor made it very effective against all Axis units early in the North African campaign, but the type had serious drawbacks in its general design and shape. This included a high silhouette, riveted construction, and poor off-road performance. It also had an archaic sponson mounting of the main gun preventing the tank from taking a hull-down position, while its fully-rotating turret sat atop a tall superstructure and contained a smaller 37 mm gun. Its maximum speed of 26 mph was on-par with contemporary Axis tanks in the North African theater, but overall performance was not satisfactory and Commonwealth units withdrew the tank from front-line service in most theaters as soon as the M4 Sherman tank became available in larger numbers beginning in mid-1942. The British referred to M3s with the American-pattern turret as 'Lee,' and those with the British-pattern turret as 'Grant.' The former variant carried a crew of seven, and the latter a crew of six. The type also carried between one and four .30-06 (7.62 mm) Browning M1919A4 machine guns. U.S. industry produced 6,258 units in many combat and utility variants. From 1941, 1,386 M3 medium tanks served with the Soviet Union, but after mid-1943 the Soviets used these tanks only in secondary or inactive fronts. The different Range and Firepower against Vehicles values reflects whether crews are using the 75 mm sponson gun (higher values) or the 37 mm turret gun.