M3 Lee

Medium Tank, M3
Medium Tank, M3, Fort Knox, June 1942
Type	Medium tank
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1941–1955
Wars	World War II
Production history
Manufacturer	Detroit Tank Arsenal American Locomotive Company Pullman Standard Pressed Steel Car Company Baldwin Locomotive Works
Unit cost	$55,250[1]
Produced	August 1941 – December 1942
No. built	6,258
Variants	See Variants
Specifications
Mass	30 short tons (27 long tons; 27 t)
Length	18 ft 6 in (5.64 m)
Width	8 ft 11 in (2.72 m)
Height	10 ft 3 in (3.12 m) – Lee
Crew	Seven (Lee); Six (Grant)
Armor	51 mm (2.0 in) hull front, turret front, sides, and rear 38 mm (1.5 in) (hull sides and rear)[2]
Main armament	1 × 75 mm Gun M2/M3 in hull 46 rounds 1 × 37mm Gun M5/M6 in turret 178 rounds
Secondary armament	2–3–4 × .30-06 Browning M1919A4 machine guns 9,200 rounds
Engine	Wright-Continental R975 EC2 400 hp (300 kW)/340 hp (250 kW)
Transmission	Mack Synchromesh, five speeds forward, one reverse
Suspension	vertical volute spring
Ground clearance	18 in (0.46 m)
Fuel capacity	664 L (175 US gal)
Operational range	120 mi (193 km)
Maximum speed	26 mph (42 km/h) (road) 16 mph (26 km/h) (off-road)
Steering system	Controlled differential

The M3 Lee, officially Medium Tank, M3, was an American medium tank used during World War II. The turret was produced in two forms, one for US needs and one modified to British requirements to place the radio next to the commander. In British Commonwealth service, the tank was called by two names: tanks employing US-pattern turrets were called "Lee", named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee, while those with British-pattern turrets were known as "Grant", named after Union general Ulysses S. Grant.

Design commenced in July 1940, and the first M3s were operational in late 1941.^[3] The US Army needed a medium tank armed with a 75 mm gun and coupled with the United Kingdom's immediate demand for 3,650 medium tanks,^[4] the Lee began production by late 1940. The design was a compromise meant to produce a tank as soon as possible and serve only until replaced by the following M4 Sherman tank. The M3 was reliable, had considerable firepower, good armor, and high mobility^[5] but had serious drawbacks in its general design and shape, including a high silhouette, an archaic sponson mounting of the main gun preventing the tank from taking a hull-down position, and riveted construction.

It was considered by Hans von Luck (a German army officer who wrote the post-war memoir Panzer Commander), to be superior in May 1942 to the Panzer IV and able to operate out of range of German 5 cm anti-tank guns.^[6] However, by mid-1943, with the introduction of upgunned Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs, the tank had been withdrawn from combat in most theaters and replaced by the more capable M4 Sherman tank as soon as it became available in larger numbers.

Despite its being replaced elsewhere, the British continued to use M3s in combat against the Japanese in southeast Asia until 1945.^[7] Nearly a thousand M3s were supplied to the Soviet military under Lend-Lease between 1941 and 1943.