M3 STUART LIGHT TANK
“THE TANK WAS AN INFANTRY SUPPORT WEAPON THAT WOULD UTILISE SPEED, FIREPOWER AND ARMOUR PROTECTION IN THE REDUCTION OF ENEMY STRONGPOINTS”
The development of tanks and armoured fighting vehicles in the United States lagged behind the European powers until the early 1930s, when the US Army began exploring the introduction of the ‘combat car’. Its first operational tank, the M1 Combat Car, entered service in 1937, while a new light tank, the M2, was already in the design phase and nearing production. Although the M2 was deployed with US Army and Marine Corps forces soon after the United States entered World War II, the follow-on Light Tank M3 was the most widely produced American light tank of the conflict and also served via Lend-Lease with British and Soviet forces.
The M3 was conceived on the basis of US
