The Battle of Alam el Halfa took place in September 1942 south of El Alamein during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War. This was a pre-cursor battle to the second battle of El Alamein. The Afrika Korp attempted an envelopment of the British Eighth Army in the last major Axis offensive of the Western Desert Campaign. Rommel had planned to defeat the British Eighth Army before Allied reinforcements made an Axis victory in Africa impossible.
Montgomery, forewarned by intelligence intercepts, left a gap in the southern sector of the front. Knowing that Rommel planned to attack there, he deployed the bulk of his armour and artillery around Alam el Halfa Ridge, 32 km behind the front. In a new tactic, his tanks were used in an anti-tank role, remaining in their positions on the ridge. Montgomery intended to hold the armour back, refusing to allow them to sortie out as they had in the past.
Among the tanks used by the 8th Army in this battle, was a prototype tank destroyer built on the chassis of the M3 Grant tank. While the Grant tank was key to some earlier successes in the desert war, the 75mm waist gun had less AT penetration than the 37MM turret gun. The tank itself was tall and hard to hide. To solve both issues, the hull of a grant tank was used as a mount for the new 17 Pounder AT gun. To reduce overall height and increase ammo storage, the turret was removed from the Grant Chassis. To mount the fairly large 17ponder gun in the hull sponsoon, the gun was turned 90 degrees on its side. This is the same configuration used on the much later Sherman Firefly. Removing the turret reduced the weight enough to increase performance by over 8 KPH which allowed the TD to move into position quickly and maneuver to engage threats from any angle. The TD's got the nickname "lancer" as the long 17pdr gun made the tank look like a charging knight with his lance ready for jousting.
The following was excerpted from the after action report:
Teamed with a scout platoon of three M3 Honey (Stuart) light tanks, the six prototype M3 "Lancer" TD's setup in a mutually supported ambush position near the Alam El Halfa ridge. At dawn on Sept 1st, Several Panzer Mk III and IV's appeared in the ambush zone. These tanks had struggled through the minefields the night before and were charging forward to make up time on the German schedule. They ran straight into the 17Pdr guns of the Lancers. Two Mk III's were immediately destroyed in the first volley. A MK IV was able to hit a Lancer knocking out its gun with a lucky shot. As the German tanks scattered for cover, The Lancers continued to fire rapidly knocking out another 3 German Panzers.
Just as it seemed the battle was won, a German scout platoon of four SDKFZ 222 armored cars appeared and engaged the right flank TD from the rear destroying the tank. A second Lancer attempted to turn and engage and was immediately knocked out by a Panzer III. It was only the timely intervention of the scout platoon Honeys that drove off the German scouts which prevented the flank from falling. As the last scout moved into a depression to escape, a Lancer took a long range shot which turned the armored car into a fireball. With the scouts gone, the Panzers popped smoke and pulled back from the engagement.
While the new Lancers performed well in the engagement, there were several shortcomings discovered in the design. Weak side armor and vulnerability to light tanks/Infrantry was clearly shown. The large body of the grant made them vulnerable as they would never be a low silouete or be able to go hull down. Finally both of the destroyed vehicles were victims of internal explosions and it was determiend that ammo stowage and protection was insufficient. With more purpose built TD designs on the drawing board and large numbers of the new Sherman tank available it was decided not to continue development of this type. The method of fitting the large 17 pounder gun (turning the gun 90 degrees) was later revisited when the gun was fit to the M4 chasis as the Sherman firefly. It is likely this design concept came from the Lancer program. Thus ended the short career of the M3 Lancer. Unfortunately no tanks of this type were preserved and the prototypes were most likely turned into M31 Tank Recovery Vehicles.
그리고 아무전차도 살아남지 못했다는거보면 복원품인거 같은데 저 박물관이 어딘지를 몰라서 나도모르겠다
Montgomery, forewarned by intelligence intercepts, left a gap in the southern sector of the front. Knowing that Rommel planned to attack there, he deployed the bulk of his armour and artillery around Alam el Halfa Ridge, 32 km behind the front. In a new tactic, his tanks were used in an anti-tank role, remaining in their positions on the ridge. Montgomery intended to hold the armour back, refusing to allow them to sortie out as they had in the past.
Among the tanks used by the 8th Army in this battle, was a prototype tank destroyer built on the chassis of the M3 Grant tank. While the Grant tank was key to some earlier successes in the desert war, the 75mm waist gun had less AT penetration than the 37MM turret gun. The tank itself was tall and hard to hide. To solve both issues, the hull of a grant tank was used as a mount for the new 17 Pounder AT gun. To reduce overall height and increase ammo storage, the turret was removed from the Grant Chassis. To mount the fairly large 17ponder gun in the hull sponsoon, the gun was turned 90 degrees on its side. This is the same configuration used on the much later Sherman Firefly. Removing the turret reduced the weight enough to increase performance by over 8 KPH which allowed the TD to move into position quickly and maneuver to engage threats from any angle. The TD's got the nickname "lancer" as the long 17pdr gun made the tank look like a charging knight with his lance ready for jousting.
The following was excerpted from the after action report:
Teamed with a scout platoon of three M3 Honey (Stuart) light tanks, the six prototype M3 "Lancer" TD's setup in a mutually supported ambush position near the Alam El Halfa ridge. At dawn on Sept 1st, Several Panzer Mk III and IV's appeared in the ambush zone. These tanks had struggled through the minefields the night before and were charging forward to make up time on the German schedule. They ran straight into the 17Pdr guns of the Lancers. Two Mk III's were immediately destroyed in the first volley. A MK IV was able to hit a Lancer knocking out its gun with a lucky shot. As the German tanks scattered for cover, The Lancers continued to fire rapidly knocking out another 3 German Panzers.
Just as it seemed the battle was won, a German scout platoon of four SDKFZ 222 armored cars appeared and engaged the right flank TD from the rear destroying the tank. A second Lancer attempted to turn and engage and was immediately knocked out by a Panzer III. It was only the timely intervention of the scout platoon Honeys that drove off the German scouts which prevented the flank from falling. As the last scout moved into a depression to escape, a Lancer took a long range shot which turned the armored car into a fireball. With the scouts gone, the Panzers popped smoke and pulled back from the engagement.
While the new Lancers performed well in the engagement, there were several shortcomings discovered in the design. Weak side armor and vulnerability to light tanks/Infrantry was clearly shown. The large body of the grant made them vulnerable as they would never be a low silouete or be able to go hull down. Finally both of the destroyed vehicles were victims of internal explosions and it was determiend that ammo stowage and protection was insufficient. With more purpose built TD designs on the drawing board and large numbers of the new Sherman tank available it was decided not to continue development of this type. The method of fitting the large 17 pounder gun (turning the gun 90 degrees) was later revisited when the gun was fit to the M4 chasis as the Sherman firefly. It is likely this design concept came from the Lancer program. Thus ended the short career of the M3 Lancer. Unfortunately no tanks of this type were preserved and the prototypes were most likely turned into M31 Tank Recovery Vehicles.
그리고 아무전차도 살아남지 못했다는거보면 복원품인거 같은데 저 박물관이 어딘지를 몰라서 나도모르겠다
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