M3 Light Tank "Capt Gore" (10 Troop, C Squadron, 2/6th Armored Regiment, Australian Army)

Source: Author's collection

     "Capt Gore", an M3 light tank belonging to 10 Troop, C Squadron, 2/6th Armored Regiment of the Australian Army, sits abandoned in a field of kunai grass near the "New Strip", a decoy landing strip, within the Buna area of Papua, New Guinea. The 2/6th Armored Regiment sent B and C Squadrons in December 1942 to bolster Allied forces during the Battle of Buna–Gona which raged from November 16, 1942 to January 22, 1943. The squadrons from the 2/6th Armored Regiment were attached to the 2/9th Battalion (Infantry) of the Australian 18th. Brigade and they rolled into battle on December 18, 1942. 

     The tenacious Japanese defenders fought hard and three M3 tanks were lost the first day but it was not enough to stop the Australians and American forces from making good progress. The drive would continue and on December 24, 1942, the remaining four tanks were deployed in support of the U.S. 1st. Battalion, 126th. Infantry Regiment (32nd. Division) and the Australian 2/10th Battalion (Infantry) that were tasked with taking "New Strip". The Japanese, lacking in anti-tank weapons, used anti-aircraft guns in their place. The most common, the Type 96 25mm gun, was capable of firing an armor-piercing round that could penetrate 42mm out to a range of 100m. The M3, at most, had 51mm of armor with a minimum of 10mm. Given the terrain, the Japanese guns were well concealed and took the tanks under fire at very close range and thus the M3 was vulnerable to these weapons. In short order, all four tanks were lost.

     In the case of "Capt Gore", it appears that it was a victim of the ground underneath the kunai grass which was often wet and thus tanks were susceptible to bogging down in the soft earth. There does appear to be some damage to the tank from shell hits, such as through the air filter case and a small ricochet indent just beneath the cupola but nothing from this view that suggests it was knocked out by gun fire. The tank was abandoned and stripped of equipment, to include the .30cal. machine-gun that was mounted on the pintel next to the cupola. It is unknown if the tank was recovered but photographs exist of another M3 from the same battle still in the fields in 1952. The name of "Capt Gore" was applied to the tank for an Australian propaganda film and never removed before deployment. The other M3 tanks in 10 Troop, C Squadron were "Capt Kidd" and "Capt Blood". 

     The Battle of Buna–Gona ended in a Allied victory but at a heavy cost. It was the first time soldiers faced the ferocious nature of the Japanese when on the defensive and all told, the Allies suffered 1,991 killed in action and 12,300 wounded out of some 20,000 men deployed. The savage defense of the Japanese can be seen in the under 300 Japanese soldiers captured by the Allies out of a total force count of 12,000. The rest were either killed in battle (4,000), died from disease (3,000), or were wounded in action (1,200; these men were able to be evacuated).

The M3 Medium Tank: A "Mass Grave for Six"

Knocked out Lend-Lease Soviet M3 tanks. (Author's Collection)

     Following the fall of France in 1940, the U.S. saw that the new M2 Medium Tank that had been ordered for production was woefully inadequate in terms of armament and design when compared to the German PzKpfw III and IV. Thus, on June 5, 1940, it was decided that a new medium tank had to be developed to succeed the M2 even before any metal was cut on the M2 order. The M2 used a M6 37mm gun in its turret and the new design had to have at least a 75mm gun. Since the M2 turret was much too small to house a larger gun, a completely new turret had to be designed that would not be ready quickly. So, a compromise to field a medium tank with a heavier hitting gun resulted in the T5E2. The T5E2 was a modification of the T5 Phase III tank which was the prototype for the M2. A 75mm gun was mounted in a sponson that was fitted in the T5's modified hull and in time, this would evolve into the the M3 medium tank. The M3 is sometimes derided as being an inferior tank but one must keep in mind it was meant as an interim tank until the new, turreted medium tank could be put into service (this would be the M4 Sherman). The M3 was not without faults and it retained the tall profile of the M2, the hull position of the 75mm gun meant the entire tank had to move in order to bring the gun to bear on targets which were outside the limited traverse, and the riveted armor plating was prone to spalling when hit. Still, the firepower was respected by those facing the M3, especially in the North African theater. 

     The same, however, wasn't the case on the Eastern Front. 22% of all the M3 tanks built were sent to Russia under Lend-Lease and of the 1,386 sent, only 969 made it to Russia due to shipping interception by the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. The main models sent were the M3A3 and M3A5 and they were deployed into combat in 1942, mainly with the 13th. Corps under the 1st. Tank Army. The Soviets had no love for the M3, stating that its armor was inadequate against the more potent anti-tank guns fielded by the Germans, its cross-country performance was poor due to its narrow tracks (in comparison to the wider T-34 tracks), its high profile and hull mounted main gun made going hull down impossible (a tactic to hide the tank's chassis with only the turret exposed), and the need to turn the tank to aim the 75mm gun resulted in longer engagement times. Soviet tankers gave the M3 the grim nickname "Bratskoy Mogiloy na Shesterykh" which meant "Mass Grave for Six". 

     Despite the faults, the Soviets used the M3 to fill gaps in their forces until T-34 production could replace them. The M3 was used in the Battle of Kursk, the largest armor battle of World War 2, and was deployed with three units: the 200th. Tank Brigade (6th. Tank Corps), the 237th. Tank Brigade (31st. Tank Corps) and the 242nd. Tank Brigade (also 31st. Tank Corps). These brigades ran into elements of the II SS Panzer Corps during the opening engagements at Kursk along the Voronezh Front and were decimated as these two tanks attest. The only other user of the M3 was the 120th. Tank Brigade but it was held in reserves until early 1944 when it was deployed in support of the Belorussian Front before being disbanded in June 1944. Those M3 tanks which remained after Kursk were often redeployed to fronts where resistance was expected to be minimal or put into reserves or used for training. Returning to the M2, the original order of 1,000 M2A1 tanks was reduced to 126 and of that, 94 were received by the U.S. Army between November 1940 and August 1941. These tanks were utilized for training and for testing purposes within the U.S. and were never used in combat. 

     As a note, the object on the end of the M3's main gun in the front of the photograph is a counterweight that balanced the M2 75mm gun with its gyro-stabilizer. The longer barreled M3 75mm gun used in later M3 models eliminated the need for the counterweight. Not all of the short barrel guns had the counterweight fitted.