Warspot Digest: March 2021

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Warspot Digest: March 2021

	HMC M8: Quick Support for Light Tanks [READ MORE] The idea of a specialized SPG for supporting tank and infantry units came up in USA in the early 1930s. However, attempts to build such a vehicle ended up with nothing. As a result, the US Army began WWII without an SPG. The HMC T30, built on the M3 halftrack, entered trials in January of 1942. The SPG was launched into production in February of that year. Even though a large number of these halftracks was built, 500 units in all, the Americans saw it as only a temporary solution. The solution was an unusual SPG HMC M8 with a 75 mm howitzer on a light tank chassis.
	Black Prince [READ MORE] The British military had strange ideas about what a tank should look like in WWII. It's not surprising that the American Stuart tank became the most common light tank in the British army and the most common medium tank was the American Sherman. The British were on their own when it came to heavy tanks, as there was no foreign alternative to the Churchill. That didn't stop the British from making several attempts to replace it throughout the war. The Black Prince I was one such attempt.
	Jagdpanzer IV: the Best StuG [READ MORE] The StuG III and StuG 40 were the most numerous armoured vehicles in the German army during WWII. Together with the StuH 42 assault howitzer, 11,300 such vehicles were built. The front lines needed more of these assault guns, and so Germany began to develop these vehicles on other chassis. The fighting in 1942-43 made it clear that the Marder tank destroyers needed to be replaced. The Wehrmacht wanted something lower and better protected. This began the development of the Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer. The sum total of its characteristics made this vehicle the best German medium SPG of the war.
	Object 704: Late Replacement [READ MORE] There are many cases in tank building where a very good vehicle appears too late to enter mass production. This was most common at the end of WWII, when a number of development programs were cut due to the end of hostilities. Soviet Object 704 or Kirovets-2 was one such unfortunate project. This was a significant step forward compared to the ISU-152, but the end of the war and revised requirements for heavy SPGs left it no chance of entering production.