M3 and M5 (Honey/Stuart) Light Tanks
Jan Hyrman


M3 Light Tank

Taking into account weight and armament factors, the M3 Stuart tank was a remarkably viable project, serving with distinction throughout the Second World War. Based on the pre-war M2A4 design, it had a better armour protection and a modified suspension system, with the idler wheel lowered, increasing stability and decreasing ground pressure. The first M3 tanks were manufactured in March 1941 by the American Car & Foundry and powered by Continental and Guiberson engines.

It was a considerable improvement over previous American designs, however, even before the declaration of war on Japan and Germany by the U.S.A., the Light Tank was only a very temporary patch on the abysmal neglect of U.S. tank development during the inter-war years. Light tanks already ceased to be the primary weapon of armoured divisions on both sides of the developing conflict, giving way to medium or cruiser tank designs, which offered better protection and heavier armament.

After the Lend-Lease Act came into force in March 1941, considerable numbers of M3 Light Tanks were provided to help Britain to arm its growing army. Not to confuse the M3 Light Tank with the M3 Medium Tank, names of Civil War generals were used to simplify vehicle identification. While the M3 Light Tank became known as the Stuart Light Tank (the British 7th Armoured Division also supplied another, more familiar nickname, calling the vehicle 'Honey' due to its superior reliability and agility), while the Medium Tank was named after General Lee.

Due to the Stuart's incompatibility with the British standards, changes were made to the original design to make the vehicle more suitable for the British Army and, above all, desert warfare. Sand shields, a water container rack, a ration box and other adjustments were made, as well as a number of internal modifications. While the American M3 tanks had two fixed machine guns on each side of the hull, the British had them deleted in favour of additional storage space.
M5 Light Tank

The M5 Light Tank was practically an M3 vehicle with a different powerplant. The M5 used two Cadillac liquid-cooled V-8 car engines and Hydramatic automatic transmission, providing the tank with 8 forward and 2 reverse automatically selected gears. The change in engine eventually meant changes to the hull as well - the rear part of the hull had to be raised to accomodate the powerplant and the radiators.

The combat performance of the M5 Light Tank was very similar to the M3, and although the U.S. Army employed M3 and M5 tanks in combat roles as well during its drive from Morocco and Algeria into Tunisia, the losses were great, clearly showing the necessity of employing heavier vehicles, such as the M4 Sherman tank with a 75mm gun.

Throughout the campaign in north-west Europe, beginning with the invasion of Normandy and ending with the final defeat of Hitler's Germany, the M5 was to be employed as a reconnaissance vehicle for armoured units. The Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade Group (C.I.A.B.G.) used the M5A1 variant of the vehicle, designated by the British as Stuart VI, operating about 30 tanks. The M5 Light Tanks were used primarily by the Armoured Reconnaissance Squadron (later converted into the 3rd Armoured Regiment) and reconnaissance elements of the two armoured regiments.

Other variants included the M5A1 with public-address system for psychological warfare, various flame-thrower modifications to the M5A1 design, some reaching only the prototype stage, the M5 Dozer, the M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage with an roomier open-top turret and a 75mm howitzer for close support or the T8 Reconnaissance Vehicle with the turret removed and a .50 calibre machine-gun mounting.

The Canadian Army employed the Stuart chassis in a role similar to the T8 Reconnaissance Vehicle, removing the turret and creating a makeshift armoured personnel carrier. This was called Stuart Kangaroo.
An M5 Stuart tank at the War & Peace Show near Beltring, England.
In combat, the tactics used by the British against Rommel's Afrika-Korps were often a greater disadvantage than the natural disproportion of the vehicles armour and armament to actual battlefield conditions. Conditions were for the most part similar for Germans and British alike, however, the lay-out of the fighting compartment, the roles of each member of the crew, as well as tactics used during tank battles proved to have decisive influence on the success of each engagement. The short range of the Stuart also proved a considerable deficiency, often forcing crews to abandon undamaged vehicles only because it ran out of fuel. The arrival of M3 Medium Tanks (General Lee) and the performance of the light tank in battle caused the Stuart to gradually shift to other roles, never to regain the status it enjoyed with the British Army again, at least not in the European Theater of Operations.

It is very difficult to make a clear distinction between versions as some adjustments were retroactively introduced for older versions as well. A gradual shift from riveted armour to welded turrets and later hulls could be seen throughout the development of the M3 and the M5. Variants included the M3A1 with a modified turret and a new traversing periscope and the M3A3 with further improvements to the turret and three addtional periscopes to improve the crews vision. Prototypes were produced with a Maxson quadruple .50 machine-gun turret or a T2 mine-exploding device, both were soon rejected.
An M5 Stuart tank throwing up dust somewhere in NW Europe.
Photograph courtesy of the Tank Museum Bovington.
An M5 Stuart tank shown during army trials.
Photograph courtesy of the Tank Museum Bovington.