Lee and Grant were the names given to US built M3 medium tanks and their production variants by the British.

I've always thought that the main visible difference between the Lee and the Grant was the turret.

In the book British and American Tanks of World War II (Chamberlain and Ellis) as one would expect a photo of an M3 (with the British turret) is called a Grant I and a M3 (with an American turret) in British service a Lee I. However, a M3A5 (with American turret) in British service is called a Grant II.

Note that while the book gives the number of each variant produced it does not have a breakdown on which turret was installed. It would be interesting to know how many of each variant were produced with the British turret and how many with the American turret.

Correction: It does say that Pressed Steel Company and Pulman each received an order for 500 M3's with the British turret, so one would conclude that other variants in British service had the American turret. But the M3A5 and M3A3 in my posted links ("M3 Grant-confused" thread) have British turrets.

Not just the main visible difference but the defining difference.




Well, that book is from 1969 and a good bit of the information is incorrect because no one really knew any better at the time. There are also some plain ol' mistakes.




You can't blame C&E for that because no one had figured it out until no one had figured it out until 2012.

KL

Thank you for the link on the numbers.

You are probably right about calling the tank in Burma a Grant II.
However on this site
http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/M3_Lee_Grant.php
I found this statement "The last production (591 units), mostly fielded by the British army, was the M3A5, equipped with the twin GM 6-71 diesels, but with a riveted hull and Lee turret. Strangely, they were called “Grant II” in British service."

There is a drawing of a M3A5 in Burma (I assume based on a photo) It has the American turret but without the machine gun cupola. Found a photo of a tank in Burma that looks like it may be the American turret without a cupola http://www.ww2incolor.com/britain/M3Burma.html The photo caption calls it a Grant

That is really confusing as I still have three of the old Tamiya Grants and ALL of them have a normal radial engined rear end with the Air Cleaners (In Sand Plastic). ALL of the Tamiya LEE kits I have are configured (Crudely) as Diesel rear ends (In Green Plastic).
Al

Sorry, wrong thread and it won't let me edit for some reason.
Al