Hi all,

Got a question about the M3A1 stuart. I've got academy's kit and I was thinking what I want to do with it. Maybe a jungle dio in the pacific would be nice, but I was also wondering if it was used (by American forces) during and after D-Day and during the battles in Sicily, Salerno, Italy and Southern France.

As far as I know it was replaced by the M5A1 in 1944 but I want to be sure!

So, was the M3A1 used in...

1 - France, during D-Day and the battle for Normandy
2 - The battle for Sicily
3 - The battle for Salerno
4 - The battles in Italy
5 - The landings in Southern France

Thanks!
Martin

Sorry Martin ..I think most M3A1s were replaced by American forces before the the Italian campaign ...I do believe British or Commonwealth countries still used them even as late as the Invasion of France though.

Rick

M3 honey's were used by the british in North Africa, probably the Italian campaign. The brits loved it for its speed and manueverability, armament and armor sucked...... Usually used for recon.

Hi Martin,
The M3A1's would have been entirely replaced by M5's and M5A1's by the time of the Sicily landings.

Chris "toadman" Hughes

Martinnnn,

In the American inventory The M5 had replaced the M3 in combat units by the time of D-Day Normandy. The British and to a lesser extent the French (who used M3A3 most) continued to use the M3A1series to the end of the war.

Ok thanks all!

Think I'm gonna make it a pacific version then anyway :-)

Martin

Just to muddy the waters a little, Academy's 'M3A1' isn't, it is really a late production M3 outside. Inside, it is an M3A1.

The salient features of the M3A1 were welded hull, no sponson MGs and a curved rear slope. The Academy model has none of these.

So you can build it as a US M3 in North Africa or the Pacific, or as a British/Commonwealth M3 in North Africa and Europe, or as a Russian M3. Some of the US and Russian marking options in the model are accurate for M3s

Ok thanks!

Martin

The British still used some M3 Stuarts in the ETO. There's a pic int Concord's US Light Tanks, and one (turretless) in British Tanks of WW2, vol 2. If you pass your e-mail adress, I'll scan them for you.

Cheers, MartinD