Ity is truly interesting, the longevity of certain models of tanks. No longer of course, as MBTs (main battle tanks), but in various other
tasks....stationary artillery, recon, or between poorer nations when that is the best they can afford.
The Stuart was used extensively by the British in North Africa, but with it's light armor and mounting only a 37mm gun, it was not used tank-to-tank, but it was quick and the British crews who used them, nicknamed them the "Honey"..
The Stuart seems to be referred to as either an M3 or an M5...not to be confused with the M3 Lee.
The Lee, when passed to the British..was called the Grant.. Lee/Grant..Oh the irony.. They were a stop-gap m achine hurriedly built for the North
African coimmand. THeir "big gun" a 75mm, was offset to the right, which limited it's traverse, so if a target was more than 30 degrees or so off to one side or the other, one would have to turn the whole tank, in order to bring the gun to bear.
The T34 was an excellent tank..among the best produced for WW2.
THe M4 Sherman had some serious flaws, but 2 things it had over most of the competition, was reliability and a powereded turret rotation.
Even the others which had powered turrets, most were not so fast at rotation.
In tank-to-tank, whoever gets innthe first shot (hit), is almost always to get in the second shot..raising the odds.
The M4 and the British Centurion were used in the 1967 Arab/Israeliu war.... The centurion had "reach" with it's main gun tube..
The M47 & M48 Pattons were "my" tanks . We crew members figured we could compete against the world's best at the time.
Some of the post WW2 Russian tanks had cast turrets..an HVAP round would not just punch a hole, but the cast would shatter, sending shrapnel bouncing around the interior.
THe Leopard is still competitive today.
See Lee/grant below. (Those rivited armor plates were killers).
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