Design Overview & Tactical Role
Designed as an emergency stop-gap while American industry finalized the 75 mm turreted M4 Sherman, the M3 Lee featured a multi-tiered armament configuration: a heavy 75 mm gun mounted low in a right-hand hull sponson, topped by a 37 mm anti-tank turret and a commander's machine gun cupola. The British variant, fitted with a lower-profile turret, was named the General Grant.
Combat History & Battle Records
Making its dramatic combat debut at the Battle of Gazala in May 1942, the M3 gave British forces in North Africa their first gun capable of engaging Rommel's Panzer III and IV tanks with high-explosive and anti-armor shells at parity, turning the desert war.
Related Armored Vehicles (World War II)
Modern
2020
Modern
2006
Cold War
1952
Cold War
1960