A British Tank Commission ordered the Lee-Grant range when they went to the US in June 1940. They intended to have British tanks produced by American companies, but with t he B ritish apparently soon t o b e defeated, t he N ational Defence Advisory Committee refused to allow British designs built. 200 M3 tanks were ordered with a new cast turret, to include the radio equipment, and delivered to the 8th Army in the Western Desert in 1942. 4th Armoured Brigade had 167 of these "Grants" at the Gazala battle in May 1942. It gave a boost to morale as it could out-range the panzers. Standard "M3 Lees" were then also sold to Britain. 250 were delivered to the 8th Army in June 1942. By the Battle of Alamein in October 1942 almost 600 M3 tanks had been delivered.
A commonly held belief is that when the M4 replaced these tanks in the desert the M3s were shipped to Burma and Australia. The Australian delivery dates shows that by the end of April 1942, 54 M3 Mediums had arrived in Australia and by December 1942 a total of 757 M3 Mediums had been received. All were therefore delivered to Australia within a period of nine months. (The discrepancy of 20 tanks with the table is due to loss in transit). Photographs of M3 Mediums on the wharves or in depots immediately after their arrival in Australia show them in a dark colour, most probably Khaki or Olive Drab, indicating the USA as their place of origin. This indicates M3 Medium tanks for the Far East theatre of Operations were probably mainly shipped directly from the USA. During the second part of 1942, the M3 Medium formed a large portion of British tank strength in the Middle East, and it would seem most unlikely for vital tanks to be removed from the Middle East before the arrival of the first of the Sherman series in North Africa during August/September 1942.
Further evidence found shows that, in April 1943, the Australian Chief of the General Staff wrote to the Minister for the Army in reference to why Australia had supposedly received "defective tanks", in reference to later model Lees not being fitted with side doors (M3A4). The CGS commented in reply that between November 1941 and May 1942, when the tank strength of the Commonwealth Armies was perilously low, that the allocation of M3 Medium tanks from US production was as follows:
| Area | M3 Lee | M3 Grant | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | 255 | 503 | 777 |
| India | 517 | 379 | 896 |
| Middle East | 75 | 657 | 732 |
| United Kingdom | 119 | 97 | 216 |
| Total | 966 | 1655 | 2621 |
Thus it would appear that the three main types were roughly one third each of the total number of vehicles.
To say the designation of the Mediums in the Far East was confused would be an understatement. The Australian-produced driving and maintenance manual for the diesel Grant dated 1943 gave the designation as Tanks Grant II, Medium M3A5. However, a 1944 amendment stated "For Tanks Grant II Medium M3A5 read Tanks Medium M3 General Grant III" and "The M3A5 tank known in Australia as the General Grant III has both welded and riveted hull".
As for the actual models of M3 Mediums supplied to Australia and Burma, it has proven difficult to find a break-up of the types, but the following details, gleaned from photographs and archive documents, may be of interest. Most of the early supplied tanks were the M3 Grant I, with British turret, riveted hull, Wright petrol radial engine. The first Grants received carried the M2 75mm sponson gun with short barrel. Later deliveries had the short M2 75mm gun with counterweights as later vehicles came with a stabilizer intended for the M3 longer barrelled gun. Some vehicles were later equipped with the M3 gun as used in the Shermans.
The M3A5 Grant II with US turret both had a riveted hull, no commanders cupola, and was available both with and without side doors, the twin GM 6046 diesel engine was a pair of GM 6-71 truck engines, each of which could be operated independently if so required. The engines were meshed together on a helical gear which was mounted on a propeller shaft connecting to the tank's transmission. The side and rear armour plates on diesel-engined M3s extended below the level of the track return run, and the rear hull plate was sloped to accommodate the larger diesel engine. The engine compartment was accessed through a single lower rear plate instead of the twin doors on the radial-engined M3s. An exhaust deflector was installed to reduce the dust signature of the tank, and two armoured doors with air intake louvers were installed over the tank's engine compartment, 591 were built, and it would appear from photographic evidence to be the more common type of diesel engined Grant. There were numbers of M3A3 Grant (possibly re-turreted Lee III M3A3) with welded hull and the same engines. An examination of available photos shows possibly about 15-20% of Australian diesel-engined Grants were based on the welded hull M3A3.
The M3 Medium Lee was also supplied in large numbers. All photos appear to be Lee I: M3; US turret, Wright petrol radial engine and had all riveted hulls. At least one Australian armoured unit, the 2nd Army Tank Battalion, was fully equipped with Lees in 1944. It appears that some Lees were from a mid-production batch, having hull roof ventilators and hull side doors, possibly the M3A4, and some of these were used for conversion to the Tank Recovery vehicle. Most Lees photographed had the hull side doors eliminated, and it appears that no Lee was supplied with a turret cupola as the US vehicles, all photographic evidence of Australian vehicles shows a Grant style cupola (a M4 Sherman type split hatch rotating cupola) fitted to the ones in service. This lowered the profile somewhat. Standard British pattern smoke launchers were mounted on the turret side. Additional stowage boxes appear on the glacis and deck.
Model Availability
No one makes a model of the Lee with the Sherman style cupola and no side doors, but other types are well catered for in both 15mm and 20mm. So if you want M3's for a Burma campaign you may need to do a bit of converting.
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