Normandy 44 Vehicles
We currently have 20 vehicles in the association, from very large vehicles like Tanks to smaller vehicles like motorcycles but all are original WW2 Vehicles and are well maintained. Here is a list of what Normandy44 has at its disposal at the moment and also some pictures of the vehicles in action.
• 2 x M24 Chaffee tanks
• 2 x M3 Half-tracks
• 1 x M5A1 Half-track
• 1 x White Scout Car
• 1 x Weasel
• 4 x Dodge Weapons Carriers
• 1 x Dodge Ordnance vehicle
• 5 x Jeeps
• 2 x Harley Davidson motorcycles
• 1 x GMC 353 Truck
M24 Chaffee
In April 1943 the Ordnance together with Cadillac division of General Motors started work on the new project, designated Light Tank T24. Every effort was made to keep the weight of the vehicle under 20 tons. The armor was kept light, with the glacis plate only 25 mm thick (but sloped at 60 degrees from the vertical). A new lightweight 75 mm gun was developed, a derivative of the gun used in the B-25H Mitchell bomber. The gun had the same ballistics as the M3, but used a thin wall barrel and different recoil mechanism. The design also featured wider (16 inch) tracks and torsion bar suspension. It had relatively low silhouette and a three-man turret.
On October 15, 1943 the first pilot vehicle was delivered and production began in 1944 under the designation Light Tank M24. It was produced at two sites; from April at Cadillac and from July at Massey-Harris. By the time production was stopped in August 1945, 4,731 M24s had left the assembly lines. Some of them were supplied to the British forces.
The first M24s reached Europe in December 1944 (actually, the US 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) received thirty-four M-24 Chaffee's in November 1944 while in France, 17 each being issued to F Company, 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, and F Company, 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, all of which were rushed to the southern sector of the Battle of the Bulge in December). Two of them took part in the Battle of the Bulge with the 740th Tank Battalion of the US First Army. The M24s were intended to replace the Light Tank M5 which were used entirely for scouting and screening along the flanks of the main armored forces. They were slow in reaching the front line combat units, and by the end of the war many armored divisions were still mainly equipped with the M5. Some armored divisions did not receive their first M24s until after the end of the war. Reports from the armored divisions that received them prior to the end of hostilities were generally positive. Crews liked the improved off-road performance and reliability, but were most appreciative of the 75 mm main gun, as a vast improvement over the 37 mm.
M3 Half-track
The M3 was the larger counterpart to the M2 Half Track Car. The M2 was originally intended to function as an artillery tractor. The M3 had a longer body than the M2 with a single access door in the rear and seating for a 13-man rifle squad. Ten seats were arranged down either side of the vehicle, with three in the cab. Racks under the seats were used for ammunition and rations; additional racks behind the seat backs held the squad's rifles and other stowage. A small rack for mines was added on the outside of the hull just above the tracks. In combat, most units found it necessary to stow additional food, rucksacks and other crew stowage on the outside of the vehicle. Luggage racks were often added in the field, and very late vehicles had rear-mounted racks for this crew stowage.
Early vehicles had a pintle mount just behind the front seats mounting a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine gun. The later M3A1 adopted a raised, armored 'pulpit mount' for the .50 caliber, and .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns could be used from mounts along the sides of the passenger compartment. Many M3s were later modified to the M3A1 standard. The body was armoured all around with an adjustable armoured shutter for the engine's radiator and a bullet proof windscreen.
Total production of the M3 ran to nearly 41,000 vehicles. To supply the Allied nations International Harvester produced several thousand of a very similar vehicle, the M5 half track for Lend-Lease.
M5A1 Half-track
The M5 resulted from the fact that White, Autocar, and Diamond T could not keep pace with the demand for half-track personnel carriers, and was analogous to the M3 half-track. The front wheels on IHC half-tracks could be engaged for cross-country travel as well. M5s differed in several respects from the M3, however. The M5's fenders were flat in cross-section, and the M5 was never fitted with the large fender-mounted headlights. International Harvester used rolled homogeneous steel armor on their vehicles, which allowed plates to be welded together, giving IHC's half-tracks a smoother appearance than the bolted half-tracks.
The rolled homogeneous armor could also be formed, and IHC's half-tracks featured rounded rear corners, which contrast to the right-angled corners on the machines with face-hardened armor. Homogeneous armor lessened the chance of injury due to bullet splash and flying cap screws which could be dislodged when hit, but it was not as strong as face-hardened plate. This meant that the armor on IHC's half-tracks needed to be thicker than the face-hardened armor of the M3 to offer the same protection. The M5 was therefore fitted with heavier axles and hull strengthening components, but its performance still essentially equalled that of the lighter M3. The M5's length with the anti-ditching roller was 242.19" (615.16cm).
White Scout Car
The vehicle was developed in 1938 by the White Motor Company. The original order was for 64 units, all of which were given to the 7th Cavalry Brigade. Eventually the Army decided to adopt an improved version, designated M3A1. The new version had longer and wider hull. In front of the bumper a roller was mounted. The M3A1 could carry up to seven infantry and provide fire support with three machine guns - one .50 Caliber (12.7 mm) and two .30 Caliber inch (7.62 mm) - mounted on a skate rail around the hull.
Production of the M3A1 started in 1941 and lasted until 1944, with 20,918 vehicles built.
The design influenced the later US halftrack designs such as the M3 halftrack and the post-WW2 Soviet BTR-40. The early M2 halftrack copied the armor layout as well as the skate rail machinegun mounts.
The M3A1 first saw combat in the Philippines in 1941-1942, and were also used by the cavalry units of the US Army in the North African Campaign and the invasion of Sicily. They were used in traditional cavalry roles such as scouting and screening; they were also used as armored command vehicles. By mid-1943, the drawbacks of the design - its open top, poor off-road mobility, and poor armament - were evident. During 1943 most US Army units replaced the M3A1 with the M8 armored car and similar M20 Utility Car. A very small number of M3A1s were retained and employed in Normandy. A few M3A1s were used by the US Marine Corps in the Pacific theater, but none saw combat.
M29C Weasel
The M29 Weasel was a World War II tracked vehicle, built by Studebaker, designed specifically for operation in snow.
The 29C variant had extra flotation tanks front and rear which made it float and could be used to cross rivers and lakes.
Dodge Weapons Carrier
Chrysler was prolific in its production of war materiel from 1942 to 1945, and Dodge in particular was well-known to both average citizens and thankful soldiers for their tough military-spec truck models. Starting with the hastily converted VC series and evolving into the celebrated WC series, Dodge built a strong reputation for itself that readily carried over into civilian models after the war.
Dodge WC was used in all theaters during WWII and used for many roles with many variations, and was the workhorse of the US army.
Jeep
The jeep was produced in response to a 1940 tender request for an initial 70 vehicles by the US Army Quartermaster corps. The companies tendering were required to produce a prototype four wheel drive quarter ton payload vehicle weighing less than 1300 pounds within an incredible 49 days. The American Bantam Car and Willys Overland Inc were the only two of the 135 invited companies to respond and 47 days after tendering, Bantam delivered their prototype to the army for testing. Willys in the meantime had requested an extension to 120 days due to delivery issues with axle parts and thus, along with observers from Ford, had a golden opportunity to view the early testing of the Bantam.
The Bantam tested out reasonably well, but reservations were expressed about its power as well as the ability of the Bantam Co to supply the number of vehicles that would be required by the army following the initial small batches.
The test Bantam was followed in late 1940 with the delivery of the first Willys Quad on 13th November and ten days later with the prototype Ford Pygmy. The Willys was some 500lbs heavier than the Bantam but outperformed it thanks to the Quads powerful 'Go Devil' 60 horsepower engine. Performance on the Ford model was good as well so the army decided to order 500 of each model for field testing...the rest is history.
Harley Davidson motorcycles
One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the US Army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.
During World War II, the U.S. Army asked Harley-Davidson to produce a motorcycle as good as BMW's side-valve R71. So Harley copied the BMW, simply converting metric measurements to inches, and produced the shaft-drive 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA. Due to the superior cooling of an opposed twin, Harley's XA cylinder heads ran 100° cooler than its V-twins'. The XA, though a wonderful motorcycle, was eclipsed by the Jeep. Only 1,000 were made and the XA never went into full production.
As part of war reparations, Harley-Davidson acquired the design of a small German motorcycle, the DKW RT125 which they adapted and marketed as the "Hummer" from 1948 to 1966 (in in the UK, BSA took the same design as the foundation of their BSA Bantam
GMC 353 (Jimmy)
The 2 ˝ ton 6x6 was described as one of the weapons that won the war, it was the most widely used tactical transport of the US forces during WW2. Of the 800,000 built 562,750 were built by GMC from 1941.
Known to the troops as the “Jimmy”, they were built in two basic chassis models, the CCKW-352, 145” wheelbase or the CCKW-353 164” long wheelbase. Early models had a closed civilian type cabs but later production models had a military pattern open cab.
The short wheel base were used mainly as tractors for artillery, some were fitted with a front mounted winch. Versions were supplied with Radio and other house type bodies as well as a tipper or dump body.
Some chassis were modified to split into two so that the could fit into a transport aircraft