Three Inch Halftrack

Germany produced a large number of well thought out and elegantly composed improvised vehicles during the Second World War. The main character of this article is not one of them. Its large and clumsy appearance war far from perfection. Nevertheless, the 7.62 cm F.K.(r) auf gp. Selbstfahrlafette (Sd.Kfz. 6/3) left its mark on history.

Lend Lease Tank Destroyer

After creating the relatively cheap and simple GMC M3 tank destroyer on the chassis of a halftrack, the Americans took the next logical step. They replaced the 75 mm M1897A4 field gun with a purpose made anti-tank weapon, the 57 mm M1 gun. This created a tank destroyer called GMC T48.

The GMC T12 tank destroyer was designed in the summer of 1941 and then standardized as the GMC M3. This was a successful combination of two existing designs: the M3 halftrack APC and 75 mm M1897A4 gun. This tank destroyer was an improvisation, but it showed how a mobile anti-tank weapon could be created. All that was left was to adapt it to carry a more appropriate anti-tank weapon. The choice was easy to make.

Prototype of the GMC T48.

Halftrack vs Tanks

The Gun Motor Carriage M3 was one of the many specialized variants built on the M3 halftrack APC. It was armed with an obsolete gun and didn't satisfy American requirements for a tank destroyer, but nevertheless this vehicle became the first mass produced American tank destroyer.

Foreign Aid

"GBTU Tank Directorate report on the amount of imported tanks received from 1941 to January 1945

March 10th, 1945

	Crom-well	Chur-chill	Matil-da	Valen-tine 3-5	Valen-tine 7	Valen-tine 9-10	M4-A2	M4-A4	M3 med	M3 lt	M5-A1	Bridge-layer	Tetrarch	Total
1941	-	-	145	216	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	361
1942	-	84	626	636	323	-	36	-	812	977	-	-	20	3514
1943	-	174	147	430	709	637	469	2	164	255	5	-	-	2992
1944	6	-	-	82	9	290	2345	-	-	-	-	25	-	2757
January 1945	-	-	-	-	-	-	289	-	-	-	-	-	-	289
Total	6	258	918	1364	1041	927	3139	2	976	1232	5	25	20	9913

	Mk.1	M3A1	M2	SU-57 (T48)	SU-76 (T70)	SU-76 (M10)	SU M17	SU-37 (M15)	ARVs
1941	330	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1942	903	261	83	-	-	-	-	-	-
1943	403	608	30	251	-	-	-	-	-
1944	351	1954	-	409	5	52	1000	100	127
January 1945	16	180	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	2003	3003	113	650	5	52	1000	100	127

Deputy Chief of the GBTU TU, Engineer-Colonel Muravich

Chief of the 5th Department of the GBTU TU, Engineer-Colonel Biletkin"

CAMD RF F.38 Op.11355 D.3016 L.118 

Printed in Glavnoye Bronetankovoye Upravleniye Lyudi, Sobytiya, Fakty v dokumentakh, 1944-1945 p.429