- Yes.
- No.
- In a Dutch or BeNeLux techtree.
- In the US techtree.
- Other. (Please explain)
- I said ‘No’ in the first question.
Hey everyone, today I want to talk about the Marmon Herrington CTMS-1TB1 used by the Dutch! 
One of the few photos where we see a CTMS-1TB1 in use with Dutch troops
History
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In a big need for armour, the Dutch Indian Army (The army located in the Dutch east Indies) started looking for companies that could supply them with new tanks. The Marmon-Herrington company, located in the US, was chosen by the Dutch Army. Marmon Herrington was the only non-European commerical tank building company at the beginning of World War 2.
Two types of tanks were ordered by the Dutch, a light tank and a medium tank. The light tank got the name CTMS-1TB1, and the medium tank became the MTLS-1G14, but that is a discussion for another day.
194 CTMS-1TB1’s were ordered, and the entire order was completed eventually. But only 31 of them ended up with the Dutch troops.
Various other countries ended up operating the CTMS-1TB1 after the war.
Design
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The CTMS (Combat Tank Medium Series) was essentially just a bigger Marmon-Herrington CTLS tank. The tracks were redesigned and wider, some spare tracks were put at the front of the lower hull and two small lights were placed on the front. The tank was fitted with a Hercules RLXDI inline-six petrol/gasoline engine which produced 174 hp at 2600 rpm. This would give the CTMS a maximum speed of 40 km/h (25 mph).
The suspension of the tank was composed of vertical volute springs and four small wheels. Two return rollers guided the tracks and the sprocket was located at the front. The transmission was manually operated and had five gears forwards and one for reverse.
The main armament was a 37mm 44 caliber automatic gun. The gun was designed by the American Armament Corporation (AAC). The by then standard US 37mm M5 or M6 gun did not fit in the turret which is why this new gun was used.
The cannon had a 5 round clip, of which the ammo choices are not known, but it most likely consited of some sort of AP round and maybe an HE round too. The closest gun I could find that could compare to this one is the 37mm gun M1 wich is mounted on the US M15 halftrack.
Coaxially with the 37mm gun, a .30 Cal machine gun was mounted. And more machine guns could be mounted in the hull. Up to three Colt machine guns could actually be fitted in the hull. But in reality only two were fitted most of the time.
The gunner was provided with a telescope through which he could aim both the gun and the coaxial machine-gun.
The vehicle weighed 13 US tons (11.340 kg), and was able to take slopes of up to 50 percent. The armor consisted of bolted plates which were all 13mm thick. Three vision slits were located in the front hull and one on each side. Some vision slits were located in the turret as well and were all protected by glass blocks.
Fate
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In the end the CTMS-1TB1 proved to be a pretty bad tank for the Dutch. First of all the Marmon-Herrington company was rather small so could not manage such a big order of tank that the Dutch had made (And for the record the CTMS-1TB1 order was only a small part of the entire order the Dutch had placed). So the tanks ended up being delivered very slowely.
And to top things of the tanks turned out to be pretty bad reliability and design wise. The single 1TB1 the US army tested did terrible, and to point out only one thing of the list of issues, the gun failed to fire multible times. And that was on a controlled testing ground! During an actual battle these tanks would have been awfull.
It’s quite a long video, but I really recommend watching this! The Chieftain goes through the testing reports of the two Dutch tank designs of Marmon-Herrington and it truely shows how poor the models were that the US tested.
Specifications
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Length: 4.2 m
Width: 2.34 m
Height: 2.45 m
Weight: 11 long tons
Crew: 3 (Commander, gunner, driver)
Engine: 174 hp Hercules RLXDI engine
Speed: 40 km/h (25 mph)
Armament:
- 1 x 37mm AAC automatic cannon (5 round clips)
- Up to four .30 cal Colt machine guns
Armour:
- 13mm all around
In War Thunder
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Luckily for us we can ignore the reliability issues when it comes to adding this in War Thunder. So what we end up with is a decent light tank.
It’s got good enough speed and an interesting gun. The tank will still suffer in that it’s quite a big tank, with very thin armour and that it only has a three men crew.
I would see this tank work really well at the 1.3 - 1.7 area. So still facing the reserve tier quite often, but at the same time also going up against stronger light and medium tanks of the later Rank 1 area.
The thing that would make or break this tank is the gun. If we can find more information about the gun then we would be able to know exactly what BR to give this tank.
As to where this tank would be added, well I would say a Dutch/BeNeLux techtree makes the most sense.
Yes the US did test one of these tanks, but that was only a single little test where they quickly decided to get rid of the tank as fast as possible. The Dutch Army did operate these tanks, and even better it was the Dutch that ordered the design of this tank.
A CTMS-1TB1 at a testing ground most likely in the US
Make sure to check out the CTMS’s bigger brother! The MTLS-1G14
More images
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Sources
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General sources:
- http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/US/marmon-herrington-ctms-1tb1
- CTMS-1TB1
- Marmon-Herrington military vehicles
Photos: