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Introduction:
Hi everyone, today i would like to suggest a lend lease tank that saw service with the british during the waning weeks of WW2 that most players of the game should be well familiar with; the M24 chaffee. The British army was the only significant recipient of this tank from lend lease during WW2, which received depending on the source between 203 to 302 in 1944 and an additional 99 in 1945, out of an initial order of 842 which was never fully completed due to the cessession of hostilities at the end of ww2. The vehicles entering front line service in the last weeks of the war, in the NWE theater, where they replaced the stuart tanks currently in service.
Historical information:
The vehicles were deployed in small numbers in april of 1945, with units known to have been included in the Recce squadrons of the 7th Armoured Division (The Desert Rats) in north west europe. During this time at least two of these tanks were lost in combat prior to the end of the war. By june 1945 the 7th Armoured Division had an operational strength of 28 M24 Chaffee light tanks, with additional tanks being sent to ital and india for training purposes. At the end of the war the majority of the british M24s in europe were given to the dutch army in line with alot of other equitment from the 21st army group to help them rebuild their armed forces after WW2 ended. Unfortunately there is not much more to say about its service, as once the war ended it was quickly replaced by native designs with the tanks being sold on to other nations or scrapped.
Pictures:
Vehicle Specification:
The specification for the Chaffee is identical to those present in other trees currently in game and is as follows:
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Sources:
- Green, Michael; Green, Gladys (2000). Weapons of Patton’s Armies . Minneapolis, MN: MBI Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7603-0821-7. page 76-77
- Surviving British M24 Chaffee Light Tank Muckleburgh Military Collection Norfolk
- Chamberlain, Peter; Ellis, Chris (1969), American and British Tanks of World War II, Arco Publishing
- Light Tank M24 Chaffee - Tank Encyclopedia
- Tank Archives: M24 Chaffee: Test Drive at the End of Lend Lease