American Interwar Tanks That Need Adding to War Thunder

Toreno

Today in my series looking at Interwar tanks that need adding to War Thunder we take a look at American tanks.  So join me as we take a look at the first American tank designs from the Roaring 20's and Great Depression, how Walter Christie's tanks took the world by storm and how this all affected American tank development going into World War 2!   Social Media ⬇️ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/toreno.bsky.social Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Toreno4 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toreno170 Mastodon: Toreno17@mastodon.social Threads: https://www.threads.net/@toreno170 Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Toreno17 Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/toreno5/videos  Sources⬇️ DEVELOPMENT OF ARMORED VEHICLES Volume 1 - Tanks. AGF BOARD No. 2 (1947). Landships.info. (17.09.24). Retrieved from: http://www.landships.info/landships/index.html Library of Congress. (18.09.24). Retrieved from: https://www.loc.gov/ National Archives Catalog. (17.09.24). Retrieved from: https://catalog.archives.gov/ ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT. (1921) Handbook of artillery, including mobile, antiaircraft, motor carriage and trench matériel. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. Tank Archives. (18.09.24). Retrieved from: https://www.tankarchives.ca/ Zaloga, S. J. (2016). BT Fast Tank. Osprey Publishing Zaloga, S. J. (2017). Early US Armor Tanks 1916-40. Osprey Publishing.   Game: War Thunder  ⬅️  #warthunder #christie #tanks #interwar #t1e1 #t1 #t3 #mediumtank #lighttank #spg   America's situation after World War 1: 00:00 Christie's first Tank designs: 02:18 Rock Island Arsenal Medium Tanks: 05:52 T1 Light Tank and Variants: 12:56 Christie's Return!: 17:11 Christie based designs: 21:23 M1 Combat Car and M2A1 Light Tank: 25:41 SPGs and Tank Destroyers: 28:13 SPAA Vehicles: 31:34

Transcript

00:00Hello everybody, Trello here, and welcome to this next episode of my series looking at interwar

00:05tanks I think should be added to War Thunder. And today we will be taking a look at American

00:10interwar tanks. So, like in previous episodes, we'll do a quick recap of America's situation

00:15after World War 1. Of course, America and its allies had won the war, and while a large part

00:20of this was due to the industrial might of the United States, American designed tanks had either

00:25not been adopted or came into service too late to see combat during World War 1. So,

00:30American troops had gone into battle using British Mk5 heavy tanks and French FT-17 light tanks,

00:37with 28-32 of the Mk5s and 213 FT-17s shipped back to the US after the war. And although 100

00:45Mk8 Liberty tanks and 952 M1917 light tanks would be produced in the post-war period,

00:52the former tank was designed and produced jointly with Britain, while the M1917 was mostly a copy

00:58of the FT-17. So, there were no wholly domestically designed American tanks available at the beginning

01:04of the interwar period. Of course, America came out of the war virtually unscathed and with a

01:10booming economy, which would in theory allow for massive investment in new tank designs.

01:16But like with the rest of the world, America had little enthusiasm for more military spending,

01:21with America taking an isolationist stance and the army was now expected to spend most of its

01:27time on garrison duties in the colonies like the Philippines or guarding the border with Mexico,

01:33something that didn't really require a large armoured tank force. This meant that there would

01:37be little funds available for developing or buying new tanks, while in 1920 Congress passed the

01:43National Defence Act of 1920, which disbanded the tank corps and relegated tanks to be used

01:49by the infantry only, which meant future designs would be focused on infantry support.

01:56To make things worse, in 1923 limits were placed on exporting arms abroad,

02:01which meant that tank designers in the US couldn't even design tanks for foreign nations.

02:06That said, there would still be some design work carried out during this period,

02:09which allowed America to gain much needed tank design and building experience,

02:14which would go on to serve them very well during World War II.

02:18So the first tank we will be covering is the M1919 Christie tank, which was designed and

02:23produced by Walter Christie, who would later invent the famous Christie suspension.

02:28The tank itself has a fairly standard layout, with three crew,

02:32but also two turrets. The main turret being armed with the 2.24 inch M1920,

02:38which is basically a derivative of the British 57mm 6 pounder gun,

02:43which gives a penetration of about 30mm at 450m with AP shells,

02:49while a smaller turret is placed on top of the main turret with a 30 cal machine gun.

02:54So overall this is a decent armament, but in-game the upper turret is a bit of a weak

02:59point of the design for very little gain. Like with later Christie designs, the M1919

03:05could run without tracks, primarily to improve road speed and reduce wear and tear,

03:11which was especially important as at the time US light tanks had to be rebuilt after 80 miles of

03:16use, so tank carriers were assigned to each tank for transportation. So in theory this new Christie

03:22tank could work without the tank carriers, saving on men and material. However, this didn't actually

03:29translate to a higher speed, as the 120hp engine was considered underpowered, while the road wheels

03:36were mounted without springs, leading to a top speed of 7mph or 11kmh, barely faster than the

03:43M1917. Lastly, the armour for the tank seems to max out at around 12mm, so not the most heavily

03:50armoured tank in the world, but not much different to other tanks of this time. In War Thunder I

03:56think this could work well as a 0.7 tank, not being the fastest tank in the world, but having

04:01a pretty good main gun, which allows it to go toe to toe with most other enemies, and would be a

04:07good step up from the M1917. So this sounds like a decent tank, especially for so soon after the war,

04:15but in testing it didn't perform particularly well, so after two months Christie asked for

04:20trials to be halted so he could improve the tank, which makes sense because it was a decent design

04:26that in theory could become a much greater design with some extra work. So Christie went and

04:32modified the design, including modifying the front road wheels and adding springs to improve the

04:38smoothness of the ride. However, in a bizarre move he also removed the turrets and moved the main

04:44armament to the front of the tank, like some sort of early tank destroyer, with two Browning 30cal

04:50machine guns mounted either side of the 6-pounder gun. The armour remains at 12mm, while the crew

04:56is reduced to two, so in-game it would be much easier to one-shot kill the vehicle.

05:01Despite improving the top speed, which is now 13mph, the changes arguably make the vehicle

05:06worse overall, at least in regard to acting as a tank, as the main armament is now only capable of

05:13being fired frontally, so the vehicle is now much easier to flank. In War Thunder I think this would

05:18make a good starting tank destroyer for the US tech tree at around 0.3, as it has a decent top

05:25speed and armament, perfect for getting around the map and hitting enemies with the hard-hitting

05:29main gun, and just generally being a useful vehicle, though perhaps not as useful as the

05:35originally designed vehicle. Ultimately, this design didn't impress the US Army, and it would

05:41not be adopted. Facing near bankruptcy, Christie would sell off his current and future patent

05:46rights, which will become very important when Christie re-enters our story later on.

05:52During this time, the US Army was also developing its own tank designs at the Rock Island Arsenal,

05:58especially focusing on medium tanks, because at the moment America had the M1917 Light Tank and

06:04the Mk8 Heavy Tank, but it didn't really have any medium tank, and so was forced to use the Mk5

06:10Heavy Tank in this role. So, after doing some design work, two prototypes were constructed,

06:15the M1921 and the M1922. Both prototypes shared many design features, both having 25mm of armour,

06:24which was a very good improvement over previous designs, a four-man crew,

06:28allowing for delegation of duties in real life and redundancy for crew losses in-game,

06:33and also two turrets like on the M1919, the main turret having the 57mm gun, and the upper

06:40turret being fitted with a .30cal Browning machine gun, while a 220hp engine was used.

06:47Where both designs differed, however, was in their suspension, with the M1921 having a more

06:53traditional suspension, giving the 18.5t tank a top speed of 10mph or 16kmh, while the M1922

07:02used a cable track suspension from the British MkD tank, giving a top speed of 16mph, which was

07:08a big improvement, but the reliability of the suspension was not great compared to the more

07:13traditional suspension of the M1921. As a result, future designs and improvements would be focused

07:20on the M1921, and at one point that tank would receive the L12 338hp Liberty aircraft engine

07:28from the Mk8 Heavy Tank, which brought the top speed up to a much better 20mph or 32kmh, though

07:35in real life this led to more mechanical problems as the transmission and suspension hadn't been

07:40designed to operate at these high speeds. In War Thunder, I think the M1921, with its original and

07:47later engine, as well as the M1922 could be added to War Thunder, with all of these variants having

07:53good mobility, allowing them to get around the map faster than the previous WW1 models,

07:58while also being decently armoured against most small calibre or low velocity AP shells,

08:03though the 57mm gun might struggle a bit against more heavily armoured enemies,

08:08but overall these tanks would make a decent stepping stone from the WW1 era tanks

08:13towards more modern tanks. So, having tested both the M1921 and M1922, and learning from these

08:21designs, in 1927 the T1 medium tank would be produced, which was largely based on the M1921,

08:29having the same suspension and turret layout, with the same 57mm gun in the main turret,

08:34and 30 count Browning in the upper turret. The maximum armour thickness is 25mm,

08:40though the prototype would be made of mild steel, and not actual armour plate in order to save on

08:45costs, and a crew of four was used to man the tank. However, it now used a specifically designed

08:51200hp engine, which gave the 21.9 tonne tank a top speed of 14mph, so slower than the up

08:59engined M1921 variant, but faster than the initial M1921, while also being far more reliable.

09:07Like with the previous tanks, this would be a good 0.7 vehicle, retaining all of the previous

09:12benefits, though also the same disadvantages, but would be a good tank overall, and all of

09:18these related designs could be folded to allow for quicker progression down the tech tree.

09:24So, the T1 looks to be a good and far more reliable tank design, and indeed in 1928,

09:30after successful testing, the T1 would be standardised as the M1 medium tank,

09:35the first medium tank to be adopted in US service. Unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers made

09:42complaints about the tank being too heavy for their bridges, and so just a few months later

09:46the standardisation was revoked, and support for future medium tanks started to wane,

09:52leading future efforts to focus more on light tanks. That said, work on the T1 continued,

09:58including at one point replacing the main gun with a 75mm howitzer, which was shown to be

10:03capable of destroying FT-17s in firing tests, but the 57mm gun was returned to the tank soon after.

10:11Another modification included installing the 338hp Liberty L-12 engine into the T1,

10:18with the resulting tank renamed the T1E1. The engine again caused some reliability issues,

10:24but increased the top speed to 25mph, giving the US tech tree a very mobile tank. In War Thunder,

10:31I think the T1 with the 75mm howitzer and the T1E1 could see some good success in-game,

10:38with the howitzer-armed tank giving a good alternative to the regular 57mm gun,

10:43while the T1E1 would be an excellent flanking vehicle, able to get around the map extremely

10:48quickly, hit enemies with its hard-hitting gun, and then able to retreat if going up against

10:54tougher enemies, while its armour will also give it decent protection against enemies.

10:59So as mentioned, support for medium tanks had somewhat waned at this point,

11:03but there was one more attempt to produce a medium tank, resulting in the T2 medium tank,

11:09which has a rather unique armament of a 47mm gun in the turret, and a hull-mounted 37mm gun.

11:16My sources disagree on the 47mm gun used, with Saloga stating it was a 3-pounder naval gun,

11:23while pretty much every other source I have says it was a semi-automatic gun fed from a 5-round

11:28clip, while the 37mm gun was definitely a semi-automatic gun, also fed from a 5-round

11:34clip, allowing for a high rate of fire, while a 50cal Browning Machine Gun was also fitted

11:40in a coaxial position in the turret. And bear in mind, this weapon on its own is able to deal with

11:45most enemies, being able to penetrate 25mm of armour at 500 yards. So we've got three excellent

11:53anti-tank weapons on this vehicle, plus one 30cal Browning Machine Gun mounted in the hull.

11:59Armour was 22mm for the front of the tank, and it was fitted with a front-mounted 312hp Liberty

12:05engine, and like the T1E1 had a top speed of 25mph, or 40kmh, so again pretty fast,

12:13and a four-man crew is carried, which, unfortunately because of the number of

12:18weapons carried, could cause a bit of a work overload, and if you lose even one crew member,

12:22potentially you're going to lose access to one or more of the weapons.

12:27Despite this effort, the front-mounted engine and the weight were still considered issues,

12:32and thus it was never adopted, but with the unusual armament, I could see this being a

12:37very unique tank for War Thunder at 0.7-1.0, functioning a bit like the later M3 Lee,

12:44being able to engage multiple targets due to its two main weapons, or engage one target with

12:50overwhelming firepower, while still retaining a very decent top speed and armour protection.

12:56So now we can finally move on to some of the light tanks that were being developed by the army,

13:01with this work resulting in the T1 light tank, which would go on to spawn a whole bunch of

13:06variants. But sticking with the original tank, this was a 7.5-tonne vehicle that was armed with

13:12the short 37mm gun from the FT-17, barely capable of penetrating 15mm of armour at 100 yards,

13:20while a coaxial 30 cal Browning machine gun was also carried. Armour unfortunately is very light,

13:26ranging from 6.4-9.5mm, barely capable of stopping machine gun fire, while the top

13:33speed was 20mph from a 110hp engine, and a crew of two was needed to man the tank.

13:40So in many ways this appears to be very similar to the already in service M1917,

13:45at least in stats if not looks. The initial prototype seems to have been very impressive

13:50however, as four more tanks would be ordered as the T1E1, which had some very minor changes,

13:57such as the fuel tanks being mounted above the tracks, the hull not extending beyond the tracks,

14:03and the top speed being reduced to 18mph. Testing of these tanks went very well,

14:09with the four tanks travelling 145 miles from Fort Meade to Gettysburg at an average speed of

14:1510mph, while another travelled 2,000 miles over two months of testing without any major breakdowns.

14:23Bear in mind, as I mentioned earlier, the M1917 light tanks had generally needed rebuilding every

14:2880 miles or so, so reliability was massively improved. Indeed, the T1E1 was so impressive

14:35that in January 1928 it was standardised as the M1 light tank. Unfortunately, like with the M1

14:42medium tank, this would be withdrawn in short order, for reasons that will be explained in

14:47just a little while. However, work on further prototypes would continue, with the T1E2 being

14:53produced in 1929, and this time there are some more major changes. The biggest being the installation

15:00of a semi-automatic Browning 37mm autogun M1924, firing from a 5-round clip, giving a faster rate

15:09of fire and much better performance against armour, around 30mm at 500m, though I haven't

15:15found prime resource confirmation for that figure, but it's still no doubt a massive increase in

15:21firepower. The other changes were the armour being increased to 15.8mm, a new top-hat style

15:28turret being used, and a new 132hp engine being installed, but due to gear ratio changes the top

15:35speed is now reduced to 16mph, further limiting tactical manoeuvrability on the battlefield.

15:42This was followed by the T1E3 in 1930, which was made from parts of the E1 and E2,

15:48and based on a new suspension which gave a much smoother ride, while the T1E4 from 1932 had some

15:55more major changes, moving the turret to the centre of the tank, increasing the tank's total

16:01length from 3.8 to 4.7m, installing another 37mm autocannon, and it also uses a new leaf

16:09spring suspension based on the Vickers 6-tonne, while a new 140hp engine brought the top speed

16:15back to 20mph. We then come to the last two prototypes from the early 1930s, with the T1E5

16:22being an E1 with a new Cletrac steering system, as used on the later M113APC, while last but not

16:29least, the T1E6 had the same armament as the E4, a maximum of 15.9mm of armour, and a new 244hp

16:39engine, though the top speed still remains at 20mph. So as you can see, we have a lot of T1

16:46light tank variants, so there should be something here for everyone, with 2-3 different main

16:51armaments, fast and slow tanks, and variants that could be included on the regular tech tree

16:57or could be added as event or premium vehicles, with all probably coming in somewhere between 0.7

17:04and 1.0, depending on their effectiveness, and it would be nice to see these light tanks having a

17:09place in War Thunder. So the T1E1 had been quite a successful design, being briefly standardised

17:16as the M1 light tank, and it had been planned for the army to buy 6-8 T1E2s in the early 1930s,

17:24while even the Soviets wanted to buy the T1E2. So what had gone wrong? Well basically,

17:29Christie had come back on the scene with a new and rather radical design, one that to a lot of

17:34observers made pretty much every other tank in US service look obsolete and frankly old-fashioned.

17:40This design was named the M1928, or M1940 as he sometimes called it, which was to signify that he

17:47considered it a decade ahead of other designs. This new M1928 was fitted with the Christie

17:53suspension, a powerful 300hp Liberty aircraft engine, and the ability to travel on wheels

17:59instead of tracks. This gave it a ridiculous top speed of up to 70mph on wheels or 42mph on tracks,

18:07which was a tremendous speed for the day. Remember when I said the T1E1 did a 145mph

18:14at an average speed of 10mph? The M1928 did it with an average speed of 28mph,

18:21so there was a lot of support for this to be purchased over the T1E1s. However, as you can

18:26see, the M1928 itself wasn't suitable as a tank, being armed only with two machine guns and steel

18:33sheets instead of armour, so it would need to be redesigned as a purpose-built tank,

18:38which would result in the M1931. At this time Poland tried to buy an example, though this

18:44didn't go through and they were refunded, but the Polish 10TP was based on it, while the Soviets

18:51would buy the production rights and receive two examples as tractors, before even the US Army did

18:57and these would go on to inspire the Soviet BT tanks. At first, a single tank was leased to the

19:03Army for testing, followed by an order for an additional seven tanks, with the Army providing

19:09turrets, armament and engines. Three of these would go to the infantry as the T3 medium tank,

19:16though due to a change from a chain drive to a gear drive for the rear wheel, some of these would

19:21be re-designated as the T3E1. The other four would go to the cavalry. Of course, you may remember

19:27that only the infantry were allowed to have tanks at this point, and so the cavalry got around this

19:33by classing them as the T1 Combat Car, which was apparently enough for them to get around this ban.

19:38Of course, being fitted out as a combat tank did impact the speed, reducing the top speed on wheels

19:44to 46.7mph and 27.2mph on tracks, but this is still a pretty good speed and far better than

19:52the T1E1, while actual armour was also now used, being about 15.8mm for vertical surfaces,

20:00and 12.7mm for horizontal and sloping surfaces. So comparable to the T1E2, while the gun used is

20:08the same short 37mm gun as on the M1917, while a crew of two operated the tank. However, when it

20:16comes to the T1 Combat Car, most sources state that it used a .50 cal Browning machine gun as

20:21the main armament, which as I mentioned earlier makes sense because this was a far superior

20:26anti-tank weapon compared to the short 37mm gun, and some sources suggest this was also another

20:31way of getting around the ban on the cavalry having tanks, but at least one source suggests

20:36this was only done on one occasion for one tank that lacked a 37mm gun, which would in theory

20:42mean this wasn't the intended armament, but I think this could still be added as a variant in War Thunder

20:47since it was actually fitted, and most sources do suggest that it was supposed to be used as the main

20:53armament. In War Thunder, I think these would be very successful tanks, being an American alternative

20:59to the Soviet BT tanks, being extremely fast compared to other contemporary tanks, and while

21:04lightly armoured, this is still about the same as many other US light tanks of the era, and so this

21:10wouldn't be a huge issue, though the two-man crew and poor anti-armour performance of the 37mm gun

21:16would be an issue, so I couldn't see this going much higher than Battle Rating 0.7 to 1.0.

21:23So, after testing of the T3 slash T3E1, the Army wanted to purchase a further five tanks,

21:30but they also wanted some improvements, such as a wider hull to house four crew members.

21:36However, Christie seems to have been unwilling to make these changes, and this is the part where

21:42selling those patent rights a decade earlier becomes very important, as the tender for an

21:47improved design was sent out to 14 companies. Christie didn't take this very well, and

21:52subsequently refused to take part in the bidding, so the contract was given to the American La France

21:58Company, a company that also built fighting vehicles, but usually based around fighting

22:03fires rather than enemy tanks. On a quick side note, Christie still owned the original M1931

22:09tank he had leased to the US Army, and once again on the brink of bankruptcy, was approached by

22:14British officials who had witnessed the Soviet BT tanks in the Soviet Union. So, he sold this

22:20tank to Britain, again as a tractor, and this would lead to the later British cruiser tanks

22:24of WWII. But back with the T3E2, American La France's design, while looking very different,

22:31would have broadly the same stats as the T3E1, but as you can see, it was widened in order to

22:38accommodate an additional two crew, bringing the total to four, while new forged link tracks and a

22:44435 horsepower Curtiss D-12 aircraft engine were installed, bringing the top speed on wheels to

22:5158 mph or 35 mph on tracks. So, faster than the original design, albeit such a powerful engine

22:59caused issues with the transmission and final drive. In addition, three .30 cal Brenner machine

23:05guns were placed on the sides and rear of the turret, and one was placed at the front of the

23:09hull by the assistant driver who was placed next to the actual driver. So if you use a ball in game,

23:15these would give a good amount of firepower that could be used against soft skin targets.

23:21In War Thunder, I think this would mostly be an upgrade from the T3E1, being even faster and now

23:26having more crew, reducing the chance of one-shot kills. But it's still fitted with the not-great

23:32short 37mm gun, which does limit its effectiveness. Though if the machine guns are equipped with AP

23:38rounds, this might offset this disadvantage a little bit, but overall I think players would

23:44still generally prefer this tank, probably at a better rating of 0.7 to 1.0. There would be a few

23:50more attempts to make use of Christie's work, one of these being the T4 medium tank, which would use

23:56a less powerful 268hp Continental engine and a new transmission with controlled differential steering,

24:04which helped with some of the earlier reliability issues and gave a top speed of 35mph.

24:10While a four-man crew operated the vehicle, 6.3-9.5mm of armour protected the vehicle,

24:17and a .50 cal machine gun plus two .30 cal machine guns served as the main armament.

24:22This would end up being the most successful of the Christie designs, with 19 being produced,

24:28and it was officially standardised as the M1 medium tank in 1939, while also backing the

24:34trend by not having this status revoked. Though it wouldn't really end up mattering as the design

24:39had a high cost, and by 1939 it was considered obsolete. This would be followed by the T4E1,

24:46which replaced the turret with what is officially termed as a barbette,

24:49but personally looks like a bunker on tracks, with this being equipped with one .50 cal machine gun

24:55at the front of the tank, and five .30 cal machine guns, four covering every flank of the tank,

25:00plus one in the bow position. It also has a slightly higher top speed of 40mph,

25:06despite being 1.3 tonnes heavier. Again, like with the T3s, the T4 would probably be a 0.7

25:13to 1.0 tank, having the hard hitting .50 cal machine gun for dealing with enemies through

25:18a fast rate of fire, though being slightly worse due to the slower speed and thinner armour,

25:24but I feel it would still perform pretty well. The T4E1 on the other hand could perhaps work

25:29as a 0.7 tank destroyer type vehicle, albeit one armed only with machine guns, but I think it would

25:36still work fairly well, and would definitely be a unique looking vehicle to have in the game.

25:41Following from the T4, there would be other minor prototypes and test beds,

25:45but as for actual tanks, we only have a few left to cover. The first of these is the Cavalry's M1

25:51Combat Car, which was armed with one .50 cal machine gun and a .30 cal machine gun in the

25:56turret, with one more .30 cal in the bow, while the four-man crew is protected by 16mm of armour,

26:03while the M1 is capable of reaching a top speed of 45mph. There would be a sub-variant,

26:10the T7, which was able to run on wheels, and for this purpose was fitted with pneumatic tyres for

26:16a smoother ride, but by this point the speed and reliability of US tanks had improved sufficiently

26:22that the need for this sort of vehicle was gone, so this remained a one-off prototype.

26:27The M1 Combat Car could probably work as a 1.0 tank, like with the M2A2 already in-game,

26:34but with just one turret it would be better suited for anti-tank work,

26:38while having about the same speed and same crew complement, and would be a good bridging vehicle

26:43between the late interwar tanks and the early WW2 tanks. And then lastly we have the Infantry's M2A1,

26:51which was the predecessor to the already in-game M2A2, and honestly its stats are mostly the same,

26:57apart from having its armament in one turret and weighing slightly less. It could be folded

27:03with the M2A2 at 1.0, though having its main armament in one turret is an advantage over

27:09the M2A2, which has limited traverse for its main 50-cal machine gun.

27:14So that's about it for actual tanks that I'll be covering in this episode,

27:18and it's very easy to come away thinking that not much was achieved in this period,

27:22with only 30 or so tanks being produced up until 1935. But bear in mind this was during a time

27:28when budgets were massively constrained, especially after the Great Depression hits in 1929,

27:34and during a time when there wasn't that much enthusiasm for military spending.

27:38And despite this, reliability of tank designs was massively improved over the time period,

27:43and new components were invented, like the vertical volute spring suspension system,

27:49rubber block tracks, and many other components. And these would go on to be used in later designs

27:54like the M3 Stuart, M3 Lee, and the world-famous M4 Sherman, this being a design that would go on

28:01to have massive success during World War 2, and of course many of the interwar designers would

28:06go on to help with designing these later tanks, using some of that knowledge they had gained

28:10during the interwar period. So that's about it for the actual tanks in this episode,

28:16though I may have missed some and I've definitely skipped over some designs that were very similar

28:20to each other, but there were also many SPG designs from this period, enough that I could

28:26make an entire video on just them, with these including many designs by Christie, such as this

28:31weird-looking SPG from 1918, which was armed with an 8-inch howitzer and could travel at 16 mph.

28:39Christie would also design an amphibious SPG, named the Floating Type 75mm Gun Motor Carriage

28:47Model 1922, and he tried to sell this to the Marine Corps. This vehicle does leave the crew

28:52somewhat exposed, but it is amphibious and was even capable of firing while travelling over water,

28:59though accurate shooting would no doubt be tricky, and the freeboard does look a little

29:03bit too close to the water at times. That said, the 75mm gun is a very good anti-tank weapon,

29:10and as such I think this would be a very good vehicle to have at 1.0, and it would be cool to

29:15see this vehicle added to War Thunder, and it would be nice to have an amphibious tank destroyer

29:20at the early tiers. Christie also made a more conventional 155mm SPG, capable of a top speed

29:28of 15 mph, though traverse looks to be limited, and the gun is possibly pointing backwards,

29:35which would necessitate turning the whole vehicle to engage enemies in front of you.

29:40That said, this monster gun should be able to obliterate pretty much any tank around,

29:44so this could be added at any battle rating above 1.3, probably even higher to be honest,

29:50and whether a regular or event vehicle, I think this would be a very cool vehicle to have in War

29:54Thunder. There were also designs mounting 75mm and 105mm howitzers on tractors,

30:02and these could also be added, and could potentially do well in the low tiers,

30:06but traverse on some of these designs does seem to be limited, and they would be extremely

30:11vulnerable to enemy fire, but they could be added at 0.3 to 1.0, and would do decently enough as

30:18very early SPGs. Then moving onto designs that seem to have been designed more as dedicated

30:24tank destroyers, we have yet another Christie design, or at least based on a Christie vehicle,

30:30this time a 37mm armed vehicle that looks rather odd, but also seems to be very fast

30:36and easy to conceal, though I'm not as sure of the armour thickness, or indeed the actual name of

30:42this vehicle. I think it could probably go at 1.0, where it would make a good speedy tank destroyer,

30:48and it would definitely be an interesting looking tank destroyer in-game, and I believe it would

30:53have some success in an ambush role. You also have two Jeep designs, armed with 37mm guns.

31:01One with a forward-firing 37mm gun with 10 degrees of traverse and 15 degrees elevation,

31:08and the other has a rear-mounted 37mm gun, which gives a much wider angle of fire. Both

31:15vehicles would be very easy to destroy, but would be easier to conceal, and should have a good top

31:20speed, allowing for quick escapes after ambushing enemies and for getting around the map. And I

31:26think both could go at around 1.0, and they would be quite similar to the WWII era M6 GMC.

31:34Then lastly, we do have a few SPAA designs. Some ranging from rather obscure vehicles like this

31:42car which has a few machine guns mounted to the back, some more sensible designs like this machine

31:47gun mounted to the back of a truck, a bit like some of the early Soviet anti-air vehicles,

31:52and of course Christie has also joined in with the anti-air designs with this self-propelled

31:5875mm anti-air gun. Though I could see this being just as useful as an anti-tank gun,

32:04because larger calibre weapons don't always necessarily do very well against small fast

32:09moving fighter aircraft. But all of these would be pretty good from 0.0 to 1.3, and this would

32:15fill in a rather obscure gap in the American tech tree, because of course the anti-air line doesn't

32:20start until 1.7 with the M13. So if you want anti-air cover at 1.0, you basically have to

32:26bring all your tanks up to 1.7, or just go without the M13 and just rely on whatever guns you have

32:32mounted to your tanks. So having some earlier SPAA vehicles would be a welcome addition to the

32:37American tech tree, as well as having some non-50 cal armed designs. So that's it for this episode

32:44looking at American interwar tanks I would like to see added to War Thunder. I'd be interested

32:49to see your views on these vehicles, and any other tanks you would like me to cover in the

32:52comments below. As for the next episode, I'll probably be covering Russian interwar tanks next,

32:58so I hope you're looking forward to that. So anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the video,

33:02I've been Torano, and I'll see you next time.

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