M3 Reading List

[Chris Hall]

Talk about the 'new kid on the block' is starting to get quite technical, so I thought I'd list the books I've found so far on the M3 Lee / Grant. There aren't very many of them ..........

• British and American Tanks of WW2 - Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis (Silverdale Books, ISBN 1-84509-009-8). I'd be surprised if most of you don't already have this, and the companion book on German tanks. There's a nice section on the M3, with all the production and special purpose variants.
  M3 Lee / Grant Medium Tank 1941-45 - Steven Zaloga (Osprey Vanguard 113). Isn't there always an Osprey ?
  Tanks in Detail: Medium Tank M3 to M3A5 - Terry Gander (ISBN 0-7110-2983-0). Lots of detailed text, technical drawings and pictures.
  Classic AFV's 2: Lee and Grant - Ken Jones and Peter Chamberlain (Patrick Stephens Ltd. / Airfix). I strongly recommend this one - it's not all about 1/72 kits ! There's loads of technical detail here, including detail drawings of the Westinghouse STAB system.
  M3 Medium Tank Walk Around - David Doyle (Squadron Signal 5712). Another goodie, with loads of close-up colour photos of surviving M3's, both internal and external, Lee and Grant.

And two I haven't got:

• Lee / Grant in British service - Bryan Perrett (Osprey Vanguard 6) - OOP, and very expensive.
  TM9-750 Ordnance Manual: Lee M3, M3A1 and M3A2 (US War Department). I could be wrong, but I get the impression this is more about 'greasy bits' than operational details ............

Please feel free to add any other ones that you're aware of. After this lot, of course, there's the material in all the Archives out there: Bovington, IWM, USA, Canada, Australia ........

I had thought to do a 'Theatre Specific' list as well, but you've all probably got your own ideas on what you want to build. If anyone's minded to join me on the 14th Army Burma 1944 concept, just ask and I'll let you know what I've got.

All the best,

Chris

[Adrian Harris]

There's also the Squadron/Signal M3 Lee/Grant In Action.

Plus a lot of Russian/Polish books from various armour series, such as "Wydawnictwo Militaria [108] - M3 Lee Grant" if you're happy just to look at the pictures. I did once try scanning one and uploading it to an on-line OCR system but it couldn't work out what the heck it was looking at !!

Allied/Axis #10 by David Doyle has a section on the Lee, but as he also does the Osprey books, I'm not sure how much new material there would be in it.

Adrian.

[Chris Hall]

This is a new one ....... Thanks to Steve Stuart for flagging it up.

ISBN 978-83-66148-48-2. Polish / English text. A4. Available from the usual specialist booksellers, although Amazon seems to have it on pre-order. I got it directly from the (Polish) publisher via eBay, for around £18.50 (priced in zloty !).

Not a huge book (only 20 pages, and one loose-leaf double-sided sheet), but useful detailed (1/35 and 1/48 scale) line drawings front / back / left / right and, especially, top, along with some painted colour schemes (one of which doesn't have the "silly top turret" ).

It's all about the Lee, though. Useful to Grant aficionado's for everything below the turret .

All the best,

Chris