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The M8 and M20 armored cars were two closely related vehicles that entered US service in 1943, and served in the campaigns in Italy and North-Western Europe. This book focuses on their development, the changes made to their designs over time, and the details of their construction and equipment, although does finish with a chapter covering where they were used in combat, and including a good selection of photographs from the front.
We start with an introduction that covers earlier light armored cars, a type of vehicle that the US army was rarely that interested in. A limited number of M1 Armored Cars were built in the 1930s. After the outbreak of the Second World War the US army began to look into developing new vehicles. The studies that led to the M8 actually as a possible tank destroyer, before officially becoming a light armored car in March 1942. We look at the rival designs, from Fargo, Ford and Studebaker, and then the detailed development of the Ford T22, the prototype for the M8 and M20.
The gun armed M8 and the open topped M20 each get their own chapter. These both look at the structure and equipment of the vehicles, and how they changed over time. We get detailed looks at key items such as the radios. A nice feature are the sections that look at individual vehicles from early, mid and late production batches, taking advantage of official US military photographs of sample vehicles.
The Similarities chapter looks at those areas that were shared between the two vehicles, so includes the overall shape of the fuselage and body, and the engines and mechanical aspects. It also covers their production, including the rather awkward Ford serial number system, which gave vehicles produced at Saint Paul even numbers and those at Chicago odd numbers. As a result vehicles with adjacent serial numbers could actually be fairly different – the second type of turret traversing mechanism appeared on even number 2686 and odd number 1025!
The M8 and M20 certainly looked the part. Their sloped armour gave them a modern look (especially compared to the earlier M1 that they replaced), and the tank like turret of the M8 gave it a properly warlike appearance. However this appearance is somewhat misleading. The M8 and M20 are generally considered to have suffered from poor off-road mobility, and the photographs included here rather support that, with almost every one showing both vehicles firmly on roads. The hull floor was too lightly armoured, leaving it very vulnerable to mines. The open topped turret may have made for better visibility, but it also left the crew very vulnerable in tight urban environments. Its positive features were the good on-road mobility and speed, where its turret and limited armour made it more survivable than the jeep.
This is an excellent study of the development and physical features of these two vehicles, including a very wide range of photographs showing just about every aspect of them, and how they changed over time.
Chapters
1 – The Genesis of the Light Armored Cars
2 – Car, Armored, Light, M8
3 – Car, Armored, Utility, M20
4 – Similarities
5 – M8 and M20 in Europe
Author: Didier Andres
Edition: Hardcover
Pages:
Publisher: Casemate
Year: