M2 Half Track Car

M2A1 as a prime mover towing artillery.

The M2 Half Track Car was an armored vehicle used by the United States during World War II.

M2 at Fort Benning, Georgia, 1942. Note the shorter hull compared to the M3s (left and background) and hinged doors of ammunition compartments in the side armor.

History

The half-track design had been evaluated by the US Ordnance department using Citroën-Kégresse vehicles.

Half-track Car M2.

The White Motor Company produced a prototype half track using their own chassis and the body of the M3 Scout Car.

Production of M2 Halftrack armoured cars. Partly finished halftrack scout cars travel along a moving assembly line in a plant converted from the manufacture of safes and locks. The bodies are made in this plant and mounted on chassis produced in a converted automobile plant. Diebold Safe and Lock Company, Canton, Ohio.

In 1938, the White Motor Company took the Timken rear bogie assembly from a T9 half-track truck and added it to an M3 Scout Car, creating the T7 Half-Track Car.


This vehicle was woefully underpowered, and when a further requirement came down from US Army artillery units for a prime mover (artillery tractor), a vehicle with an uprated engine was devised, then designated the T14.

M2 halftrack.

By 1940, the vehicle had been standardized as the M2 Half-Track car, and was being supplied to army units as both a prime mover and a reconnaissance vehicle.


The latter was to serve in the interim, until more specialized vehicles could be fielded.

Production of Halftrack armoured cars. Partly finished halftrack scout cars travel along a moving assembly line in a plant converted from the manufacture of safes and locks. The bodies are made in this plant and mounted on chassis produced in a converted automobile plant. Diebold Safe and Lock Company, Canton, Ohio.

Between 1942 and 1943, these vehicles, just as with the M3 half tracks, would receive a number of modifications to the drive train, engine, and stowage, among other things.

Production of Halftrack armoured cars. Preparing to install non-leaking gasoline tanks on the chassis of a halftrack scout car. The Eastern plant in which the body is made and installed formerly produced locks and safes. Diebold Safe and Lock Company, Canton, Ohio.

Total production of M2 and derivatives was about 13,500 units.

M4/M4A1 81mm MMC

Later, to meet the needs of the Lend-Lease program, the International Harvester Company was brought in to manufacture vehicles similar to the M2, as the M9 adding another 3,500 units.

Production of Halftrack armoured cars. A partly-finished halftrack scout car body is lowered on a chassis in an Eastern war plant which formerly produced locks and safes. Diebold Safe and Lock Company, Canton, Ohio.

Usage

The first M2s were fielded in 1941, and would be used in the Philippines, North Africa, and in Europe by the US Army, and around the Pacific by the USMC. About 800 M2 and M9 halftracks were sent to the Soviet Union.

M2 halftrack.

Many remaining vehicles initially destined for lend-lease were transferred to other US allies, primarily in South America.

Halftrack Car M2A1.

These vehicles often received a number of upgrades designed at extending service life. Nicaragua's National Guard received 10 M2, which saw heavy action during the 1978-79 Nicaraguan Revolution.


The Argentine Army retired its last upgraded M9 during 2006 and donated them to Bolivia.

Halftrack Car M2 in Fort Riley, Kansas.

Former operators

USA
United Kingdom
Soviet Union
Czechoslovakia
Chile
France
Greece
Portugal
Poland
Israel - 2,000 modified M3/M9 versions on service with the IDF.
Mexico
Nicaragua - 10 M2 on service with the National Guard.
Belgium
Netherlands
Cambodia
South Vietnam
Laos
Lebanon - M3 on service with the Lebanese Army between 1949 to 1970. Ex-IDF versions supplied by Israel to the Lebanese Forces and South Lebanon Army passed on to the Amal Movement, Hezbollah, Lebanese Army.
Argentina

Variants

Prime Mover/Scout Vehicle

M2 halftrack.

M2 - White Half-Track with White 160AX engine. Fitted with a skate rail mount, featuring an M2HB machine gun.


M2E5/M9 - International Harvester Half-Track, developed to complement the M2 for Lend-Lease, but did not feature the short hull of the M2. Also, did not feature the rear access doors, and is outwardly very similar to the M5, but with a different internal configuration.


M9A1 - As for the M2A1, an M9 with the M49 machine gun mount. The M9A1 had a rear door.

M2A1 halftrack.

M2E6/M2A1 - Any vehicle with the improved M49 machine gun ring mount over the right hand front seat. Three fixed pintle mounts for 0.30 machine guns were often fitted at the unit level in the field.

Self-propelled guns

M4A1 halftrack.

M4/M4A1 81mm MMC - M2 based Motor Mortar Carriage equipped with the M1 mortar (81 mm). The mortar was intended to be fired dismounted from the vehicle, but could be fired to the rear in an emergency from a base inside the vehicle. The A1 allowed the weapon to be fixed facing forward and fired from within the vehicle.

M2 w/ M3 37 mm - Mechanized infantry units in the US Army were supposed to receive the M6 Gun Motor Carriage, based on Dodge light trucks. With the overall failure in combat of these vehicles, some units removed the M3 37 mm gun and its assembly and mounted them on M2 Half-Track Cars.

Anti-aircraft variants

T1E1 - M2 based mobile anti-aircraft gun featuring an open rear with a Bendix mount featuring two .50 caliber M2 machine guns. The Bendix mount proved to be unsatisfactory. Prototype only.


T1E2 - T1 with Maxson M33 mount in the place of the Bendix mount. The M33 mount also featured two .50 caliber M2 machine guns. Would be developed into the M3 based T1E4.

T1E3 - T1 fitted with a partial hard top and a Martin turret, identical to that used on the B-17 Flying Fortress. Proved to be overly complicated and was ill suited to the space available in the M2. Prototype only.


T28 CGMC - M2 based Combination Gun Motor Carriage with a single M1A2 37 mm autocannon flanked by two .50 caliber M2 machine guns. This vehicle's side armor was removed in order to make room for the mount. The project was canceled in 1942 but revived in the same year, when a decision was made to use the longer M3 Half-Track Personnel Carrier chassis for the subsequent T28E1.


T10 - Variant to test the feasibility of mounting US made copies of the Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20 mm cannon on modified Maxson mounts. Developed into the T10E1 based on the longer M3 Half Track Personnel Carrier chassis.

M2 Halftrack followed by M3-based GMCs.

M2 Half Track Car

Type Half-track armored personnel carrier
Place of origin United States

Specifications

Weight 9 metric tons
Length 5.96 m
Width 2.2 m
Height 2.26 m
Crew 2 + 7 passengers
Armor 6 - 12 mm
Primary armament 0.5 inch M2 Browning machine gun
Engine White 160AX 147 hp (110 kW)
Suspension Wheeled front axle, rear track
Operational range 200 miles, 320 km
Speed 40 mph