Hello Doug
>I disagree. The names were conferred by the British War Department.
>The US did not have a habit or history at that point in time of
>"naming" armoured vehicles. You will not find names mentioned in
>official (eg manuals) or unofficial use.
Technically you might be correct, but many vehicles were named at least
unofficially by US troops. These names later became defacto official.
The T15/M28 and T24/M29/M29c were all called "Weasel" from early in its
development, which the British had no part in at the time. After the war
its replacements were the M79 Otter and then the M116 Husky. Whether or
not there was a piece of paper officially christening them or not, I
don't know. But the names are all over the place in official US Army
documentation, newsreels, verteran's accounts, etc. But you are correct,
as far as I know not in the manuals. This could just be a cultural thing
I suppose.
Other named vehicles in WWII service: Designation - US Name/British Name
(None if not in British service)
Armored
M18 - Hellcat/None
M10 - Wolverine/Achilles (modified with 17 ldr)
M7 - Priest/Priest?
M24 - Chaffee/None
M8 - None?/Greyhound
M22 - Locust/Locust?
T34 - Calliope/None
M26 - Pershing/None
LVT1-4 - Alligator, Water Buffalo, and I don't know what else/None?
Unarmored
M38 - Jeep/Jeep (definitely named by US troops)
DUKW - Duck/Duck (definitely named by US troops)
2.5 ton truck - Deuce or Deuce and a Half/unnamed?
After the war naming continued, but I am not that knowledgeable on these
vehicles:
Armored
M47/48 - Patton
Mindblank on the name for the twin 40 Bofors model
M2/M3 - Bradley
M1Ax - Abrams
Unarmored
M274 - Mule
I'm probably missing stuff, but the above list shows that the naming was
fairly pervasive, even if not official. I also think it was probably
inspired by British naming conventions as I don't think anything even had
unofficial names prior to WWII.
Steve
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