Over the war years, the USA produced over 43 thousand Half-Tracks through three main manufacturers. The original designer and largest producer was the White Motor Company. The White Motor Company sold a total of 15,414 to the War Department. The other designers, Auto Car and Diamond T built 12,168 and 12,421 respectively. Largely produced in Canada under licence, these Half-Tracks were supplied under the Lend Lease programme with 5,000 supplied to the USSR alone.

In addition to these producers, the International Harvester division of the International Motor Truck Corporation built a further 12,853 Half-Tracks, which were shipped to Europe for, use by British and French Troops. The International Motor Company Half-Tracks differed visibly from the White, Diamond T and AutoCar units in several ways, for example, with flat front fenders instead of the distinctive compound curves of their American cousins, different engines- a preference for the International Red Diamond 450 engine instead of the Hercules 160 AX, alternative 4-speed transmissions and front drive axels and were fully constructed with welded armour and rounded rear corners instead of bolted armour with square corners.

In August 1944, the Allied forces liberated Paris. “España Cañi” was the first vehicle to enter the city, an M3 Half Track driven by Spanish soldiers fighting under the French flag. Several days of parades followed with one on the 25th August 1944 with Charles de Gaulle leading thousands of Parisian down the world famous Champs Elysees followed by French soldiers driving International Harvester Half-Tracks.

The Half-Track sitting in our Museum here at Armourgeddon is a M16A1 White Half-Track. The M16 Half-Track was originally built by the White Motor Company and is a variant of the earlier M3 Half-Track. Developed in 1942, the M16 A1 is one of 724 built to this specification. With a weight of 8.4 tons and a length of 6.52m and a height of 2.38m excluding the machine guns, the M16A1 carried a crew of 5: commander, driver, gunner and two loaders. The engine is a White 160 AX, 6-cylinder petrol engine and our M16 has a 4 x 50 calibre machine gun fitted to a Maxson Quad base.

Designed as an anti-aircraft platform to protect tank and infantry units against air attacks, the M16 has just a few variations to the original M3. These include the lack of rear seats and fold down flaps on the armoured hull panels to allow movement of the gun around the vehicle.

The M16A1 Half-Track was fully restored by the team at Armourgeddon with the vehicle completely stripped down, nail gunned and the engine re-built to fully working order. This actual vehicle was used in the film Evita starring Madonna and Antonio Manderas.

A variety of Half-Tracks were used extensively in World War II, especially by the German military with their SdKfz 250s and SdKfz 251s as well as by the Americans with their preference for the M2 an M3 versions.

Used mainly as mortar carriers, self propelled anti-aircraft guns, self propelled anti-tank guns and as armoured fighting vehicles, the Half-Track was the backbone of many a battle throughout WWII. The German Army also used a small 2-seater ½ ton class half-track ‘motorcycle’ known as the Kettenkrad, ketten meaning tracks and krad meaning military, to pull small artillery guns for ammunition haulage, general transport and as a ground towing vehicle for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

The Half-Track at Armourgeddon is on view in our museum. The museum is a 2 and a half hanger permanent exhibition of tanks, military vehicles and interactive displays. Open all year around and entrance at just £5, it is a fantastic day out for the military enthusiast. If you come to visit us for one of our tank driving or tank paintball battle experiences, entrance to the museum is free of charge and definitely worth spending a couple of hours wondering around.

See more in our Military Vehicle Museum