New guns and chassis on which to mount them would have to be designed and brought to fruition, standardized, built, and then pressed into service as soon as possible. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the US had only a couple of light tank designs like the M2/M3 Stuart, and most were armed with 37mm gun that while state of the art in the late '30s had rapidly become outdated by the new arms race. The speed at which country after country fell under the iron jackboot of German forces dismayed many military leaders, as they realized their current arms and armament would do little to stop or even delay it as some of the best armies and fortifications in Europe had failed at this task.įor the US, it meant that a profound rethinking and overhaul of their armor contingent was long overdue. It was the world's first modern combined arms demonstration, and it confounded most conventional military wisdom of the day which had foreseen a static protracted stalemate devolving into trench warfare again. At the beginning of WW2, the US watched with keen interest the developments on the continent, but one point, in particular, caused the military brass to sit up and take notice was the importance placed on having a highly mobile mechanized force, with armor to punch through defenses and exploit gains in conjunction with infantry, artillery, and air support.
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