Editing American WWII Military Equipment (section)

===Half-Tracks and Armored Cars===

* '''M3 Scout Car''': This ugly looking uparmored pickup truck was the ancestor of a big ugly, confusing family of vehicles.  A family which began with...
* '''M2 Artillery Tractor''': "Hey, this scout car is great; could you give it tracks so it can go offroad while pulling a cannon?"
** '''M3 Halftrack''': "Hey, this artillery tractor is great; could you make it big enough to carry a squad?"
*** '''T19 Howitzer Motor Carriage''': "Forget the squad, can it carry a big fucking gun?"
**** '''M13 Halftrack''': "What about two machine guns in an AA turret?."
***** '''M15 Combination Gun Motor Carriage''': [[Federated Suns|"Any chance you could squeeze an autocannon in there too?"]]
****** '''M16 Halftrack''': "Forget the autocannon, let's do four machine guns."
*** '''M5 Halftrack''': "Hmmmm... we need a lot more of these halftracks, what would we have to change to make them in combine harvester factories?"
**** '''M9 Halftrack''': "Oh, and we need some more artillery tractors too."
**** '''M17 Halftrack''': "Wait, four guns?  Gimme some of that."

High level, halftracks can be divided into three major families; the M2, the M3, and the M5.  The M2 and M3 were made by White Motor Company and are mechanically similar but the M3's chassis is longer.  The M5 family was produced by International Harvester, but their factories were set up to make farm equipment.  The M5's frame is narrower than the M2 & M3, making most of the suspension and transmission components incompatible.  The M5s were mostly used for lend-lease, but enough of them were in the US forces to cause logistics headaches.