M8 LAC (China)

␗M8 LAC

␗M3A3 Stuart

␗M8 LAC

␗M3A3 Stuart

China

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Light tank

Research:Free

Purchase:Free

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This page is about the light tank M8 LAC (China). For other uses, see M8 (Disambiguation). For other vehicles of the family, see M8 Greyhound (Family).

Description

The ␗Light Armored Car M8 is a rank I Chinese light tank with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision". It is identical to the USA M8 Greyhound.

General info

Survivability and armour

This vehicle´s intended design leaves us with only 12.7 mm of armor at a 59° angle slope at the front hull, Side hull is only protected with 9.5 mm. And the strongest part being the gun mantlet with 25 mm plus 19.1 mm of turret armor. As a result this vehicle is only protected against light MG fire, with the sides easily penned by heavy MG fire. Although this may prove an advantage when fighting against shells with delayed fuse. The crew is very tight, so one AP shell at the center could knock out everyone inside, but notice that there is a huge gap between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment, meaning it will absorb plenty of shells and saving the player from being destroyed quickly. There are some rounds stored at the turret, and at the vehicle´s floor, bringing less rounds eliminates the rounds stored in the turret. Also keep in mind that it is an open top vehicle, making it vulnerable to artillery and aerial attacks.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)	Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse		Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	101	15	7.9	129	210	16.33	26.58
Realistic	91	13		97	110	12.28	13.92

While it has poor armour and survivability, the M8 LAC (China) excels in terms of mobility. As a wheeled vehicle it reaches 60 km/h on road in arcade with stock modules and 40 km/h off road.

On realistic it reaches 38 km/h off road, and 55 km/h on road with 7 gears, it also has -12 km/h reverse speed on two reverse gears.

Armaments

Main armament

37 mm M6					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	80	-10°/+20°	±180°	Vertical	19.0	?	32.0	35.40	37.60	3.7	3.3	3.0	2.9
Realistic					11.0	?	17.0	18.80	20.00

The M8 LAC is armed with an 37 mm M6 cannon as its main armament. This is a small caliber fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84mm at 100m (M51B1/B2 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to one-shot most enemy, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drops a lot beyond 500m. Note that the gun has a vertical stabiliser, giving the player a huge advantage in some cases, but keep in mind that the stabiliser only works when the tank is slower than 10 km/h.

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
M51B1/B2	APCBC	87	84	73	60	50	41
M63 shell	HE	3	3	3	3	3	3
M74B1	AP	78	76	65	54	45	37

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
M51B1/B2	APCBC	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	+4.0°	48°	63°	71°
M63 shell	HE	807	0.73	0.1	0.5	38	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°
M74B1	AP	883	0.87	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1.0°	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
80	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__ (+__)	__

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Commander pintle	400 (200)	576	-10°/+40°	±180°

7.62 mm M1919A4
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Coaxial	1,500 (250)	500	N/A	N/A

The two machine guns on the M8 LAC are the good old .50 cal M2HB and the 7.62 mm M1919A4. The roof-mounted .50 cal can traverse 360 degrees and has great depression & elevation, posting a big threat to any plane that is flying too close to the M8. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31mm at 10m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armored vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.

Usage in battles

At the start of the match, the M8 LAC is best used for a point-capping vehicle. Find a road connecting a point to unleash its scary 90 km/h on-road top speed and it is likely to get to the point before the enemy can. Once the point is capped quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes which can critically damage the M8.

After capping a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their own way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to re-cap it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast firing gun will truly shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, giving the player the opportunity to knock out a surprising amount of enemies. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly re-cap the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemy might try and revenge.

Another playstyle is the hit-n-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it is able to travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabiliser will help a lot as it gives the player the ability to fire first. If the first shell missed or didn't penetrate, it can even finish off the enemy with the .50 cal alone!

Enemies worth noting:

LVT(A) series:

These amphibious tanks are well known for their super buffed hull size. Indeed, between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment there is an extremely huge empty space that will absorb almost any incoming shells, and unfortunately the M8's solid AP makes this worse. If an M8 doesn't know where are the crew located on an LVT(A), they will die due to not being able to knock out their crew effectively. Remember its crew location and the M8 can easily take them out.

The driver is at the foremost part of the hull. Behind him there is absolutely nothing, so you must avoid shooting there. Behind the empty space the turret houses 2-3 crew. Shoot there to disable its gun. And don't forget, at the very rear of the LVT, there are 2 machine gunners exposed, take them out with the .50 cal. Memorise those 3 main locations of crew and you can effectively destroy any LVT out there with your rapid reload. Also if the angle isn't too big, the .50 can penetrate the LVT's weak armor too.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tires		Parts	Horizontal Drive	M51B1/B2
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		Artillery Support

Pros and cons

Pros:

• The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100m, enough to penetrate common opponents like the Pz.II, Pz.III B or Ha-Go. The fast reload helps to precisely knock out the crew one by one.
• Pintle mounted heavy machine gun is very lethal against other similiarly armoured vehicles (eg. AS 42, L3/33) and slow biplanes.
• One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 60 km/h. Can get to positions quickly
• Reverse speed of 12 km/h allows it to retreat from danger quickly.
• Small profile makes ambushing / hiding easy

Cons:

• Wheeled vehicle, performs poorly off-road and cannot turn in place. It is especially slow in desert maps like Sinai and snowy maps like Frozen pass.
• Virtually no armor, tight crew and open top make this vehicle very vulnerable to rapid-firing tanks like the Pz.II, M13 or strafing planes
• M6 Cannon requires precision shots, as post penetration effects are weak especially against the LVT(A) series which are super spacious
• Turret traverse is rather sluggish, might not get the gun on target sometimes
• Looks very similar to the USA M8 Greyhound, the lighter colored camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles

History

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Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

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• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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