M8 Scott

M8 HMC

M2A2

M3 GMC

M8 HMC

M2A2

M3 GMC

USA

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.3	1.3	1.3

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:4 000

Purchase:2 100

Show in game

This page is about the American tank destroyer M8 Scott. For other uses, see M8 (Disambiguation). For other vehicles of the family, see M8 General Scott (Family).

Description

The 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8 (shortened to M8 HMC) is a rank I American tank destroyer with a battle rating of 1.3 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.67 "Assault".

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	28.5 mm (48-49°) Front Glacis 38.1 mm (15-30°) Lower glacis	28.5 mm Front 25.4 mm Rear	25.4 mm (1-47°) Top 25.4 mm (1-20°) Bottom	12.7 mm
Turret	38.1 mm (6-40°) Turret front 38.1 mm (1-65°) Gun mantlet	25.4 mm (18-20°)	25.4 mm (1°)	N/A

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 15 mm thick while tracks are 10 mm thick.
• Tracks are peppered on the turret sides that give 17 mm extra where they are.
• Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick

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	70	19	15.6	420	565	26.92	36.22
Realistic	64	17		262	296	16.79	18.97

Armaments

Main armament

75 mm M2 Howitzer					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	46	-20°/+40°	±180°	N/A	5.28	7.31	8.88	9.82	10.45	4.29	3.80	3.50	3.30
Realistic					3.57	4.20	5.10	5.64	6.00

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
M48 shell	HE	10	10	10	10	10	10
M66	HEAT	89	89	89	89	89	89

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Ricochet
							0%	50%	100%
M48 shell	HE	381	6.3	0.4	0.5	666	79°	80°	81°
M66	HEAT	304	6.02	N/A	0.1	548.1	62°	69°	73°

Smoke shell characteristics
Ammunition	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Screen radius (m)	Screen deploy time (s)	Screen hold time (s)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)
M64	381	6.9	13	5	20	50

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M8 Scott

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
46	35 (+11)	23 (+23)	12 (+34)	1 (+45)	No

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Rate of fire (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Pintle	400 (200)	576	-5°/+70°	±180°

Usage in battles

In general, the M8 Scott plays like a beefed-up M5A1. The massive increase in gun caliber and destructive potential means that enemies the light tank previously have difficulty destroying are now more easily dealt with. Like the M3/M5 Stuart, playing this tank aggressively will almost always guarantee a place on the leaderboard. Push for the cap and then take it without hesitation. Should an enemy get there first, enter the cap and flank the target. Get behind their turret and go for a shot to the turret rear. Once the capture point is held, find a good hull down position and use the 75 mm HEAT to destroy any and all oncoming tanks.

Against heavier armour, the need to find a good hidden position is critical. On certain tanks, the addition of track armour can give the M8 difficulty in penetrating them. Hence a good hull down position on their flank can provide a good position to hit their side armour, with almost certain destruction coming from it.

Tanks like the Panzer IV F2 and it's line of tanks can be a serious headache for the vehicle to encounter. Aim for the right side of their turret and knock-out their gunner first, then aim for the middle of their hull (upper or lower glacis works) for a final shot. Outside of that most of the heavy armour will be out of the M8's BR range, leaving most encountered vehicles viable to destroy.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine		M64

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great firepower: 75 mm HEAT handles everything with ease. From hull-breaking soft targets like the LVT(A) to one-shot'ing common foes like the Chi-Ha to piercing rough adversaries like the B1 and Matilda.
• 12.7 mm heavy machine gun is very lethal at 2.0 as most tanks have thin armor, for example the BT-7, Marder
• Extremely rare gun depression of -20 degrees making it able to peek above almost every slope and launch surprise attacks. When hull-down its double layer turret front can bounce some low-caliber or low-penetrating shells like the Pz.IIs' 20mm
• Fast reloads for the caliber allows quick follow up shots.
• Low muzzle velocity shell's parabolic path can allow for shooting over hills which can be surprisingly useful sometimes.
• Speed and mobility akin of the Stuart light tanks, allowing it to maneuver and flank with rather ease

Cons:

• extremely slow turret traverse makes close quarter combat super challenging, yet its short gun is also bad for long range engagements. This requires the player to be crystal clear of what they are doing, and have great situational awareness to predict the enemies' location in order to make up for the slow turret.
• Open-top turret exposes crew to artillery and aircraft strafing fire.
• Thin armour and tight crew makes it very vulnerable to tank destroyers that have APHE, like the SU-76
• Shells have low muzzle velocity and huge drop, hard for shooting long-range or moving targets.
• Bad steering at high speeds.

History

Development

In United State's entry into World War II, the troops in the front lines require a support vehicle similar to those in use by the German forces in the form of the StuG III. The project for such vehicle began as a design submitted in late 1941, which was a M5 Light Tank mated with a howitzer on the hull front, designated the T41. This design didn't pass as the howitzer on the hull sacrificed crew protection. The design was revised on the same M5 light tank and instead had the M5 turret removed and replaced with an open-topped turret similar to the US tank destroyers M10 and M18, which mounted a 75 mm howitzer. This change caused the hatches for the driver and assistant driver to be placed on the glacis front rather than the hull roof. This design, called the T17E1 HMC was approved and put into production under the designation 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8, or the M8 Scott. The 75 mm M2 howitzer was the initial armament of the M8 before switching to the updated 75 mm M3 howitzer later in production. The howitzer was capable of firing smoke M89 or high-explosive M48 rounds, the vehicle could hold 46 of these 75 mm rounds. The M8 does not have any machine guns on the coaxial or hull-mounted area, but a .50 cal Browning was mounted on the rear right corner of the turret for infantry defense. The vehicle was put into production in April 1942 and continued until January 1944, of which a total of 1,778 units were produced by Cadillac only.

Combat usage

These vehicles would go on to serve in the Italian Campaign, European Campaign, and in the Pacific in the hands of the US Army. The M8 saw use in American service until the M7 Priest 105 mm self-propelled gun could be fielded in large numbers, which stopped the M8 production and service in American units. After being phased out of American service, the M8 was then given to the Free French forces that use them in the Western Front of the European operations. The French continue to use them all the way to 1954 in the French-Indochina conflict in use by South-Vietnamese forces. Other users of the M8 included the Khmers national army, Laos, China, and the Philippines.

Media

Images

• 

  An M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

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

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.

USA tank destroyers
M10	M10 GMC
M36	M36 GMC · M36B2
T95	T28 · T95
M109	M109A1
ATGM	LOSAT · M901
Wheeled	M3 GMC · T55E1
Other	M8 HMC · M50 · M56
China	▃LVT(A)(4) (ZIS-2)