M24 (China)
| This page is about the Chinese light tank M24 (China). For other variants, see M24 (Family). |
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Contents
Description
The ␗Light Tank M24 Chaffee is a rank II Chinese light tank with a battle rating of 3.3 (AB) and 3.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".
General info
Survivability and armour
The M24 Chaffee has thin armour on all sides, and can only effectively resist machine gun fire or very low-penetrating shells. Its crews are also very close to each other, increasing the chance of it getting knocked out by a single shot. The V-shaped gun mantlet might bounce some small-calibre shells if you are lucky enough. However, don't rely on it as the rest of the tank is still poorly protected.
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 25.4 mm (60°) Front glacis 25.4 mm (44°) Lower glacis |
25.4 mm (13°) Front 12.7 mm (13°) Rear |
12.7 mm (71-74°) Top 19 mm (1-43°) Bottom |
12.7 mm |
| Turret | 38.1 mm (8-40°) Turret front 38.1 mm (1-45°) Gun mantlet |
25.4 mm (17-26°) | 25.4 mm | 12.7 mm |
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 | 63 | 26 | 18.4 | 459 | 565 | 24.95 | 30.71 |
| Realistic | 57 | 24 | 262 | 296 | 14.24 | 16.09 | |
The M24 travels at an average of 40 km/h on/off-road which is the average light tank speed. It also responds fast when reversing. Thanks to its short and wide tracks it is able to turn quickly. However the acceleration is poor, making it to feel sluggish when performing short manoeuvres.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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|
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Armaments
Main armament
The 75 mm M6 gun has two types of AP, one HE and one smoke shell to choose from. The M61 shot, which is an APCBC, is generally better than the M72 AP. It has 63.7 g of explosive filler which brings a deadly blast once penetrated, has better penetration (104 mm max) and it has a slightly lower chance of ricocheting. With the M61 shot, the Chaffee is able to one-shot plenty of tanks at its BR.
| 75 mm M6 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 48 | -10°/+15° | ±180° | Vertical max 24km/h | 22.9 | 31.6 | 38.4 | 42.5 | 45.2 | 8.45 | 7.47 | 6.89 | 6.50 |
| Realistic | 14.3 | 16.8 | 20.4 | 22.6 | 24.0 | ||||||||
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 | ||
| M72 shot | AP | 91 | 88 | 78 | 67 | 57 | 49 |
| M48 shell | HE | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| M61 shot | APCBC | 104 | 101 | 90 | 78 | 68 | 59 |
| 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% | |||||||
| M72 shot | AP | 619 | 6.3 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 47° | 60° | 65° |
| M48 shell | HE | 463 | 6.3 | 0 | 0.1 | 666 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| M61 shot | APCBC | 618 | 6.79 | 1.2 | 14 | 63.7 | 48° | 63° | 71° |
| 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
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | 25 (+23) | 1 (+47) | No |
Machine guns
The two machine guns on the M24 Chaffee 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 M24. It has an unbelievable penetration of 31 mm at 10 m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armoured vehicles and even the side of some low rank medium tanks. The 7.62 mm, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 1,000 (200) | 577 | -10°/+70° | ±60° |
| 7.62 mm M1919A4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,800 (250) | 500 | N/A | N/A |
Usage in battles
The M24 Chaffee is a very agile little tank. Its good speed allows the player to quickly cap a point early on in the game, or get to some flanking positions easily to get some side shots with the powerful 75 mm cannon. When doing flanking manoeuvres, remember to always look around you, especially to the directions where the enemies are most likely to appear. This can increase the player's survivability on the battlefield a lot, as the M24 has little to no armour and is very likely to get one-shotted by the common 75 & 76 mm guns. In a surprise close-quarter encounter, you must be confident and aim carefully. Slow yourself down and the stabiliser will help a lot. Overall the M24 perfectly fits a guerrilla-warfare play style (hit-n-run).
Enemies worth noting:
- Sd.Kfz.234 series: The M24, although agile, is still not the fastest tank at its rank. When your opposite team has Germany, you might want to reconsider the option of capping a point straight away, since the German Sd.Kfz.234 series are very likely to be there first. The Sd.Kfz.234/2 (also known as the Puma) is a turreted 8-wheel vehicle with a small profile, extremely high on-road speed and a powerful 50 mm gun. But it cannot turn in place, has a very slow turret traverse and only 8 mm of side hull armour, so a good tactic is to circle with it and utilise your stabiliser, fast turret and the piercing .50 cal. In an intense tank "dogfight", you might miss your shots. Don't worry, your reliable .50 cal got you! It can penetrate the sides, or even the front of the puma easily. The Sd.Kfz.234/3 and Sd.Kfz.234/4, although being equally deadly, are turretless. You can use some quick turns to avoid their guns or tear through the thin armour plate protecting their gunners with your .50 cal.
- E.B.R. (1954): this wheeled vehicle, just like the Sd.Kfz.234 series, is able to reach a remarkably high speed, especially on road. It is equipped with a deadly 75 mm cannon with autoloader, dealing more fragmental damage than the Sd.Kfz.234's and can therefore easily one-shot the M24 most of the times. The tactics vary a bit, as the E.B.R also has way faster turret traverse, therefore you do not want to "dogfight" it like how you deal with a Puma. If you are in an uptier and France is in the opposing team, think twice before rushing straight to a cap point. You need to be more careful and try to ambush it by camping around the point. Utilise your advantages well, you have superior gun depression, explosive-packed shells, lots of smoke grenades and, most importantly, a vertical stabiliser.
- KV-1, KV-IB, KV I C 756 (r): The famous KV series can cause a bit of troubles too. They are well know for their well-protected hull and turrets. The M24 can manoeuvre to point-blank range, line up your gun so it's pointing dead flat at the armour and fire. The 104 mm penetration of the M61 shell should punch a hole in the KV's armour with ease. If you are close enough but do not have the space to manoeuvre, shoot their gun barrel to prevent them from getting a shot off, then go for their turret ring or the vertical part on their gun mantlet, which is only 90mm. For the KV-1B, do not try and fire at its turret from the front and side, as they are 105 mm thick and will never get penetrated. For the KV I C 756, aim for the cupola (50m) or the gun mantlet (50mm) to knock out the turret crew or the gun breech. Don't shoot at anywhere else, the shell won't penetrate.
- Churchill Mk I, Churchill Mk III, Pz.Kpfw. Churchill: The Churchills, with their complex hulls and sturdy turrets, can be quite hard to kill at range. Again, maneuver as close to them as possible, the idea distance being no more than 200m. If they are angling their hull but facing their turret at you, only go for the turret. For the Mk I Churchills, aim at the near-vertical part of their rounded cheeks to ensure successful penetrations. For the Mk III and the German Churchill, also aim for their flat turret which is at most 89mm. The shell should go in easily and knock out most, if not all of the crew. Only when you are facing their hull without any angles should you shoot the hull, otherwise shoot the turret only, as their big tracks can easily get in front of the frontal hull. The side hull have multiple layers of armor, some of which are weirdly angled and can absorb plenty of shells.
- M4A2 / A4: these Sherman tanks are widely used by over 3 nations that spread across both the Allied and the Axis side, so no matter which nation you play they can be quite tough to destroy in the hands of a skilled tanker. Given the rather weak penetration of your short 75 mm gun, their hull can be almost impossible to penetrate when angled, hull down or 300m away. For a M4A4, there are 2 apparent bulges on the upper front plate, a penetration through there is a guaranteed kill most of the times. But in case the opponent covers them up or when it's a M4A2, aim for the middle parts of the gun mantlet or the turret armor unprotected by the mantlet, you can at least make them defenseless.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Decent mobility: good top speed and great turning ability
- Uses the same gun as the 75 mm Shermans: various shell types, great penetration & damage and excellent gun depression. M61 shell can one shot common tanks like the Pz.IV F, M4, Cromwell or even the Tiger H1.
- Fast turret traverse allows it to track agile targets easily
- Low profile allows it to easily hide behind small bushes or rocks, increasing survivability
- Equipped with a vertical plane stabilizer, allowing for more accurate shots on the move or shoot-n-scoot tactics
- Pintle mounted HMG allows for air defense and some anti tank ability (eg. Marder III, Sd.kfz.234 series, Breda 501, etc)
- 13 smoke grenades allow escaping from dangerous situation for many times
- Effective even in uptiers if used for flanking shots or hunting soft targets
- Very fast reverse allowing it to retreat from danger quickly
- Cheaper than all the other Chaffees in the game
Cons:
- Low survivability: all-round thin armour and closely packed crews. Can get one-shot by common guns like 75 mm M3, 76 mm F-34 and 75 mm Kwk 40
- Acceleration is rather sluggish, especially on soft terrains
- On-road top speed is still inferior to some wheeled vehicles like the Sd.Kfz.234/2
- Shells drop dramatically at long distances, making distant / moving targets hard to shoot at
- Reload time is pretty slow for a light tank
- Low ammo count can be a problem in long games or RB/SB matches
History
Development
As early as 1942, the light tanks M3 and M5 Stuart have been seen as severely lacking in the modernizing design of tanks and how they fight. The armour was seen as insufficient and the 37 mm gun was also deemed useless against even the standard German tanks like the Panzer III and Panzer IV. The system needed an upgrade, specifically a light tank that mounts the 75 mm gun seen on the Shermans. An attempt to mount a 75 mm gun on a Stuart was deemed inefficient as it reduced ammo stowage and left the armour too thin on the design.
In April 1943, the U.S. Ordnance Department worked with Cadillac to start on a project for the new light tank, designated Light Tank T24. The powertrain and transmission of the M5 Stuart were used with the ultimate goal of producing a vehicle weighing less than 20 tons. This left the vehicle with relatively thin armour to stay lightweight. At the time, a lighter 75 mm gun was developed for mounting on the B-25 Mitchell bomber without sacrificing performance, and this was mounted onto the light tank in development. The tank used 410 mm wide tracks with a torsion bar suspension that greatly improves cross-country travel. The engine was a Cadillac 44T24 V-8 petrol engine. The chassis was designed with the expectation that it would be used as a basis of many different vehicle roles so it was called the "Light Combat Team". The light tank end design had a low profile at 9 ft. 1 in. height and featuring a crew of five with a three-man turret, an improvement over the two-man turrets of the Stuarts. The first finished vehicle arrived on October 15, 1943, and was deemed a success, starting a contract for 1,000 units that was later raised to 5,000 units. The vehicle was classified as the Light Tank M24 and as the Chaffee by the British after US General Adna R. Chaffee, Jr., who helped develop some of America's earliest tank designs. The vehicle was produced by Cadillac and Massey-Harris from April 1944 to August 1945 with a total of 4,731 units produced.
Service in the ROC Army
In order to suppress the expansion of communist forces in Asia and to deal with the tense situation in Taiwan Strait after the end of the Korean War, United States signed the Sino-US Mutual Defense Treaty with Republic of China in 1954. In the same year, the United States handed over surplus supplies of World War II including 233 M24 "Chaffee" light tanks to the ROC armed forces. A number of additional 56 light tanks were supplied in 1966. South Korea also assisted a batch of training tanks to Taiwan. Thus, Republic of China became the largest user of M24 tanks outside the United States.
In 1980, the National Army adopted the M24A1 upgrade program of NAPCO for some of the M24 Chaffee in service. The core modification lies in power system which replaced the original gasoline engine with a General Dynamics 6V53T diesel engine. This upgrade further ameliorated the overall endurance and boosted power (up to 350-400 horsepower). In addition to the engine, the M24A1 was equipped with a new gearbox and the maximum speed was boosted to 65 km/h. M24A1 removes the auxiliary driver and hull machine gun, and some models were equipped with IR searchlight as well. The upgraded M24A1 is distributed to Armored Cavalry units or low-intensity units.
Fun fact: Since the M24A1 uses the same 6V53 engine as the MCI “National light” Greyhound Bus, therefore its service reliability performance is even better than that of the M41 tank.
Considering that the road conditions in the eastern part of Hualien are relatively narrow and is suitable for maneuvering tanks of this size, the ROC Army began to transfer M24 light tanks to the units stationed in eastern Taiwan. In order to mobilize these tanks intensively, all M24 in active service were concentrated to the 784th tank battalion of the 151st Division (currently the Army Lanyang Regional Command) in Yilan. During the 1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis, some of these vehicles were sent to Matsu as reinforcements. All M24 light tanks in active service were decommissioned in 1999, expect for some of the remaining M24 used as infantry supporting vehicle or stationary shore defense artillery in the outer islands.
The Wan Sheng Modification
It’s known that at least one M24 light tank was transformed into the "Wan Sheng II" in 1975 which was part of the "Wan Sheng” Project carried out by the Joint Logistics Command. The M24 tank turret was transplanted to the aluminum M113 hull produced by Taiwan Aluminum Corporation while the engine compartment was moved to the rear of the hull, transforming the M113 APC into a light tank structure. The “Wan Sheng II” is designed for fire support missions of landing operations. The vehicle never entered mass production due to its poor armor and heavy weight, which was determined unsuitable for amphibious operations. However, the Joint Logistics Command gained valuable experience during the imitation. The lesson learnt here later greatly contributed to the design and production work of CM21 armored personnel carriers.
(Wan Sheng or "萬乘", means thousands of combat vehicles, is a Chinese allusion referring to a powerful army and therefore a strong nation)
Captured by the Chinese people's Volunteer Army
In December 1950, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army seized an intact US M24 "Chaffee" tank during the fight of Minami, North Korea. A series of technical evaluations were carried out to the vehicle but it never saw service in the armored units of PLA. The very same vehicle is currently on display in the Beijing Military Museum.
In-game description
The experience of the M3 and M5 light tanks in the western desert proved that the era of light tanks with angular bodies and vertical suspension had come to a close. In 1943 work began on a completely new tank with the popular Hydromatic transmission and a carburetor engine made by Cadillac. The assignment, outside of strengthening the armament, was to keep the maximum weight below 18 short tons. As a result, a new hull with heavily sloped armor plates was developed. The turret gained a streamlined look with 37 mm armor.
The running gear was made up of five rubber-coated weight-bearing wheels and three supporting rollers in addition to forward, leading, and rear guiding wheels. The tank's main gun was a 75 mm M6 cannon with anti-recoil mechanisms around the barrel, something that made it much smaller. The tanks were fitted with coaxial and bow-mounted 7.62 mm machine guns.
The first T24 light tank prototype entered trials in October 1943. It turned out to be such a success that 1,000 units were quickly ordered, a number that later jumped to 5,000. Production took place at Cadillac and Massay-Harris factories, where 4,415 tanks were assembled between March 1944 and October 1945. The T24 was officially accepted two months after full-scale production began, receiving a new M24 designation. It entered combat in fall 1944 and was the American army's primary light tank through the end of the war.
The tanks sent to the UK via Lend-Lease were referred to as Chaffees.
The successful tank had a long career, fighting in the Korean, First Indochina, Vietnam, and Third Indo-Pakistani wars.
Media
- Skins
See also
- Vehicles equipped with the same chassis
- Vehicles equipped with the same gun
- Other vehicles of similar configuration and role
External links
Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:
- topic on the official game forum;
- other literature.
| China light tanks | |
|---|---|
| Type 63 | Object 211 · Type 63 · ZTS63 |
| Type 62 | Type 62 |
| WZ551 | ZSL92 · PTL02 · WMA301 |
| ZBL08 | ZLT11 |
| Type 86 | ZBD86 |
| WZ502 | ZBD04A |
| ROC | M41D · M64 |
| Type 59 | QN506 |
| USA | ␗M8 LAC · ␗M3A3 Stuart · ␗M3A3 (1st PTG) · ␗M5A1 · ␗M24 · ␗M18 GMC · ␗M41A3 |
| USSR | ␗T-26 · T-26 No.531 · ␗PT-76 |
