M8 LAC (China)
| This page is about the light tank M8 LAC (China). For other versions, see M8 Greyhound (Family). For other uses, see M8 (Disambiguation). |
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Contents
Description
The M8 Greyhound Light Armoured Car (M8 LAC) was an armoured car developed by Ford Motor Company during World War II and primarily used by U.S. and British forces in Europe and the Pacific from 1943 until the end of the war. Many of the vehicles were provided to other countries for limited service, notably through the Lend-Lease Act established by the U.S. during World War II. A few of these vehicles, likely used by US Army/USMC, were captured in Mainland China in 1949. One of them is still on display in a Chinese military museum; while additional vehicles were supplied to ROCA after their retreat and were not used during combat, but served as riot-suppression vehicles.
Introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision", the Chinese M8 LAC is identical to the M8 LAC used by the U.S. Army ground forces. The 37 mm anti-tank gun is essentially found in almost every light tank in the early ranks; therefore, it should be more than familiar to players of the U.S. ground forces in terms of playstyle. It has an M2HB Browning heavy machine gun mounted on the back of the turret, which can be highly valuable when fighting other light tanks and early aircraft. However, given that it is an open-top vehicle, it is vulnerable to aircraft strafing; therefore, it is critical to pay attention when aircraft fly overhead during engagements.
General info
Survivability and armour
This vehicle's armor includes 12.7 mm at a 59° degree slope for the front hull, the side hull is only protected with 9.5 mm, with the strongest part being the gun mantlet, with a 25 mm gun mantlet added to 19.1 mm of turret armour. As a result this vehicle is only protected against rifle-calibre MG fire, with the sides easily penetrated by heavy MG fire. However, the thin armor may provide an advantage when fighting against shells with delayed fuse. The crew is very tight, so one AP shell in the center could knock out everyone inside, but notice that there is huge gap between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment, meaning the M8 LAC can absorb plenty of shells and prevent the player from being destroyed quickly. There are some rounds stored in the turret, and on the vehicle's floor, and 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.
Armour type:
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull)
- Cast homogeneous armour (Turret, gun mantlet)
- Structural steel (Mudguard, storage boxes, gun breech)
- Wheels (Tires)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 12.7 mm (59°) Upper Glacis 15.9 mm (29°) Lower Glacis 19.1 mm (44°) Upper Plate |
9.5 mm (17-19°) | 5-9.5 mm | 6.35 mm (0-6°) |
| Turret | 19.1 mm (conical) Turret front 25.4 mm (15°) + 19.1 mm (conical) Gun mantlet |
19.1 mm (conical) | N/A | |
Notes:
- The turret is open-topped, but the very front portion is covered by 6.35 mm
- Wheels are 10 mm thick
- Belly armour is 6.35 mm thick.
- The gun breech is 150 mm thick.
- Additional 4 mm mudguards and storage boxes cover most of the hull sides
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 Mode with stock modules and 40 km/h off-road.
In Realistic Mode, it reaches 38 km/h off-road, and 55 km/h on-road with 7 gears, it also has a maximum of -12 km/h reverse speed with two reverse gears.
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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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° | - | 19.0 | 26.4 | 32.0 | 35.4 | 37.6 | 4.55 | 4.03 | 3.71 | 3.50 |
| Realistic | 11.9 | 14.0 | 17.0 | 18.8 | 20.0 | ||||||||
The M8 LAC is armed with an 37 mm M6 cannon as its main armament. This is a small calibre fast-firing gun with a maximum penetration of 84 mm at 100 m (M51B1 shell), being able to penetrate almost all the opponents it will ever face. While it lacks the post-penetration damage to knock out most enemy vehicles, it can quickly finish them off with its fast reload. The penetration and trajectory drops a lot beyond 500 m. 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 | ||
| M74B1 | AP | 79 | 76 | 65 | 54 | 45 | 37 |
| M51B1 | APCBC | 87 | 84 | 73 | 60 | 50 | 41 |
| 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% | ||||||||||
| M74B1 | AP | 883 | 0.87 | - | - | - | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
| M51B1 | APCBC | 883 | 0.87 | - | - | - | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 73 (+7) | 65 (+15) | 33 (+47) | 1 (+79) | No |
Notes:
- As they are modeled by rows of 4, shells disappear from the rack only after you've fired all shells in the row.
- Turret empty of shells (racks 1 & 2 emptied): 65 (+15) shells.
Machine guns
| 12.7 mm M2HB | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 400 (200) | 575 | -10°/+40° | ±180° |
| 7.62 mm M1919A4 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Coaxial | 1,500 (250) | 500 | - | - |
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 31 mm at 10 m, meaning it can easily penetrate plenty of lightly armoured vehicles and even the side of some medium tanks. The 7.62 mm MG, on the other hand, can only efficiently damage exposed crews due to its low penetration.
Usage in battles
When using this vehicle keep in mind that you are virtually naked to every main gun, that means you should not expose yourself unnecessarily and not give the opponents a chance to shoot at you, coupled with the fact that the main gun can penetrate every other vehicle in its rank. Its excellent mobility gives this vehicle a very viable hit-and-run tactic. Ambush your opponent on your terms. After you destroy him, change your position again, find concealment or cover, use your fast reverse speed to your advantage, avoid one on one fights, and fair fights.
At the start of the match, the M8 is best used as a point-capturing vehicle. Find a road connecting to 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 captured, quickly move away as there are likely to be artillery strikes, which can critically damage the M8.
After capturing a point, there are two good options (just examples, the player is free to play in their way). One is to hide at the side of the point, waiting for the enemy to recapture it. Use its small profile to set up a good ambush, and flank the enemy unexpectedly. The fast-firing gun will genuinely shine when attacking several enemies from the side or rear, allowing the player to knock out a surprising amount of enemies. Once the enemies are wiped out, quickly retake the point and ambush again. Note that the player might want to change their position as some enemies might try and revenge.
Another playstyle is the hit-and-run tactic, thanks to its great mobility and small profile. If careful enough, it can travel between points like a ghost without being noticed and flank the enemies. The stabilizer 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 HMG alone.
Enemies worth noting:
LVT (Family) - These amphibious tanks are well known for their huge hull size. Indeed, there is a huge space between the driving compartment and the fighting compartment that will absorb almost any incoming shells, and unfortunately, the M8's solid AP can't cope with this. If an M8 doesn't know where are the crew is located on an LVT, they will die due to not being able to knock out the crew effectively. Remember their 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 members. Shoot there to disable its gun. And don't forget, at the very rear of the LVT, the two exposed machine gunners can be taken out with the .50 cal. Memorize those three main locations of the crew, and you can effectively destroy any LVT out there with your rapid reload. Also, if the angle isn't too large, the .50 can penetrate the LVT's weak armour.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- The M51 shell has 84 mm penetration at 100 m, enough to penetrate common opponents like the Pz.II, Pz.III B or Ha-Go, and the fast reload helps to precisely knock out the crew one by one
- The pintle-mounted heavy machine gun is very lethal against other similarly armoured vehicles (e.g. AS 42, L3/33) and slow biplanes
- One of the fastest vehicles on road with a max speed of 90 km/h allows it to 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, and especially slow in desert maps like Sinai and snowy maps like Frozen Pass
- Virtually no armour, 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 American M8 Greyhound, the lighter coloured camouflage can be hard to distinguish in Simulator Battles
- The open-topped design makes it vulnerable to overpressure from explosive shells
History
During World War 2, more than 1,000 M8 armoured cars were lend-leased to the Allies, including Free France and Brazil. After WW2, the US Foreign Military Assistance Program donated surplus cars to the United States Constabulary in various Western European and Asian nations. French Forces noted usage of this car, and during the Korean and Vietnam War, both Viet Cong and Chinese got their hands on it as well, but the Korean Army was the primary user, who then donated them to the Vietnamese. Belgium also used these cars as part of NATO, and in UN forces sent to peacekeeping operations in the Congo. M8s are still in service in Columbia, Guatemala, Peru, and Paraguay.
Chinese usage
The earliest record of M8 LAC in China, according to the vehicle (oddly without its 37 mm cannon) displayed at level B1 of Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution (中国人民革命军事博物馆; 军博), PLAGF captured a M8 Greyhound in mid-May 1949 when the forces captured Shanghai, claiming to be a Nationalist vehicle on the billboard (while the white stars on the vehicle indicated its likely true identity - USMC or US Army stationed in China between 1945-1949); according to the film screenshots from early-1950s, there were likely more than the one M8 LAC captured in varied sources shown in the movie.[1]
On the Nationalist's side, after the loss of Mainland China where they have abandoned numbers of vehicles on the mainland, as part of the military replenish program to ROCA, it was recorded that numbers of equipment that scattered around Pacific islands were recovered and refurbished by ROCA, including 185 M8 LAC in 1950[2]; these vehicles were used by ROCA and ROCMC until 1977 with no combat records. Ten of these vehicles were also transferred to the Armored Vehicle Squadron, Police Brigade, Taiwan Province Police Department (臺灣省警務處直屬警察大隊裝甲車中隊; 省警直裝) as riot-suppression vehicle in the early days retreat; these vehicles were used until 1999 and scrapped in Ordnance Research Development Center at Jiji Township, Nantou County.[3]
Media
- Skins
- Videos
See also
External links
| Ford Motor Company | |
|---|---|
| Armoured cars | M8 Greyhound |
| SPAAGs | M247 Sergeant York |
| Export | ␗M8 LAC |
| 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 |
