Canadian halftracks

chris vickery · #1 20-10-04, 23:02

I was wondering if anyone has reference materials, pics etc of halftracks in Canadian service. I do have the book "Halftrack in Canadian Service" through Service Pub, but was wondering if there is more available, especially pertaining to International M5 and M5A1. Photos of halftack in action, unit holding etc.

Robert Dabkowski · #2 21-10-04, 05:27

Chris, I have quite a few books/photos collected for my future (very far future) restoration project and would be happy to bring same up when we get together to talk about club organizations. Is there a rush for the info ? Robert in Toronto

Hanno Spoelstra · #3 21-10-04, 21:45

Quote:

Originally posted by chris vickery
I was wondering if anyone has reference materials, pics etc of halftracks in Canadian service.

Search for halftracks on this forum, there's some interesting stuff to be found here.

H.

chris vickery · #4 03-03-05, 02:05

Was wondering if anyone out there has come across any interesting IH halftrack photos of in use vehicles or know of any links to sites featuring same. Specifically interested in IH, not Whites.

Bob Moseley (RIP) · #5 03-03-05, 07:03

Chris
You may be interested in this. I have this book ex. Ebay and was going to post you images from it. Maybe you can buy the book.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

Bob

Hanno Spoelstra · #6 03-03-05, 10:38

Quote:

Originally posted by chris vickery
any interesting IH halftrack photos of in use vehicles

Have you seen this book? I haven't, would be interested to know what's in there exactly.

H.

svaasand · #7 03-03-05, 13:35

Have you seen this photo of the liberation of Paris? IH halftracks of the French 2nd armored division.

Photo for the US library of congress,
http://www.loc.gov/

-Lars Svaasand

Robert Dabkowski · #8 04-03-05, 23:15

Chris, I suggest that you try the following for IHC photos/info :

Military Vehicles Magazine Issue 105/Oct 2004

U.S. Half-Tracks in Combat 1941-1945 by Steven J. Zaloga, Armor at War Series, Concord Publications, date unknown

U.S. Halftracks, Their Design and Development by David R. Haugh
Darlington Productions 1999

American Halftracks of World War 2 by Chris Ellis and
Peter Chamberlain, Bellona Publications 1978

American Combat Vehicles, Volume #1, Halftracks by James Steuard & Rick Fines, Baron Publishing 1976

M3 Infantry Halftrack 1940-73 by Steve Zaloga & Peter Sarson, New Vanguard, Osprey Press, 1997

M3 Half-Track in Action by Jim Mesko, Armor Number 34, Squadron/Signal Publications 1996

And, of course, the IHC manuals for these vehicles

Wheels & Tracks Magazine, Number 36, 1991 has a very good article on building halftracks but doesn't deal with IHCs specifically

Robert Dabkowski

chris vickery · #9 05-03-05, 01:51

Thanks guys for the replies.
Hanno, "Halftracks in Canadian Service" is quite a nice book, recently picked up a copy at a militaria show. My only complaint is that it is limited to a few pages, not really a book by any means, and features mostly American tyoe M2 and M3 halftracks.
I would like to find or see a book that has been researched specifically on the International Harvester Company produced units.
Surely the information must be out there...

Robert Dabkowski · #10 05-03-05, 02:35

Chris, there is a fairly recent book by Hunnicut that retails for about Cdn.$100 on the subject of halftracks that has about 30 pages on IHCs (out of about 200) but I think that its about the best that you will find other than the IHC manuals themselves. It does show up on eBay ocassioally.

I ran across references to a book published in Poland that supposedly deals with Lend/Lease IHCs in Russian Service, written in Polish with English photo captions but I was never able to find a copy.

Robert Dabkowski

Alex Blair (RIP) · #11 05-03-05, 13:24

Quote:

Originally posted by Robert Dabkowski
Chris, there is a fairly recent book by Hunnicut that retails for about Cdn.$100 on the subject of halftracks that has about 30 pages on IHCs (out of about 200) but I think that its about the best that you will find other than the IHC manuals themselves.

Chris
The TM9 707 is listed on my web site..
That is the maintenance manual for the IHC..
#94:449 pages

TM9-707

Basic half-track vehicles (IHC) (Personnel
carrier M5, Car M9A1, multiple gun motor carriage M14
and similar IHC vehicles 21 May 43

Good wiring diagrams and lots of great pix..
Hopefully you won't need these to CC4,if you are bringing it...

Hanno Spoelstra · #12 05-03-05, 13:46

Quote:

Originally posted by chris vickery
Hanno, "Halftracks in Canadian Service" is quite a nice book, recently picked up a copy at a militaria show. My only complaint is that it is limited to a few pages, not really a book by any means, and features mostly American tyoe M2 and M3 halftracks.

Hmm, having this title I would expect to find mainly IHCs featured, as only a couple of Whites made it into Canadian service

:
Oh well, won't have to add it to the shopping list, then. I'm guess it's up to us lot here to find the info...

H.

servicepub (RIP) · #13 06-03-05, 03:04

In looking through "The Halftrack in Canadian Service" I see more coverage of the IHC than I do of the White, but then I am the publisher and can be considered biased.
The booklets are not designed to satisfy the in-depth needs of vehicle owners but rather to provide an introduction of the topic to casual readers. For this reason they are targeted to museum gift shops and hobby shops.
Each title in the series consists of 24 pages and 22+ photos. ON avergae there are 5,500-6,000 words of text. This text is based on original research. Booklets that cover vehicles (As opposed to artillery) also include a 4-view set of technical drawings by noted illustrator Chris Johnson.
To see the complete list of current and future titles visist www.servicepub.com/weapons.html
If you would like to author a title in the series then please contact me off-line.

Hanno Spoelstra · #14 06-03-05, 07:37

Quote:

Originally posted by servicepub
In looking through "The Halftrack in Canadian Service" I see more coverage of the IHC than I do of the White,

Clive, good to see that set straight!

H.

svaasand · #15 08-03-05, 11:06

International Harvester produced the following vehicles;

M9A1 M5 M5A1 M14 M17
DEC 42 152 5
JAN 43 283 20
FEB 1 294 215
MAR 1 331 44
APRIL 150 401 140
MAY 260 412 165
JUNE 400 500 140
JULY 405 750 140
AUG 415 750 150
SEPT 395 752 150
OCT 599 628 157
NOV 50 731 251
DEC 758 500 28 400
JAN 44 365 299
FEB 235 300
MAR 500 1
TOTALS 3433 4625 2959 1605 1000

In addition to these, 2264 IH type halftracks were remanufactured in 1944-1945 by Truscon Steel Company

Of these, the following went to England/Canada;
M9A1s: 1419 M5 and M5A1: 4296 M14: 1600.

To Russia;
M9A1 413 M5 and M5A1:421 M17:1000

The Free French received about 1800 M5/M5A1/M9A1.

This means that out of 13622 IH halftracks built, about 11000 were sent as lend-lease.

I have seen pictures of IH halftracks in English, Canadian, Polish, Russian and French service, but never in US service.

Has anyone ever seen any evidence of what happened to the 2000+ IH halftracks that remained in the US?

-Lars Svaasand

Robert Dabkowski · #16 08-03-05, 16:29

Lars,

I can offer no proof but have been told that IH had a halftrack assembly factory located in Hamilton, Ontario,Canada so I would assume that some/most of your 2000+ were kept in Canada for training purposes ? One of mine did return from Europe but I don't know the service history of the other.

I do have a photo of an ex-Cdn IHC departing Levy's scrapyard here in Toronto, bound for Israel, dated 1958.

IHCs do turn up in the US occassionally so I would assume that some were kept for evaluation and training purposes.

Sorry that I can only speculate rather than providing hard facts.

Robert in Toronto

Crewman · #17 29-03-05, 13:45

Quote:

Originally posted by svaasand
I have seen pictures of IH halftracks in English, Canadian, Polish, Russian and French service, but never in US service.

Polish Army used mainly IHC-built Half Tracks and 1st Armoured Division (ETO 1944-1945) used only IHC M9A1s. In Polish 2nd Corps (MTO) the Half Tracks were not so popular but it is hard to say what was their manufacturer.

Regards

C.

Hanno Spoelstra · #18 10-04-05, 13:16

Quote:

Originally posted by svaasand
I have seen pictures of IH halftracks in English, Canadian, Polish, Russian and French service, but never in US service.

Has anyone ever seen any evidence of what happened to the 2000+ IH halftracks that remained in the US?

Lars, apparently some were used for training in the US. Source: Photos - 152nd Armored Signal Company

"152nd Armored Signal Company 17th aib cmp bark"

"152nd Armored Signal Company 17th man on halftrack"

"152nd Armored Signal Company S halftrack"