M8 Greyhound Armored Car - Brent Mullin's Open House 2005
 

Photographs by Roderick Bell
Text by Roderick Bell

M8 Greyhound Armored Car History 

The M8 light armored car and it sister utility version the M20 where the only armored cars the US Army used in large numbers in World War II.  The M8 was mainly deployed to Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons (Mechanized) known as CRSM's.  Another primary user of the M8 and M20 were tank destroyer battalions.  The primary role in both of these organizations was reconnaissance.

The M8 was widely used in the European Theater Operations (ETO) and saw limited use in the Pacific.  The M8 began combat service in Italy in 1943 and was used there and in Northwest Europe for the rest of the war.  After the war the M8 was used in Korea, French Indo-China, and by scores of NATO and other third world nations.

As delivered the M8 mounted:

  • The M6 37 millimeter main gun with 80 rounds (M51B1 or M51B2 AP rounds, M63 HE rounds, and M2 canister rounds).  Majority of the rounds were HE and canister with a limited amount of AP.
  • One M1919A4 .30-cal. air cooled light machine gun (mounted coaxially with the main gun).
  • A .50 caliber Browning heavy machine gun.  This varied over the course of the war where and how it was mounted.  Some M8's used a pintle mount and other used a ring mount.
  • Four M1 .30-cal carbines for crew defense.
  • Twelve handgrenades.
  • Six M1A1 Anti-tank mines usually mounted on the external racks outside of the vehicle.
  • One SCR506 FM radio used for troop to squadron communication.
  • One SCR508 radio used for troop communication.

    In the ETO a total of 961 M8 armored cars and 446 M20 utility vehicles were lost to combat and non-combat accidents.

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    M8 Gallery

    Here are a few shots I took at Brent Mullin's Open House 2005 (19-Mar-2005).  This M8 has been restored to represent a vehicle from the 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized) of the 14th Armored Division.  

    Click to load.  Click the browser back back button to return to this page.  Photographs by Roderick Bell.

     


    References 

    For reference I used the excellent M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91 from the New Vanguard series published by Osprey Publishing.  This book is the best reference I found for researching the M8 Armored Car.  Written by Steve J. Zaloga.  Zaloga has produced another fine book for the historian and the armor modeler.  The book is Illustrated by Tony Brayn. 

    Osprey Publishing

    The illustrations and photographs are clear and well done.  The text is well written and has very informative content.  I recommend this book to all vehicle historians and armor modelers.

     

     

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