M5 High-Speed Tractor

M5 Tractor prime mover.

The M5 High-Speed Tractor is an artillery tractor that was used by the US Army from 1942.

The M5 is a fully track vehicle designed to tow the 105 mm Howitzer M2, and the 155 mm Long Tom field artillery, and carry the gun crew and ammunition. A winch and roller system allows the M5 to pull vehicles to the front or rear. Armament is a single anti-aircraft M2 Browning machine gun.

The M5 was standardized in October 1942 from the T21, a vehicle based on the tracks and suspension of the Stuart tank. International Harvester started production in 1942. The M5 did not serve in US Army for long after World War II, but Japan, Austria, Yugoslavia and Pakistan continued to use it.

Specifications

Type: Artillery tractor

Place of origin: United States

Used by:

U.S. Army

Belgian Army

Japan Self-Defense Forces

Austrian Armed Forces

Yugoslav People's Army

Lebanese Army

Pakistan Army

Wars:

World War II

Korean War

Lebanese Civil War

Designed: 1942

Manufacturer: International Harvester

Weight: 13.791 t

Length: 5.03 m (16 ft 6 in)

Width: 2.54 m (8 ft 4 in)

Height: 2.69 m (8 ft 10 in)

Crew: 1 + 10

Armor: none

Main armament: 1 x M2 Browning machine gun

Engine: Continental R6572 six-cylinder petrol engine; 235 hp (175 kW) at 2,900 rpm

Power/weight: 15.0 hp/t

Operational range: 125 mi (201 km)

Speed: 35 mph (56 km/h)

Variants

M5: Soft top, center driver, Vertical Volute Spring

M5A1: Hard top, left driver, Vertical Volute Spring

M5A2: Soft top, center driver, Horizontal Volute Spring

M5A3: Hard top, left driver, Horizontal Volute Spring

M5A4: Half top, center driver, side ammo boxes, Horizontal Volute Spring

Surviving Artifacts

Marshall Museum

One at 45th ID Museum

Museum of the American G.I., College Station, TX (unit is fully functional)

One M5A2 at Armourgeddon Tank Driving, Husbands Bosworth, Leicestershire, UK Armourgeddon

One M5 at the Kansas Museum of Military History in Augusta, Kansas, USA unit is fully functional

One M5 at the Arkansas National Guard Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Many M5 Tractors were used in British Columbia, Canada, as carriers for rock drills. The Chapman "Drilmobile," manufactured by Chapman Motor & Machine Shop of Delta, BC was designed specifically for logging road construction, and was quite popular.

Presentation of the three main artillery prime mover high speed tractors (HST), circa 1944. From Field Artillery Journal, April 1944.

Soldiers pulling 155mm howitzer with an M5 Tractor, Camp Adair, Oregon, 1945.

M5 Tractor dragging sleds of ammunition to the front on Saipan as a jeep equipped to lay wire waits on the side of the road.

Army personnel pulling a 155mm Howitzer with a International M5 High Speed Prime Mover during a test or demonstration. 1943.

Tractor, High Speed, 13-ton, M5, was designed as a prime mover for towing large field artillery guns such as the 90mm Anti-Aircraft Gun, the 155mm Gun, the 8-inch Howitzer, or other heavy weapons. It is shown here towing a 105mm Howitzer.

U.S. military equipment lined up outside International Harvester's Bettendorf Works. Pictured left to right are an M5 Tractor (1st design), an M5 Tractor (last design), an M4 Medium Tank, an M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle, and an M5 Light Tank.

The Soviet Union received almost 200 M5 High Speed Tractors in 1944 and, as being notoriously short in prime movers, instantly deployed them to their heavy artillery units.

Another M5 High-Speed Tractor in Soviet service. Both photos show them towing the Soviet 152mm ML-20 Howitzer.

M5 High Speed Tractor, artillery prime mover, with .50 cal. machine gun on ring mount.

Tractor, High Speed, 13-ton, M5, was designed as a prime mover for towing large field artillery guns such as the 90mm Anti-Aircraft gun, the 155mm Long Tom, the 8-inch Howitzer, or other heavy weapons..

Tractor, High Speed, 13-ton, M5, with canvas cover, towing 155mm Howitzer for visiting dignitaries.

M5 High Speed Tractor with cover and ring mount removed.

2nd Infantry Division M5 High Speed Tractor towing an M10 Ammunition Trailer, near Les Moulins, Omaha Beach West Exit D-3, Normandy, France, 7 June 1944. The partially destroyed anti-tank concrete wall was blocking the beach exit until destroyed by U.S. forces.

M5A4 High Speed Tractor, based on the M5A2 augmented with additional, rearranged storage.

Field artillery M5 High Speed Tractors with 155mm howitzers in tow, preparing for D-Day, southern England, late May/early June 1944.

13-ton High Speed Tractor, M5, towing a 155mm Howitzer, M1, on the Route Nationale 13 (RN 13), circa June 1944.

M5A1 High Speed Tractor towing the M1 155mm Howitzer, Germany, 1945.

M5 High Speed Tractor, artillery, and vehicles of the 90th Infantry Division prepare to cross the flooded Moselle River via a newly constructed treadway bridge, Cattenom, France, November 1944.

M5 High Speed Tractor pulling two M10 Ammunition Trailers, Biak Island, New Guinea, 8 June 1944.

M5A1 High Speed Tractor, with a cab similar to the M4 High Speed Tractor, circa 1945.

M5 High Speed Tractor towing a 155 Howitzer M1.

M5 High Speed Tractor towing a 155 Howitzer M1 across a ponton bridge.

The M5 High Speed Tractor continued in use into the 1950s. A convoy with artillery prime movers in Korea. The leading vehicle is an M5 High Speed Tractor.

M5 High Speed Tractor, Fort Lewis Museum, towing a 155mm Howitzer.

M5 High Speed Tractor, Marshallmuseum, Liberty Park, Oorlogs-museum Overloon, The Netherlands.