pages 20&21

page 20 (clipping 1)


m6 heavy tank
In 1941 - 1942 three prototypes were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works, one with electric transmission and two with torque converter transmission. Variants with hydramatic transmission were never completed. The prototypes also differed in hull assembly method - one had welded hull and two cast hull. On 26 May 1942 two variants with torque converter transmission were standardized as M6 and M6A1. Standardization of the electric transmission equipped T1E1 as M6A2 was never approved, but manufacturing of the vehicle was nevertheless recommended. It was proposed by the Ordnance Corps that 115 T1E1s would be built for the US Army and 115 M6s and M6A1s for US allies. The production started in December 1942. Some minor changes were introduced in the production vehicles: the cupola was replaced by a double-door hatch with a ring mount, the machine gun in a rotor mount and the left front machine gun were removed.
However by the time the M6 was ready for production, the Armored Corps had lost interest in the project. The advantages the M6 offered over medium tanks - its much thicker armor and slightly more powerful gun - were offset partly by the shortcomings of the design - such as very high silhouette, awkward internal layout and reliability problems - and partly by logistical concerns. By the end of 1942, the Armored Corps were sure that the new M4 Sherman gave adequate solution for the present and the near future, while being reliable, cheap and much easier to transport.
Work on M6 didn't stop at once. The T1E1 prototype was tested with a T7 90 mm gun and was found to be a satisfactory gun platform, although poor turret layout was noted again. In August 1944 the Ordnance Corps recommended using the T1E1s produced to build 15 77-ton vehicles designated M6A2E1, with thicker (up to 7.5-inch (190 mm) vertical protection) glacis armor and a turret developed for the T29 Heavy Tank, armed with a T5E1 105 mm gun. The proposal was rejected by General Eisenhower. However, by late 1942 main development effort shifted to other projects, one of which eventually resulted in the M26 Pershing.
On 14 December 1944 the M6 was declared obsolete. Only forty units were produced and they never left US soil. Several toured the United States for propaganda purposes, where they gave performance displays (such as car crushing) at War Bond drives and the like. All were eventually scrapped except for a single T1E1 which is on display at the United States Army Ordnance Museum, Aberdeen, Maryland.
Some suspension parts were used in the heavy Excelsior A33 Tank prototypes.

Variants


  • T1 - Cast hull, hydramatic transmission. Never built.
  • T1E1 - Cast hull, electric transmission. Often unofficially referred to as M6A2. 20 units built.
  • T1E2 / M6 - Cast hull, torque converter transmission. 8 units built.
  • T1E3 / M6A1 - Welded hull, torque converter transmission. 12 units built.
  • T1E4 - Welded hull, hydramatic transmission. Never built.
  • M6A2E1 - Uparmored T1E1 with a new turret armed with a T5E1 105 mm gun. Used for testing T29 project armament system.




  • M6 .



  • M6A1. Note its angular welded hull, as opposed to rounded cast hulls of M6 and T1E1.



  • T1E1.



  • M6A2E1 at Aberdeen Proving Ground on 7-th of June 1945.



page 20 (clipping 2)

flag of 1812

flag in 1941

fun New Orleans fact
During the War of 1812, the British sent a force to conquer the city. The Americans decisively defeated the British troops, led by Sir Edward Pakenham, in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815.
page 21 (clipping 1)

The Atlantic Charter is one of the key documents of the 20th century and remains still relevant today. President Roosevelt and Primeminister Churchill meet aboard the Prince of Wales on August 9-13, 1941 at Placentia Bay. The Prince of Wales had been badly mauled by Bismark in May. It was to be sunk by a Japanese aerial attack in December. Roosevelt and Churchill issue the Atlantic Charter. The two were war time allies. Britain had weathered the worst that the NAZI Luftwaffe could throw at it. America and Britain were fighting the U-boats in the North Atlantic to keep Britain alive. It was clear that America would soon be drawn into the War. America had already played an important role in keeping Britain alive and the two countries were the only hope of the occupied European and in fact Western civilization itself--threatened by the evil tide of NAZI tyranny. The two leaders, the two most important men of the 20th century, agreed to a simple, but elegant eight-point statement of their aims which today still stands as the central credo of the Atlantic Alliance.
First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;
Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;
Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;
Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;
Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;
Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the men in all lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want;
Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to traverse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;
Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they believe, pending the establishment of a wider and permanent system of general security, that the disarmament of such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and encourage all other practicable measure which will lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of armaments.
Hitler's Reaction

The Atlantic Charter was just a declaration. Hitler senced the propaganda import of the Charter. He instructed Goebbels not to publish it least it give any inspiration to the people of occupied Europe or cause concern with the German public. [Black, p. 656.]

Public Reaction

Public reaction was muted. Public opinion in Britain aplauded the principles enuciated and Ameruican support in the war against the NAZIs. But there was still no clear statement of American entry into the War. Churchill himself had hoped for more, but had to be content with what occurred. The term "Atlantic Charter" was coined by the Daily Herald, a London newspaper. Only after the newspapers began referring to their statement as the "Atlantic Charter" did first Churchill and the Roosevelt begin using that term. The term "charter" appealed because it had aoft sound and avoided the issu of an alliance. The President knew that an alliance would require Congressional approval and be strongly resisted by the Isolatiinists. American public opinion generally agreed with the principles. Editorial opinion was predictablt divided along interbentionist and non-interventionit lines. By this time, the Isolantists had lost every important struugle with FDR. The one remaining issue was American entry in the War. Here the Isolationists still held the support of the American people. In that regard while the Churchill-Roosevely meeting was publicized, there was no publicity given to the meetings between American and British military commanders, especially as they went beyond protecing Atlantic convoys.
page 21 (clipping 2&3)


Birth: Nov. 22, 1844
Red Bank
Monmouth County
New Jersey, USADeath: May 28, 1948
Highlands
Monmouth County
New Jersey, USA
Died in her 104th Year
Daughter of Horatio Mount and Marie Matilda McCarr
Wife of Charles Johnson who died in 1871
Mother of Unknown Johnson Patterson, William H. Johnson, and Margaret Johnson Liming
Wife of James Kingsbury
Mother of Georgana Kingsbury Emmons, Hattie Kingsbury, Katie L. Kingsbury Darby Eilenberger
Wife of John Wesley Minton who died in 1902
Mother of Deborah Minton Bogue
Grandmother to 11 grandchildren
Great Grandmother to 29 great grandchildren
Great Great Grandmother to 24 great great grandchildren
Great Great Great Grandmother of 1 great great great child.
(its good to know that she not only saw the end of the war but victory )