Ironically, Red Army soldiers thought that the ‘USA’ initials stencilled on America-supplied vehicles stood for ‘Ubiyat Sukinsyna Adolfa’ – meaning ‘Kill that son of a whore Adolf’.
The M3 medium tank was armed with a 75mm gun, mounted in the right-hand side of the hull. The small turret with a 37mm gun gave the tank a prominent profile. Soviet tankers named it the ‘Grave for Seven Brothers’ or ‘the crematorium’. Likewise, the Soviets did not like the high silhouette of the M3 light tank either. They also received the M3 Sherman that again was not greatly liked.
German sources indicated they were well aware that Soviet crews did not like the tanks supplied by their allies. Colonel Reinhard Gehlen, in charge of intelligence-gathering on the Eastern Front, noted: “Our intelligence suggested that about 30 armoured brigades had put in an appearance on the Eastern Front equipped with British and American tanks. The Russian troops, however, were not very happy with the quality of these tanks, as they were inferior to the Soviet T-34 in every respect, and with their narrow tracks their cross-country performance in Russia was poor; moreover, their engines could not digest the low-grade fuels common in the USSR.”
