The M19 Tank Transporter ( US supply catalog designation G159) was a heavy

tank transporter A tank transporter is a combination of a heavy tractor unit and a mating full trailer or semi-trailer (typically of the "lowboy" type), used for transporting tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles. Some also function as tank recovery vehi ...

system used in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and into the 1950s. It consisted of a 12-ton 6x4 M20

Diamond T The Diamond T Company was an American automobile and truck manufacturer. They produced commercial and military trucks. History The Diamond T Motor Car Company was founded in Chicago in 1905 by C. A. Tilt. Reportedly, the company name was creat ...

Model 980 truck and companion 12-wheel M9 trailer. Over 5,000 were produced, and employed by Allied armies throughout all theaters of war. It was superseded in the U.S. military by the

M25 Tank Transporter The M25 Tank Transporter (G160) was a combination 6x6 M26 armored heavy tank transporter/ tank recovery tractor and companion 40-ton M15 trailer introduced into US Army service in Europe in 1944–45. Manufactured by Pacific Car & Foundry Co., ...

during the war, but usefully redeployed in other tasks. It was superseded by the

Thornycroft Antar The Mighty Antar was a heavy-duty 6×4 tractor unit built by Thornycroft from the late 1940s onwards. For some decades it was the standard tank transporter of the British Army and was also used by other nations. It was powered by a shortened ...

in British service by the early 1950, though a few remained operational in units through 1971.

History

Designed as a heavy prime mover for

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

transporting, the hard-cab Diamond T 980 was the product of the

Company in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In 1940 the

British Purchasing Commission The British Purchasing Commission was a United Kingdom organisation of the Second World War. Also known at some time as the "Anglo-French Purchasing Board", it was based in New York City, where it arranged the production and purchase of armaments fr ...

, looking to equip the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

with a vehicle capable of transporting larger and heavier tanks, approached a number of American truck manufacturers to assess their models. The Diamond T Company had a long history of building rugged, military vehicles for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps and had recently produced a prototype heavy vehicle for the US Army which, with a few slight modifications met

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

requirements and an initial order for 200 was very quickly filled. The result was the Diamond T 980, a 12-ton hard-cab 6x4 truck. Powered by a

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

DFXE

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

developing and geared very low, it could pull a trailer of up to and proved capable of the task of moving the heaviest tanks then in service.

Specifications (M20 truck)

Engine

The M20 used a

Hercules DFXE The Hercules DFXE was an American diesel truck engine produced by the Hercules Engine Company. Part of the Hercules DFX series, the DFXE is a naturally aspirated, direct injection,overhead valve, inline six-cylinder engine. The engine had a di ...

, a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

naturally aspirated Naturally may refer to: ;Albums * ''Naturally!'', an album by Nat Adderley * ''Naturally'' (Houston Person album) * ''Naturally'' (J. J. Cale album) * ''Naturally'' (John Pizzarelli album) * ''Naturally'' (Sharon Jones album) * ''Naturally'' ...

inline 6-cylinder

developing at 1,600

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

and at 1150 rpm. Designed for a British requirement, this was one of the few diesel engines used in US tactical trucks.

Driveline

A two plate dry disk diaphragm spring clutch drove Fuller four-speed main and three-speed auxiliary transmissions. The main transmission had a “low” first gear and three road gears, 4th being direct. The auxiliary had low, direct, and

overdrive Overdrive may refer to: Organizations * OverDrive, Inc., a digital distributor of entertainment media ** OverDrive Media Console, a media player developed by OverDrive, Inc. * Overdrive PC, a subsidiary of Velocity Micro Technology * Overdrive ...

gears. The low gear allowed several very low gears for extreme off-road use. The direct and overdrive allowed the three road gears to be split, making 6 road gears. Spicer driveshafts drove two Timken double-reduction

axles An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotation, rotating wheel and axle, wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In ...

with an 11.66:1 final drive ratio.

Chassis

The M20 truck had a

rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...

ladder frame A vehicle frame, also historically known as its ''chassis'', is the main supporting structure of a motor vehicle to which all other components are attached, comparable to the skeleton of an organism. Until the 1930s, virtually every car had a ...

with three

beam axle A beam axle, rigid axle or solid axle is a dependent suspension design in which a set of wheels is connected laterally by a single beam or shaft. Beam axles were once commonly used at the rear wheels of a vehicle, but historically they have als ...

s, the front on

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, it ...

s, the rear tandem on leaf springs with locating arms. The wheelbase was , measured from the centerline of the front axle to the centerline of rear bogie. A

pintle A pintle is a pin or bolt, usually inserted into a gudgeon, which is used as part of a pivot or hinge. Other applications include pintle and lunette ring for towing, and pintle pins securing casters in furniture. Use Pintle/gudgeon sets have ma ...

hitch of capacity was mounted on the rear frame crossmember; another pintle hitch was mounted on the front crossmember for positioning the trailer. All models had Budd split rim disc wheels with 12.20×20-20” tires. Dual rear mud and snow tires were used. Air powered

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfac ...

s were used on all axles; the trailer brakes could be operated independently of the service brakes. A single disk

transmission brake A transmission brake or driveline parking brake is an inboard vehicle brake that is applied to the drivetrain rather than to the wheels. Historically, some early cars used transmission brakes as the normal driving brake and often had wheel brake ...

parking brake was also provided. This used four brake pads with a cable clasp mechanism onto a , mounted behind the auxiliary transmission. A

Gar Wood Garfield Arthur "Gar" Wood (December 4, 1880 – June 19, 1971) was an American inventor, entrepreneur, and championship motorboat builder and racer who held the world water speed record on several occasions. He was the first man to travel ...

winch of capacity, with of cable, was mounted behind the cab. In the Model 980 it was intended mainly for hauling damaged tanks aboard the trailers. The Model 981, introduced in 1942, had a winch with of cable, which could be used from both the front and rear. This allowed tank recovery, in addition to loading.

Body

Early trucks used a standard Diamond T commercial cab, also used by the 4-ton G509 trucks. In August 1943 it was replaced with an open military cab. A long butterfly hood had vertical louvres along both sides. A short ballast body was mounted behind the winch. There were closed tool compartments along both sides, two open containers in the front, and a bottom-hinged tailgate. The spare tire was mounted in the front. The box could hold of ballast to increase traction on the rear tandem axles.

Specifications (M9 trailer)

The M9 had tandem rear axles and a single front axle on a rotating dolly. Ramps hinged down at the rear end of the trailer. Cable rollers and sheaves let the winch from the M20 truck pull tanks onto the trailer, chocks and chains were used to secure the load. The front axle suspension system was trailing beam assemblies on coil springs, with a dual tire wheel on each side of the beam. With an assembly on each side there were 4 wheels on the axle line. The rear tandem beam assembly was a center pivot type, with axles on both ends of the beam. A dual tire wheel was on both ends of both axles, with a beam on each side there were also 4 wheels per axle line. Twenty-four 8.25x15” tires on demountable rims were used, two on each wheel.

Service

Production began in 1941. The first batch was received in Britain in 1942 and very quickly demonstrated their rugged reliability in the British campaign in North Africa. Battle-damaged tanks needed to be quickly recovered, often under hostile fire, and returned to workshops for repair. 5,871 were eventually built by 1945 and were used by virtually every

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

army in every theatre of World War II. U.S. forces in Europe preferred the

, citing the fact that the M19 suffered from a wide turning radius, poor traction of the truck, and excessive

rolling resistance Rolling resistance, sometimes called rolling friction or rolling drag, is the force resisting the motion when a body (such as a ball, tire, or wheel) rolls on a surface. It is mainly caused by non-elastic effects; that is, not all the energy nee ...

. Five concrete blocks were routinely carried in the bed of the truck to improve traction; the conversion of an M20 truck and M9 trailer to a

semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer. A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a tracto ...

configuration rather than a trailed configuration alleviated some of these problems, and also improved fuel economy by approximately fifty percent. In general, the M19 was mechanically reliable, but "did not meet the overall requirements of this theater" and was relegated to duty in the rear areas of the combat zone and in the

Communications Zone {{Short description, Aspect of military theater of war operations Communications Zone is a US Army and NATO term which describes a part of the theater of war operations. The Communications Zone is the rear part of theater of operations (behind but ...

, with the M25 being used for frontline service. The British Army took delivery of around 1,000 during the war years and many continued in service afterwards, being replaced in the early 1950s with the

("Mighty Antar"), although a few remained in tank transporter units up to 1971. Many of those sold off by the Army after the war were snapped up by heavy haulage and recovery specialists, notably

Pickfords Pickfords is a moving company based in the United Kingdom, part of Pickfords Move Management Ltd. The business is believed to have been founded in the 17th century, making it one of the UK's oldest functioning companies, although the similar ...

and Wynns, and were a familiar sight on Britain's roads, pulling heavy lowloaders and fairground trailers or parked on garage forecourts, in readiness for a heavy rescue operation equipped as wreckers (breakdown recovery trucks).Antons-Snow.com
/ref> They suffered from "very limited off-road performance" as a result of only the two rear axles being driven. Today, many of the 70-year-old Diamond Ts can still be found in private ownership in Britain and frequently appear at historic vehicle shows.

Nomenclature

This combination unit is referred to as the M19 tank transporter, consisting of the M20 tractor and M9 24-wheel trailer. In the nomenclature system used by the

United States Army Ordnance Corps The United States Army Ordnance Corps, formerly the United States Army Ordnance Department, is a sustainment branch of the United States Army, headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia. The broad mission of the Ordnance Corps is to supply Army comb ...

Supply Catalog this vehicle is referred as the G159. It was superseded by the M26. After the introduction of the M26, the U.S. relegated M20s to ammunition hauling, for which they proved "tremendous". British designation for the tractor unit was Diamond T Tractor 6x4 for 40 ton Trailer with "Model 980" or "Model 981" added to distinguish the two. . The British-built trailers were known as "40 ton Trailer British Mk. I (Crane)" "40 ton Trailer British Mk.II (Dyson)" being manufactured by Cranes of Dereham and R. A. Dyson and Company of Liverpool.

Gallery

File:Diamond T Dutch Army (cropped).jpg, Diamond T tank transporter of the Dutch army carrying an

M4 Sherman } The M4 Sherman, officially Medium Tank, M4, was the most widely used medium tank by the Military history of the United States during World War II, United States and Allies of World War II, Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman prove ...

at the historic army days at Oirschot, the Netherlands File:Diamond_T_Model_980_tractor.jpg, Diamond T tank transporter with a

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

tank during preparations for crossing the Rhine. File:Tortoise_Tank_On_Tow_BAOR_1948.jpg, Two Diamond T tractors towing a

Tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...

heavy tank, 1948. File:The_British_Army_in_Burma_1945_SE2322.jpg, Diamond T tank transporters of the British Army with a load of a Grant ARV, followed by one with a Grant gun tank, in Burma, 1945. File:Diamond T M20.jpg, Diamond T M20

ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible ...

used by the Dutch Army File:M19 Tank Transporter with Bulldozer.jpeg, Preserved M19 Tank Transporter with Bulldozer

Notes

References

*Berndt, Thomas. ''Standard Catalog of U.S. Military Vehicles 1940–1965''. Iola, WI: * Krause Publications, 1993. . * * * * * * * *TM 9-1825A *TM 9-1827A *TM 9-1829A

External links

*http://www.military-museum.org.uk/diamond.htm *http://www.autogallery.org.ru/m/diamond.htm {{WWIIBritishSoftVeh Military trucks of the United States Tank transporters Military vehicles introduced from 1940 to 1944