The USA M24 Chaffee was a new light tank with improved armour and a 75mm gun compared to the vehicle it was intended to replace, i.e. the M5 Stuart light tank.
The first 34 M24s did not reach Europe until November 1944, when they were issued to the U.S. 2nd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) in France.
Troop F, 2nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and Troop F, 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, each received seventeen M24s.
During the Ardennes offensive in December 1944, these units and their new tanks were rushed to the southern sector.
Two of these M24s were then detached to the 740th Tank Battalion of the U.S. 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Army.
The M24 started to enter more widespread use from December 1944, but they were slow in reaching the front-line combat units and most were still using M% Stuarts at the end of the war.
Crews were generally positive about the M24, they especially liked the 75 mm main gun, which was a vast improvement over the M5’s 37 mm, it also had improved off-road performance and reliability.
Like almost all Alllied tanks, with the amount of armour protection it had, it remained vulnerable to all German tank and anti-tanks guns, as well as shaped charge weapons like the panzerfaust. The 75mm gun did give it a much better chance of hitting back however.
Too few arrived in time to make any significant contribution to the war in Europe. It served in Korea, initially unsuccessfully against better armed and armoured T34s, later in a more successful reconnaissance and fire support role.
It was also exported to many countries and so fought in many small wars post WW2 until the early 70’s, including with the French in Indochina. !0 Chaffees served at Dien Bien Phu.
It was most perhaps most famous for its appearance in two war movies, The Bridge at Remagen and The Battle of the Bulge. In each case the Chaffees were used to represent the heavier M-4 Sherman. The tanks used in The Battle of the Bulge were borrowed from the Spanish Army.