The Origin of 17th/21st Lancers' M3 Lees

I recently wrote an article on No Dice No Glory about using the British Crusader Squadron boxed set to field a Death or Glory Squadron for Flames of War. The article touched on the history behind the Lee HQ option for that force, but NDNG wasn't really the place to expand on this so I am writing it up here.

Image: FOW North Africa (2022)

The story presented in the FOW books is that 17th/21st Lancers had three M3 Lees in C Squadron HQ while they were in Tunisia. It is said that the tanks were salvaged from those that had been abandoned by 1st Armored Division in the retreat from Tebourba. 

Photo: Battlefront Miniatures

I have not been able to find the origin of that story. The actual history of these tanks is as follows. 

It was announced at a 26th Armoured Brigade 'O' Group on 28 December 1942 that each regiment was going to be receiving 10 Grants for "close support." This was in preparation for the brigade being completely re-equipped with Shermans, with General Anderson, commander of First Army, advising during a visit to 26th Armoured Brigade HQ on 31 December that this was intended to occur within six weeks. 

The Grants were intended to be allocated with two to each Squadron HQ and four to each Regimental HQ. Those going to Squadron HQ were to replace the Valentine 2pdrs, with those tanks being sent to the Valentine troops, making them four-tank troops.

Training was provided by the US Army on 1 January, with three Grants being handed over to 17th/21st Lancers “filled with rations, extra sweets, rum, and a bewildering assortment of ammunition.” The other regiments in the brigade, 16th/5th Lancers and 2nd Lothians and Border Horse, received one Grant each.

It was announced on 7 January that those Grants were the only ones that the brigade would be receiving. No reason is given in the war diaries, however ffrench Blake speculates in his history of the regiment that this was due to the losses the Americans had suffered over the preceding weeks.

Where the histories refers to “Grants”, in FOW we would call them Lees, being the US version of the tank with the cupola MG. I am not aware of any photos existing of these three tanks, but it’s clear from the description that this is what they were: "like a wedding cake" with three layers: 75mm, 37mm, and Browning MG.

The Lees' first and only action was at Two Tree Hill on the morning of 13 January 1943. Two of the tanks were destroyed, with ffrench Blake being badly wounded in the third. Ken Ford’s “Mailed Fist” describes the Lees as being in “ffrench Blake’s C Squadron” for this battle, but ffrench Blake had taken up the role of regimental 2iC from 8 December. The orders for the operation and ffrench Blake's writings make it clear that at Two Tree Hill the Lees were part of RHQ and operating independently, supported by A Squadron. There is no further mention after this of Lees or Grants in any of the histories I’ve read. 

To reflect this in Flames of War V4, I would be tempted to use a Death or Glory Squadron with a normal Valentine HQ and a Grant Troop from Formation Support, instead of the Lee HQ version of the list. The alternative is to run the Lee HQ version anyway, as this is close to the way the Grants were intended to be used had they all been received.

Regarding painting, without photos it is impossible to be certain what the Lees looked like. They might have been repainted in British colours since they were intended to be part of the standard equipment of the regiment, or they may have been left in their original US olive drab, possibly with disruptive patterning applied in dark brown. The tactical signs on the turrets, if applied, would have been yellow diamonds, and the arm of service markings would have been Red 52.

To summarise, 17th/21st Lancers did have three Lees for a period of about two weeks at the start of January 1943. These were part of a delivery of tanks to 6th Armoured Division that was never completed, and the story of them being salvaged is a myth.

Sources:

• The Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum
• WO 175-292, The National Archives
• WO 175-210, The National Archives
• A History of the 17th/21st Lancers 1922-1959, RLV ffrench Blake
• Mainstay - A 20th Century Life, RLV ffrench Blake
• Death or Glory - The 17th/21st Lancers 1922-1993, Keith Shannon
• Mailed Fist, Ken Ford