----- Original Message -----
From: "Geoff Winnington-Ball" <gwball@sympatico.ca>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 11, 2000 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Veteran's Day Parade and cadillac engines
> james swan wrote:
>
> > Think that you are not quite right re the nickname Honey re Stuart tanks
> > the nickname goes back to the early M3 Stuart. cheers James
>
> According to Robert Crisp in BRAZEN CHARIOTS, the appellation 'Honey' as
applied
> to the Stuart tank, was coined by his driver, Whaley, in Egypt, early in
the
> desert war, regarding the M-3. . . . . . .
> they had been unable to even throw a track (endemic with early British
tanks),
> Whaley had proclaimed, "...it's a 'honey', sir!". The name stuck.
>
It certainly did, I had the chance to "de-brief" my now rapidly ailing and
un-quizzable relation who fought a Stuart in the desert with the 8th Irish
Hussars, as these things do the unofficial name stuck and propagated
rapidly.
The dependability was welcome but the thin armour and inadequate gun (or
pop-gun as Jim calls it) was a liability against German tanks. They were
advised (ordered) not to engage anything over 400yds range as this is a
waste of ammunition, even so Jim tells me the sight of rounds bouncing off
was somewhat galling, however this crew was likely saved by the lack of
armour in that an 88 passed harmlessly through without splattering and only
ruptured an oil line on the radial, when it finally seized they baled out to
fight again.
Richard
Southampton - England
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