ALCO's M7 Turns the Tide
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Winston Churchill, November 1942
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Winston Churchill, November 1942
The production of the M7 at ALCO was done in absolute secrecy and it was done quickly. This allowed almost 1,000 M7s to appear as a surprise on the scene at El Alamein.
The M7 was a turning point in WWII, it led to the Allied victory at El Alamein. The British were outgunned by the German Panzers, but the M7 reversed the balance of power. The M7 gun had a range of 7 miles and could penetrate the heavy German armor. It was also self-protected and self-propelled, eliminating the need for an infantry escort. With the help of the M7, the British 8th Army stopped the Afrika Korps in their tracks and chased them out of North Africa.
El Alamein was also a turning point simply because it was Britain's first victory. In other theaters of war the Allies were being pounded. The USSR was crumbling against German invaders and Hitler seemed to control all of Western Europe. The victory at El Alamein raised the morale of the Allies and dissolved the myth of German invincibility. Without ALCO's M7, Montgomery would have remained outgunned in combating the German Panzer tanks. As Churchill said after the battle, "You have altered the face of the war in a most remarkable way."
"The idea was that when the tanks advanced they were bound to come across hidden opposition... Generally, these were 88 mm guns, too large for the tanks themselves to overcome, and immediate support was required. The M7's were the ideal answer. They could come in and out of action very quickly and as they are self-protected, they did not require an infantry escort. It never took them more than two minutes to answer a call and there were no cases of casualties inside the hull from shell and bomb splinters. The equipment emerged battle-scarred and scratched, but with the entire regiment of M7s still running."
Colonel A G Cole, British 8th Army