47 years of service | Stridsvogn M24 (M24 Chaffee in Norwegian Service)

The Second World War was rough for Norway. Falling to German invasion in April 1940, the country suffered 5 long years of occupation which only ended with the surrender of Nazi Germany in May 1945. Following this, Norway had to rebuild its military from the ground up. Luckily, after their surrender, the German Wehrmacht left behind vast stocks of equipment. This included rifles, machine guns, anti-tank guns, tools, and even some aircraft, all of which were adopted by the Norwegian Military (Forsvaret, Eng: “The Defence”). A small number of tanks were also among the equipment left behind, a mix of various types of Panzer III and StuG IIIs. These were mostly of poor condition, however, so they went straight into storage. Fortunately for the Norwegian Military, the United States were keen to keep their European allies strong in the face of an increasing threat from the Soviet Union. As such, in 1946, Norway received 17 M24 Chaffees from the United States. The Chaffee would give the Norwegian Army (Hæren) their first taste of operating a relatively modern armored vehicle, having not had a tank to operate since the single L-120 ‘Rikstanken’ of the late 1930s. Eventually, Norway would operate a total of 141 Chaffees and, through upgrades, would keep them in service until the early 1990s. Article: https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/strids... If you liked this video, please consider donating on Patreon or Paypal! Patreon:   / tankartfund   Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/tankartfund Information sources: digitaltmuseum.no www.idunn.no modellnorge.no Teknisk Håndbok, Panserjager NM-116: Beskrivelse, Behandling, og Brukerens Vedlikehold (Eng: Technical Manual, Panserjager NM-116: Description, Treatment, and User Maintenance). Available at modellnorge.no(Flash player required). Jim Mesko, M24 Chaffee in Action, Squadron/Signal Publications Clemens Niesner, Norge – Hærens Styrker, Vehicles of the Modern Norwegian Land Forces, Tankograd Publishing Image sources: Ardhya Anargha americangimuseum.org hestvik.no Dag Rune Nilsen reddit modellnorge.no Hans Thostensen, Stavanger City Archives digitalmuseum.no National Archives of Norway Pinterest Reddit:   / tankencyclopedia   TE Shop: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/Goo... Our website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com Gaming News Website: http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/games/ Facebook:   / tanksencyclopedia   Twitter:   / tanksenc   Discord:   / discord   Email: tanks.encyclopedia@gmail.com An article by Mark Nash Video mounted by Jim Zawacki Audio edited by Kraiger Voicing by Stan Lucian