Why the U.S. Army Kept the M3 Grease Gun for 50 Years

In June 1944, American paratroopers jumped into Normandy carrying a brand-new submachine gun most of them had barely seen. It was made of stamped steel, built by General Motors in a headlight factory, cost about $21, and was officially classified as disposable. One trooper called it a piece of junk. Fifty-seven years later, a U.S. Army tank company still had two of them in its arms room. This is the story of the M3 "grease gun": why the Army needed a replacement for the Thompson, how George Hyde and Frederick Sampson designed a gun to be made fast and cheap, how it works, the welding disaster and the snapping crank, the M3A1 fix, and how the gun soldiers held in contempt in 1944 became the weapon tank crews would not give up for half a century. CHAPTERS 00:00 Normandy, 1944: the gun nobody wanted 01:41 The Thompson problem 03:39 The first attempt, and George Hyde 05:14 How the grease gun works 06:54 Testing and adoption 07:26 Built in a headlight factory 10:33 The problems 12:32 The M3A1 13:37 In combat: from contempt to respect 16:11 The quiet war: the OSS 17:02 Korea, Vietnam and beyond 18:55 A final irony 19:18 Was it a good gun? SOURCES Patrick J. Chaisson, "The Controversial M3 Grease Gun", Warfare History Network – https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/art... Bruce N. Canfield, "The M3 & M3A1 'Grease Guns'", American Rifleman – https://www.americanrifleman.org/arti... American Rifleman, "World War II Field Fix for the M3 Grease Gun" – https://www.americanrifleman.org/arti... Rock Island Auction Company, "M3 Grease Gun: SMG on a Budget" – https://www.rockislandauction.com/ria... Shooting Illustrated, "Classic Guns: The M3 'Grease Gun'" – https://www.shootingillustrated.com/c... Sgt. Mack Morris, Yank, the Army Weekly (as quoted in the sources above) CREDITS Archive film (public domain, via the Internet Archive and the U.S. National Archives): Infantry Weapons and Their Effects (U.S. Army Film Bulletin 273, 1953); Automatic Weapons: American vs. German (War Department Film Bulletin, 1943); Thompson Submachine Gun (War Department training film TF 17-963, via Periscope Film); Enemy Weapons: German Infantry Small Arms (War Department, 1943); Newsreel: D-Day, 1944 (United News); 82nd Airborne near Amfreville, Normandy (U.S. Army, June 1944); U.S. Army Signal Corps combat film: Gathemo, France (1944), 4th Armored Division (1944), 100th Infantry Division (1945), Medal of Honor presentation (1945); Tanks in Action, 40th Infantry Division, Korea (1952); Special Forces Combat Patrol, South Vietnam (1964); WWII Gun Factory (Naval Photographic Center, 1943); Training Women for War Production (FDR Presidential Library, 1943); U.S. Rifle 7.62mm M14 training film (U.S. Army, 1960). Photographs: U.S. National Archives; U.S. Department of Defense; U.S. Army; Smithsonian; National Park Service; Armémuseum, Stockholm; Australian War Memorial; Yank, the Army Weekly; Wikimedia Commons. Licensed images: M3 with manual, magazine and sling: Curiosandrelics, CC BY-SA 3.0 M3 in a museum display: Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 3.0 M3 grease gun: Jeff Kubina, CC BY-SA 2.0 Thompson M1928: Stefan Kühn, CC BY-SA 3.0 MP40, Athens War Museum: George E. Koronaios, CC BY-SA 4.0 Sten Mk II: Nemo5576, CC BY-SA 3.0 FP-45 Liberator: Rama, CC BY-SA 3.0 FR Headstone of T/Sgt. Charles F. Carey Jr.: Pyderyckel89, CC BY-SA 3.0 Maps: Natural Earth (public domain); 1960 borders from aourednik/historical-basemaps. All maps, charts and the M3 mechanism animations were made for this video. If you enjoyed this story, like the video and subscribe so you don't miss the next one:    / @gutangg   Which weapon should I cover next? And if you carried a grease gun – as a tanker, a paratrooper, in Korea, in Vietnam or anywhere else – or your father or grandfather did, tell me their story. Did they hate it, or did they trust it? #M3GreaseGun #WW2 #MilitaryHistory #Thompson