Stridsvogn M24 (M24 Chaffee in Norwegian Service) - 47 years of 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.

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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

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An article by Mark Nash
Video mounted by Jim Zawacki
Audio edited by Kraiger
Voicing by Stan Lucian