https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/149db1c2-f666-48ea-90ba-705fe3690859 Made in 1942 by the WWII Office for Emergency Management, TANKS is an Orson Welles narrated film about American tank production, showcasing the Detroit Arsenal. Jack Shaindlin composed and conducted the score, and received an award from President Truman for this film. Detroit Arsenal (DTA), formerly Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant (DATP) was the first manufacturing plant ever built for the mass production of tanks in the United States. Established in 1940 under Chrysler, this plant was owned by the U.S. government until 1996. It was designed by architect Albert Kahn. The building was designed originally as a "dual production facility, so that it could make armaments and be turned into peaceful production at war's end. Notwithstanding its name, the 113-acre (0.46 km2) site was located in Warren, Michigan, Detroit's largest suburb. Chrysler's construction effort at the plant in 1941 was one of the fastest on record. During World War II, the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant built a quarter of the 89,568 tanks produced in the U.S. overall. The Korean War boosted production for the first time since World War II had ended; the government would suspend tank production after each war. In May 1952, Chrysler resumed control from the army, which had been unable to ramp up production. The Medium Tank M3 was an American tank used during World War II. In Britain the tank was called by two names based on the turret configuration. Tanks employing US pattern turrets were called the "Lee", named after Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Variants using British pattern turrets were known as "Grant", named after U.S. General Ulysses S. Grant. Design commenced in July 1940 and the first M3s were operational in late 1941. The U.S. Army needed a good tank and coupled with the United Kingdom's demand for 3,650 medium tanks immediately, the Lee began production by late 1940. The design was a compromise meant to produce a tank as soon as possible. The M3 had considerable firepower as it was well armed and provided good protection, but had certain serious drawbacks in its general design and shape, such as: a high silhouette, an archaic sponson mounting of the main gun, riveted construction, and poor off-road performance. Its overall performance was not satisfactory and the tank was withdrawn from front line duty — except in the remote areas of the Asian Theater where it was used by British forces as late as mid-1944 or later — as soon as the M4 Sherman became available in large numbers. In spite of this it was considered by Hans von Luck superior to the best German tank at the time of its introduction, the Panzer IV. Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below. This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qn-Sk9sD4ko Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Fri, 12 Jun 2026 03:28:21 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/149db1c2-f666-48ea-90ba-705fe3690859 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.