Did WW2 America exploit the uses of light tanks more than other nations?
The basic problem was the United States found itself stuck with a lot of light tanks. More on that in a moment. Between the wars tank doctrine was still largely theoretical and the lousy world economy meant budgets were small. There was also a lack of suitable engines for large tanks so in this sort of environment small light tanks flourished. Originally these were mostly armed only with machine guns with armor designed to protect only against rifle/machine gun fire. By the mid-1930’s anti-tank guns such as the 3.7cm PAK 36 & Bofors 37mm began to appear on the world market in numbers. Tank machine guns were not adequate to suppress dug-in anti-tank guns so they had to have some sort of gun that could lob an HE round to deal with the AT guns. They also needed thicker armor to defeat the more powerful projectiles of these guns. Tanks started getting larger. By 1939-40 though this process was still in ongoing. Tankette’s & light tanks such as the Vickers 6-ton (and T-26, 7TP), BT series,
