Description

The '40-ton Tank Transporter Truck Trailer M25' - dubbed the 'Dragon Wagon' by enthusiasts - was the largest wheeled vehicle fielded by the US Army during WWII. The M25 consisted of the M26 tractor and M15 trailer. Designed to recover disabled tanks and other heavy vehicles from forward areas, the M26 featured a large and heavily armored cab. Field use, however, indicated that  this vehicle was not often used in recovery operations during the heat of battle, so the later-production M26A1 eschewed the armored cab. As US tanks evolved and became more massive, an upgraded version of the trailer, the M15A1, was introduced to accommodate them. During the 1950s the M15A1 was further modified to M15A2 standard.  As such, these veteran trailers saw service thorough the Vietnam War and into the 1970s. This volume examines the armored and soft-skin versions of this massive vehicle, and its trailers, through hundreds of color photos and some of the finest restored examples in existence. The reader is visually taken over, under, and through these vehicles from front bumper to loading ramp. Illustrated with over 230 photographs; 80 pages.

By David Doyle