Today in WW II: 9 Jul 1940 Battle of Calabria [Battle of Punta Stilo, the toe of Italy] fought between the Italian Royal Navy and the British/Australian Royal Navies, 30 miles [48km] east of Punta Stilo.  More ↓
9 Jul 1943 US-British invasion of Sicily begins [night of 9-10 Jul].
9 Jul 1944 British and Canadian forces capture Caen from the Germans, a critical post-D-Day objective in Normandy, France.
9 Jul 1944 US forces reach the northern end of Saipan, finding thousands of Japanese civilian men, women, and children who commit suicide by leaping off the cliffs rather than be captured.
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.

Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 M-108

The Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 M-108 (and the very similar M-60 Truck, Wrecker, Light, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6) are part of the G-742 (or M-44) series of 2 1/2 ton trucks. The many models of the very successful G-742 trucks were in Army inventory from the mid-1950s into the 1990s.

For visual identification, the M108 Crane has arcs in the body above each rear wheel, while the M60 Wrecker has a straight body line above the wheels.

Details of the history, model numbers, and configurations of the M35-series of 6x6 cargo trucks is on the linked page.

The manuals for the M-108, and the M-44 series, are numbered TM 9-2320-209-xx, where the last two digits indicate the type of manual such as 10 for Operators Manual, 20 for Organizational Maintenance, and so forth according to the Army standard. An exception is the Lube Order, LO9-2320-209-12-1. All together there are dozens of multi-volume manuals for the series of trucks.

The M108 crane truck was used for many tasks including to deploy missiles such as Lacrosse.

Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 XM-108. Photo: Patton Museum
Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 XM-108. Photo: Patton Museum.

Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 M-108 drawing from TM 9-2320-209-10
Truck, Crane, 2 1/2 ton, 6x6 M-108 drawing from TM 9-2320-209-10.