The Marine Corps bought the M-103 in part because they were available--the Army's main raison d'etre, the T-10 was going away! (probably into storage--the Sov's never got rid of anything, except to their client states).

There were two companies of these monsters, one each in the 2d and 1st Tank Bns; 3d Tanks on Okinawa had none--the other three companies in each Bn had the M-48A1s (gas drinkers, 3 gal to the mile, before conversions to A3,A4,A5s. We often loaded the M 48s on DoD flats at Camp Lejeune for movement to Morehead City for ship loading; later to Camp Pickett--M-60s by that time.. It was interesting, to say the least, backing them down a string of flats--they overhung the sides by about 8". In travel mode these tanks all had the turrets trained (no pun intended) to the rear and the gun barrel clamped into a travel lock.

I never saw any of the M-103s being loaded--this was all 55 or so years ago--the M60 business was only 40 years ago---

 

I have seen LeClercs loaded on French military flats in recent years, mostly around Verdun. These cars are what I might call semi-depressed, so the tanks sit on the low section--when they are driven off it is up and over the ends,somewhat like circus loading with ramps between the cars. Never saw them being loaded but bet it's interesting to watch. The Bundesheer still uses the short 6-wheel truck flats they've been using for 70+ years (same design, owned by the B-bahn). In the old days, the Tigers hung over and they had to put on a set of narrow Travel tracks for side clearance. I think the Leo's fit without modification--

Jim Dalberg