Waiting For Something To Happen The M8 was the first self-propelled howitzer to equip the U.S. Army during WWII. It combined the hull of an M5 light tank with an open-top turret which was armed with a short-barreled 75mm howitzer and a 12.7mm machine gun. The howitzer was capable of firing high-explosive, anti-tank, and smoke rounds up to a range of 8,800m. The vehicle was officially accepted in May 1942 and 1,800 examples were built from September of that year until January 1944. They were deployed starting from mid-1943 and they used their armament and mobility to good effect in the fire-support role in the Italian, Western European, and Pacific Theaters. After WWII, French forces also used the vehicle during the conflict in Indochina.