M32 TRV
Support · USA
Armoured recovery. Hold R beside a team-mate to repair it (40 HP/s), fix tracks and periscopes and top up shells and smoke; restock at base. The .50 cal only hurts light plate, and the 81 mm mortar lays extra smoke.
(the vehicle's description in the garage)
At a glance
| Nation | USA |
| Role | Support vehicle (UT) |
| Modelled variant | M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle (M4 welded hull, VVSS; early flat-plate fixed turret) |
| Price | 500 credits |
| Team stock | 1 per five-player team (scales with team size) |
| Team limit | 1 in the field at a time |
| Hit points | 980 |
| Main gun | 12 damage per AP shot, 3 s reload |
| Speed | 38.6 km/h on roads, 18.1 km/h off-road |
| View range | 220 m |
| Ability (B) | Ammo Drop |
| Garage ratings | Armour 3/10 · Firepower 1/10 · Mobility 8/10 · Spotting 6/10 |
History
The M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle was a Sherman with its gun turret replaced by a fixed superstructure, a 30-ton winch and an A-frame boom for lifting and towing damaged tanks. Recovering and repairing knocked-out tanks was a major reason the US Army could keep its tank units at strength, and M32s followed the armoured divisions across Europe. It was armed with a .50 cal machine gun and an 81 mm mortar for laying smoke.
In Armor Heads the M32 is the US support vehicle: it repairs and re-arms team-mates in the field rather than fighting. The game models an early M32 on the welded M4 hull with vertical volute suspension.
In Armor Heads
Compared with the other 34 WW2 vehicles, it is bottom 5 for shot damage (#35 of 35); top 5 for reload (#1 of 35); bottom 5 for accuracy (#35 of 35); top 5 for aim time (#1 of 35); top 5 for turret / gun traverse speed (#1 of 35); bottom 5 for ap penetration (#35 of 35).
Survivability
- Hit points: 980. Damage taken multiplier: 1.02 (effective HP 961).
- Tracks: a hit on the running gear breaks a track 45 % of the time (the hit does no damage); the crew repairs it in 4 s.
| Zone | Real plate | Damage multiplier (lower = thicker) | Raw shell damage to destroy through this zone | AP of the other 34 vehicles that gets through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull front | 51 mm at 56° (91 mm) | 0.62 | 969 | 18 |
| Hull side | 38 mm | 0.92 | 653 | 34 |
| Hull rear | 38 mm at 10° (39 mm) | 0.92 | 653 | 34 |
| Roof | 19 mm | 1.26 | 477 | 34 |
| Turret front | 51 mm at 30° (59 mm) | 0.76 | 790 | 31 |
| Turret side | 38 mm | 0.92 | 653 | 34 |
| Turret rear | 38 mm | 0.92 | 653 | 34 |
Real plate: the thickness of the real vehicle's armour there, and its slope from vertical with the line-of-sight thickness in brackets; each zone's multiplier is worked out from it (see how the numbers work). The last column counts square-on hits under 100 m.
Main gun
- Mount: turret, 360° traverse at 40°/s.
- Elevation +60° / depression -10°, at 35°/s.
- Autocannon: 24-round clip, 0.1 s between rounds, 3 s to reload the clip.
- Damage per minute (AP): 3,125.
- Accuracy: 0.112° dispersion when settled, aim time 1.12 s, move bloom 0.06.
- Gunner's sight: M4 periscope, 1.44x (binoculars 6x / 10x / 15x).
| Shell | Type | Damage | Splash | Blast radius | Muzzle velocity | Penetration threshold | Rounds | Crew shock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autocannon AP | AP | 12 | 5 | 1 m | 866 m/s | 1 | 400 | - |
The penetration threshold is the lowest zone multiplier (the thickest armour) the shell still gets through: zones below it stop the shell (10 % damage for AP, 20 % for HE). See how the numbers work.
Matchups (AP against the hull front, square-on, under 100 m)
- Its AP gets through the hull front of 4 of the other 34 vehicles. It is stopped by: Tiger I, M4 Sherman, Panther, M3A1 Stuart, Panzer III Ausf. L, T-34/76, T-34-85, Panzer IV Ausf. H, Cromwell, Sherman Firefly, M26 Pershing, Tiger II, IS-2, Churchill VII, KV-1, M10 Wolverine, StuG III Ausf. G, SU-100, Jagdpanther, ISU-152, M24 Chaffee, T-70M, T-60, Marder III, SU-76M, M36 Jackson, Jagdpanzer 38 Hetzer, M3 Lee, Stuart V "Honey", 17pdr SP Achilles.
- 18 of the other 34 vehicles' AP get through its hull front. Safe from the front against: M4 Sherman, M3A1 Stuart, Panzer II Luchs, Panzer III Ausf. L, T-34/76, Cromwell, Churchill VII, KV-1, M24 Chaffee, Sd.Kfz. 250/9, T-70M, T-60, SU-76M, M3 Lee, 75 mm GMC M3, Stuart V "Honey".
- From the side, 34 of them get through its hull side; from behind, 34 get through its hull rear (every zone is in the table above).
Secondary weapons and equipment
- No working roof machine gun.
- Smoke: 4 salvos, each recharges in 25 s.
- Field workshop (hold R within 13 m of a team-mate): repairs 40 HP/s, fixes a broken track at once, tops up shells and smoke. Draws on a 2,000 HP repair stock refilled at base; pauses 3 s when either tank is hit. Earns credits for HP repaired.
Mobility
- Running gear: tracks (pivot turns).
- Top speed 38.6 km/h on roads, 18.1 km/h off-road (47 %), reverse 5 km/h, acceleration 3.4 m/s².
- Turn rate 34°/s (20°/s at top speed). Mass 29,200 kg. Engine start 2.5 s.
Special ability (B)
Ammo Drop: a supply crate comes down by parachute just behind the tank and lands 8 s later; every tank of the team (this one too) that drives over it in the next 60 s gets 50 % of its full shell and smoke load back, once each. Ready 30 s after the round goes live, once per round; another use costs 150 credits.
Where it appears
Players can take it on all seven WW2 maps, on either team. It is not in any map's AI line-up (it did not fight in the battles the maps depict).
Where it ranks (1 = best of 35)
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
| Hit points | 14 |
| Effective HP | 14 |
| Hull front armour (lower multiplier = thicker) | 13 |
| Turret front armour | 22 |
| Road speed | 27 |
| Off-road speed | 25 |
| Shot damage (AP) | 35 |
| Damage per minute | 16 |
| Reload (shortest first) | 1 |
| Accuracy (smallest dispersion first) | 35 |
| Aim time (fastest first) | 1 |
| Turret / gun traverse speed | 1 |
| View range | 28 |
| AP penetration (lower threshold = goes through more) | 35 |
| Price (1 = most expensive) | 27 |
The real vehicle
| Variant | M32 Tank Recovery Vehicle (M4 welded hull, VVSS; early flat-plate fixed turret) |
| Length with gun | 5.95 m |
| Hull length | 5.89 m |
| Width | 2.7 m |
| Height | 2.94 m |
Sources used for the model: Hull length 5.89 m (232 in, without sandshields) and width 2.62 m w/o sandshields: afvdatabase.com/usa/trvm32.html; width 2.7 m, height 2.94 m (9.66 ft, to the folded A-frame), boom 5.5 m: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M32_tank_recovery_vehicle. Layout from the TM drawings at theshermantank.com/the-sherman-tank-variant-page-pages-for-each-type-of-sherman-tank/tank-recovery-vehicle-m32/. Length with gun = hull plus the folded boom's sheave/hook block behind the rear plate (estimated).
In-game model: 5.93 m long (gun included) × 2.78 m wide × 3.03 m high (antenna excluded), 6,268 triangles, built at true scale.
Images
Renders of the in-game model in a plain nation colour (the game paints its camouflage at runtime).
