The M7 Priest was an American self-propelled gun from the Second World War. The first prototypes were built in 1942, and serial production was carried out in the period 1942-1945. In total, approximately 3,500 examples of this vehicle were built. The M7 Priest was powered by a single engine Continental R975 C1 with 375 hp. It was armed with a single 105mm M1A2 howitzer and a single 12.7mm Browning M2HB machine gun.
The M7 Priest was the result of the conclusions drawn by the US Army Command from German ground operations in 1940-1942, which clearly demonstrated the need for its own self-propelled artillery to support motorized or mechanized infantry operations. In order to shorten the time of testing and analysis, it was decided to use the chassis of the M3 Lee tank in the first versions and to draw from it many other components. The 105 mm howitzer was chosen as the main armament. The M7 Priest turned out to be a very successful vehicle with considerable maneuverability, good performance, very high reliability and armor thicker than analogous German designs. In the course of serial production, two main versions of this weapon were created. Chronologically, the first was the M7 using the M3 Lee chassis. Later, a version of the M7B1 was created with the chassis of the M4A3 tank (very similar to the M3 Lee) and the new Ford GAA engine with 450hp. There was also a British version of the M7 called Sexton, which had a completely different engine, changed chassis, front fuselage and different main armament. The M7 Priest vehicles also took part in the Korean War (1950-1953).
