At the time "United Nations" meant "The Allies". This was a frequent usage in late WW2, as a matter of fact, "Allies" may have become dominant in the post-war era to differentiate the war time alliance from the institution. And, IIRC, to be a charter member of the institution you had to be part of the coalition.
1) "Honey" for M3 - I have a vague recollection of Robert Crisp calling them that in his book "Brazen Chariots" Unfortunately, I think I loaned it out and never got it back, so to inter-library loan I go
2) "Wolverine" for M10 - A few random facts. The TD was produced at Grand Blanc Tank Arsenal. Grand Blanc is in Michigan. How many Big 10 football fans are out there? What is the nickname for the University of Michigan's team? Why, why, it's.....the Wolverines! The state is sometimes called the Wolverine state AND there is even a US Army connection:
"The Michigan Brigade, sometimes called the Wolverines, the Michigan Cavalry Brigade or Custer's Brigade, was a brigade of cavalry in the volunteer Union Army during the latter half of the American Civil War. Composed primarily of the 1st Michigan Cavalry, 5th Michigan Cavalry, 6th Michigan Cavalry and 7th Michigan Cavalry," - Wikipedia
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So, assembling all this, I can see the PR department up at Fisher Body having a rollout ceremony for the first vehicle and the press releases calling it the "Wolverine". I'm nowhere close to Grand Blanc but if someone is and they have time on their hands, a recon through the local newspaper's morgue for September 1942 might be revelatory.
Of course, that leaves open the question whether anyone called it that during the war and how it got into enthusiast publications
And if the M36 was a "Jackson", maybe a M10 should have been a "Custer"?
3. On the question of nicknames in general, some catch on and other's don't. "Gama Goat" - or just "Goat" - GOER", "Sheridan", "Abrams", "Stryker" and "Bradley" made the cut in my experience (1974 to 1999). But no one ever called a M48 a "Patton" or a M60 a "Super Patton" and the term "MUTT" for the M151 series only existed in the minds of Ford's PR flacks (and it really pisses me off when I see some poseur using it on the Net). . And an M113 is a "One One Three", "Track" or - if modified - an "ACAV", never,never, NEVER, a "Gavin"'
"In more than 30 years working in the defense industry, I have never, never heard anybody use the name "Gavin" for the M-113. Not in the U.S. nor in any of the many countries that use the vehicle. Not in the military forces, not in the companies that build and equip it, not in the groups that retrofit and repair it. This usage appears not only to be "unofficial", it is entirely fictional and I believe that you may have been the victim of a hoax or deliberate disinformation. "
4, I wonder how authentic the name "Duster" is for the M42 SPAA. Also is the M109 155mm SP really called a "Paladin"?
5, My first company commander referred to his M16 as "the black stick" something I was under the impression he picked up as an advisor to the ARVN, but not a term I ever heard anybody else use.. Anybody else - and I know it's been called "The Black Rifle:" - ever heard that usage?