The Tank Destroyer Force was created as a fully fledged combat arm, on par with the Armor Force.Ī meeting was held between representatives of the Ordnance Department and Army General Staff to determine the further development of anti-tank artillery. There were also organizational changes put into effect. As a result, the Americans began to modernize these old guns, installing barrels from the M1897A4 on new M2A2 and M2A3 carriages with split trails and sprung wheels. 1897) The ballistics of these weapons allowed them to combat all modern tanks, but the single trail and rigid carriage wheels made them awkward to transport. On the other hand, the army had over 4000 75 mm M1897 guns (licensed copies of the French Mle. Only 340 of these guns were built between July of 1940 and the start of 1941. Production of the 37 mm M3 gun was just beginning. The Americans suddenly realized that they did not have effective anti-tank weapons. The German Blitzkrieg of May 1940 when German tank spearheads cleaved through French defenses like a hot knife through butter shocked the American military. It was armed with an obsolete gun and didn't satisfy American requirements for a tank destroyer, but nevertheless this vehicle became the first mass produced American tank destroyer. The Gun Motor Carriage M3 was one of the many specialized variants built on the M3 halftrack APC.
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