57mm Gun M1 anti-tank gun

The 57mm Gun M1 anti-tank gun was the US version of the British 6-pounder anti-tank gun and entered US service when the earlier 37mm Gun M3 was found to be obsolete when used against German tanks in Tunisia.

57mm M1 Anti-tank gun, Normandy

Production of the British 6-pounder anti-tank gun in the United States was authorised in February 1941, with Lend-Lease in mind. At this point the American 37mm M3 anti-tank gun was just entering service in large numbers, but the British liaison officers in the US already believed it would be ineffective against German tanks, nearly a year before they were proved to be correct when it entered combat against the Germans in Tunisia. Two 6-pdr Mkl II guns and 100 rounds of ammo were sent to the US to help get production started. US built guns were designated as the 57mm gun M1 on Carriage M1. It was accepted as substitute standard for the US army later in 1941, although with no intention of actually using it.

Production of the 6-pdr in the United States was complicated by there being two sources of modifications – British changes to the original 6-pdr and American improvements. However the first change was to go back to the original long barrelled 6-pdr Mk I instead of the shorter barrelled Mk II introduced in Britain because of a shortage of long gun lathes. 

The fighting in Tunisia in late 1942 and early 1943 showed that the 37mm anti-tank gun was no longer capable of coping with modern German tanks. However as was so often the case there was a clash between the front line forces and the US based army boards. The troops in Tunisia wanted a heavier anti-tank urgently. The Infantry Board didn’t want to use a heavier gun, apparently considering the easier movement of the 37mm gun more important than its inability to penetrate German tank armour. Ordnance wanted to develop a more powerful anti-tank gun, arguing that the 57mm gun would soon be obsolete. However its big advantage was that it was already in production, so could quickly be adopted by the US Army. In the spring of 1943 the Infantry Board officially replaced the 37mm gun with the 57mm gun.

One problem that was never entirely overcome was a lack of high explosive or canister ammo. The British did produce a HE shell for the 6-pdr, but that didn’t enter production in the US, and there was never a British canister shell. Production of the M303/ T18 HE shell was authorised in March 1944, and production of the M305/ T17 canister shell began in January 1945. The HE shell didn’t arrive in time for D-Day, so US troops had to scrounge British shells, while the canister shell didn’t arrive in significant numbers during the war.

A total of 15,637 57mm guns were built between 1942 and 1945, peaking at 5,856 in 1943. Of these around 10,000 were used by the US Army and the rest went to Britain.

Variants

Carriage M1A1

The Carriage M1A1 was the same as the M1 but with US combat tires and wheels. This type was designated as limited standard.

Carriage M1A2

The Carriage M1A2 introduced a free traverse system, operating as an alternative to the geared traverse system of the M1. This improvement was requested by the British to match newer carriages produced in the UK. Production switched to the M1A2 from 1 September 1942.

Carriage M1A3

57mm M1 anti-tank gun on street, Normandy

Once it had been agreed that the 57mm gun would enter US service it was subjected to Infantry Board Tests. The main problem these revealed was that the lunette assembly (towing ring) on the British style carriages wasn’t suitable for towing by US army trucks. As a result the Carriage M1A3 used a trailer-type lunette based on the example produced for the 75mm gun carriage M2A3. The M2A3 was adopted as standard issue for the US Army, but the British didn’t need it, so the M1A2 remained in production alongside it.

Carriage M2

As a result of trials carried out in the winter of 1943-44 more changes were made to the carriage. Caster wheels were added to the carriage to make it easier to move it manually in the field. The trail handles were moved and a new utility box added. This version became the Carriage M2.

Carriage M2A1

The Carriage M2A1 introduced rack and pinion type elevation gear.

Combat

The 57mm was authorised for use in the infantry divisions on 27 May 1943. Each regimental anti-tank company was to get three anti-tank platoons, each with three 57mm guns. Each infantry battalion was given an anti-tank platoon with three 57mm guns for a total of 18 guns in a three battalion infantry regiment. The 57mm gun eventually replaced the 37mm gun in every division operating against the Germans, although some infantry divisions in the Pacific kept the 37mm gun as it was still effective against Japanese tanks, and easier to move through the jungle.

The 57mm gun began to enter service with US army divisions in North Africa in the period between the end of the fighting in Tunisia and the invasion of Sicily.

The 57mm gun made its combat debut with Patton’s Seventy Army during the invasion of Sicily. The lack of a HE shell was a problem, and Patton continued to prefer the 37mm gun because of its better mobility and lower profile (although did admit that it needed better armour penetration).

The 57mm gun didn’t outnumber the 37mm gun in Italy until the summer of 1944, and the breakout from Anzio. A total of 259 57mm guns were lost during the fighting in Italy, the most amongst the three main anti-tank guns.

By the time of D-Day the 57mm gun was the standard anti-tank gun for US infantry divisions in England. The two airborne divisions were meant to be equipped with the 37mm gun but had managed to find enough of the British 6-pdr on Carriage Mk.III, designed for airborne use, and it would be these 57mm guns that saw the first heavy combat with American forces in Normandy. The 57mm guns serving with the infantry divisions went ashore early in the campaign, but for the first month the bulk of German armour was focused against the British, so the 57mm gun was used as an infantry support weapon, where the lack of a HE shell really mattered. In the bocage country even the 57mm gun was hard to manoeuvre, and on 3 July the commander of VII Corps reported that he would have preferred self propelled guns.

The first major clash with German tanks came on 11-12 July when a force of Panzer IVs and Panthers from Panzer Lehr attacked towards Isigny. The 57mm guns of the 2/39th Infantry, 9th Division, managed to slow them down long enough for a force of M10 3in GMCs from the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion to arrive and eventually the attack was defeated with 16 German tanks destroyed. However those who had said the 57mm gun was too small were proved correct – it couldn’t penetrate the frontal armour of the Panther at any range, and the side armour only at short range.

The 57mm gun played a significant part in the defeat of Operation Luttich, Hitler’s armoured counterattack aimed at cutting off the US troops that had broken through the western end of the lines in Normandy. However they still struggled against the Panther, and were considered to be less effective than self propelled battalions, which claimed more victories at lower cost. The bazooka in trained hands was considered to be ‘greatly superior’ to the 57mm gun in Normandy conditions, where range was rarely important. A similar conclusion was made after the battle of the Bulge, where the 57mm guns were difficult to move into place, and couldn’t be moved on the muddy roads. Once again the bazooka was preferred as an infantry anti-tank weapon. Loses were very high in the First Army during December 1944, with the 57mm units suffering 26% casualties (compared to 6-8% per month in Normandy).

The 57mm gun remained in use to the end of the war, but German armour was rarely seen after the battle of the Bulge, so they were normally used as support guns. However in some battalions the guns were left behind and the anti-tank companies equipped with bazookas, while in others they were disbanded and the men used to fill rifle companies. In February 1945 the Army Ground Force decided to replace the 57mm guns in the regimental anti-tank companies with 17 T26E1 90mm Heavy Tanks (the prototype of the M26 Pershing). There were never enough Pershings to carry this out, but it marked the end of the towed anti-tank gun.

Books,
Zaloga, Steven J., US Anti-tank Artillery 1941-45

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