Why no HE for the US 57mm?

[Georgie]

I remember that in CMBO the US 57mm had HE. Will HE be added latter on in CMBN or am I remembering wrong?

[Sublime]

Someone will come along with exact dates and details. but roughly, IIRC the US didnt initially plan on using the 57mm and then adopted it for use during the war. This change meant they were trying to get them into use with the troops and rushing to do so, and that in turn meant that the troops only were equipped with AP in the first few months after D-Day. However I've also heard quite a bit about them cadging HE off British supplies if they could..

[womble]

And the other answer is that the bursting charge in the AP round does a perfectly good AntiPersonnel job in-game...

[MikeyD]

I read an account of a US 57mm anti-tank unit that came upon their Brit 6 pounder counterpart in convoy. The Brits were low on AP and the yanks had no HE so they traded rounds. A couple days later the yanks were told to target a church steeple that housed a sniper and brought down the steeple in one shot. They were *horrified!* They feared if the CO had caught the show and discovered they had swapped rounds with the Brits they could be court martialed. One does not trade-away government equipment to foreign armies.

[Georgie]

Thanks womble and sublime. Good to hear that it was temporary and also that we can get by with the AP round for antipersonnel use.

[CM1fan]

I read an account of a US 57mm anti-tank unit that came upon their Brit 6 pounder counterpart in convoy. The Brits were low on AP and the yanks had no HE so they traded rounds. A couple days later the yanks were told to target a church steeple that housed a sniper and brought down the steeple in one shot. They were *horrified!* They feared if the CO had caught the show and discovered they had swapped rounds with the Brits they could be court martialed. One does not trade-away government equipment to foreign armies.

That story's hard to believe. Even if the AT unit's CO wasn't the person telling the unit to target the steeple with the sniper, no US court martial would be likely to convict members of a unit which swapped ammo in the field with an allied foreign unit.

[Boche]

That it wouldnt happen doesnt mean they werent scared it would happen.

[gunnergoz]

You read enough of those WW2 memoirs and one thing that jumps out at you is that the stupidity potential of a "90 day wonder" cannot be underestimated. I wouldn't put it past some army officers to try to enforce things like supply guidelines at the front lines. It probably happened more than once. Men just wrote it off as chicken$hit and did as they pleased when the looey went away.