American Use of 57mm APDS

[rexford]

In response to my inquiry, Claus Bonnesen posted the following on the Russian Battlefield site regarding past contributions on U.S. use of British 57mm APDS:

"As for the report, it is probably long gone from Tankers Net, but here is what I've saved:

Post by Rich Anderson on Tankers Net 09-13-2000, 07:53

2nd U.S. Infantry in the (German) Breakthrough, 38th Infantry:

"During the course of the action a few noteworthy lessons were learned. Firstly, determined infantry armed with its organic weapons will stop German armor, principally by use of the rocket launcher (Bzooka) and by destroying the attack of the accompanying enemy infantry. Secondly, the 57mm AT gun with normal AP amunition was found to be of such little value that I regard it as a practically useless weapon. With the special "sabot" ammunition in abundance the weapon could be of great assistance in repelling enemy armor. I am, nevertheless, convinced it should be replaced by a self-propelled weapon of greater anti-tank possibilities..." F. H. Boos, Col., Inf., Commanding.

Also, appended to the 38th Infantry AAR was this "Report of Towed 57mm Guns (AT) in Rocherath-Krinkelt Action:

"...57mm guns knocked out two Panther....The first round (regular A.P.C.), fired at the side of the turret at about 175 yards riccochetted and had no effect. The second round was a hyper-velocity "Sabot" round and penetrated...I recommend the following changes in basic load:

Type Present Recommended

AP or APC 60 10

"Sabot" 6 30

HE 13 20

...I also recommend the development of canister ammunition..we have found the present issue of HE effective...butconsidering the reports on 37mm canister, 57mm canister would be more effective than HE. /s/ J. W. Love, Captain, 38th Infantry, Comdg, AT Company."

I have found more references to both 57mm HE and 57mm Sabot in wartime US unit reports. The 90th Division AAR for August 1944 has a G-4 Summary which mentions 57mm HE (Br.) and 57mm Sabot as being "continually desired" (I imagine for the Sabot!) while "limited quantaties" only were available. So, it appears that the issue HE round was in fact British.

As for the sources:

Captain Love's quotes are from the After Action Report of the 38th Infantry, 2nd Division, dated 5 January 1945, on the actions of December 1944 (engagements at Wahlerscheid, Krinkelt-Rocherath and Elsenborn), Colonel Boos' quotes are from the combat interviews compiled by theater historians, also in January 1945.

The source is the US National Archives, specifically the Archives II facility at College Park, MD. The hold the records of the US Army Adjutant Generals Office and the complete srt of combat interviews generated by theater historians in World War II. Also, neat stuff like the entire archive of Signal Coprs still and motion pictures, microfilm of the German Wehrmacht archives and so on.

Claus B"

[ July 02, 2003, 05:17 PM: Message edited by: rexford ]

[rexford]

My own research on U.S. use of British 57mm APDS uncovered a firing test report by First U.S. Army, where penetration range trials were held on July 12-30, 1944 against captured Panther tanks.

Ammunition use considers rounds available to First U.S. Army and considered normal types, which included 57mm sabot and 57mm M86 APC, and rounds available but considered special, such as 75mm HEAT M66.

Penetration ranges could not be determined for 57mm sabot or APDS due to difficulty hitting the target, which was a common problem with WW II APDS.

[rexford]

John Salt posted the following on the CMBB forum regarding combat reports of American use of 57mm APDS:

"Vannoy & Karamales' "Against the Panzers" (McFarland, Jefferson MC, 1996) says on page 280:

"Each of the 57mm guns had as part of its ammunition supply seven to ten rounds of British discarding sabot (DS) ammunition, which had been issued before D-Day."

The action that is described there is that of 2 Bn 28th Inf at the Domane Butgenbach.

Unfortunately the account is not keyed to references to sources, but I would guess that the relevant source document is one or other of 26th IR (1st ID) AAR Dec 1944 and 26th IR (1st ID) Unit Journal, Dec 1944 - Feb 1945. The reference given for both is 301-INF(26)-0.3 at the Washington National Records Center, Suitland, MD."

[ July 02, 2003, 08:27 PM: Message edited by: rexford ]