Sherman Use of Gyrostabilizer

[rexford]

FM 17-12 presents some interesting advice on the use of the Sherman gyro stabilizer:

"FIRING WHILE MOVING"

"Firing with the 75mm gun while moving is inaccurate and causes an uneconomical expenditure of ammunition. Do it only in an emergency and at ranges of 600 yards or less."

Even with a gyro stabilizer 600 yards is about it, and misses are expected. The 600 yard range may be based on a reasonable hit probability given the initial range estimation (which may contain some error), and the small angle errors that will occur with a stabilizer.

"Firing while moving requires close teamwork between driver and gunner. Drive at a constant speed: acceleration and decleration upset the action of the stabilizer. Drive in a straight line, otherwise the gun yaws as the tank turns. When going over rough terrain, do not fight the gun (attempting to keep it on target by spinning the elevating handwheel) but wait until a constant speed and regained and the action of the stabilizer has smoothed out."

Gyro stabilizer needs flat even surfaced terrain.

"The stabilizer will not lay the gun. It merely tends to keep the gun where it has been laid: that is, it eliminates extremely jerky movements caused by the movement of the tank. Even with a stabilizer, the gun does not hold constantly on the target. Watch the swing of the gun through the target and fire as the proper sight setting crosses the target."

It's not as simple as laying the gun on the target and then firing away. It's kind of like shooting at a moving target, except one has to wait for the target to enter the crosshairs and then quickly get off the shot.

[Ed B.]

Interesting from the FM...

A friend of mine, whom went across the ETO with Patton's 3rd, in a "TD can" (his words) remarked once although their (the German's) optics put the US Army's stuff to shame...We had one advantage that they didn't have and that was the gyro-stablized aiming system.

"No, they told us not to shoot while on the move...But guy's did it anyways. And those guy's after awhile got pretty good at hitting a Panzer, while moving", to quote him.

My friend survived two tanks being shot out from under him and one TD. He still has alot of respect for his German counterparts, over fifty years later.