ATG Effectiveness

[Ricky B]

Regarding the initial post, I wonder what AT guns were used in these towed AT battalions, versus the excellent M10s with their large weapons. I believe, but don't know and don't have resources handy, that the towed AT bns still used the 57mm AT gun at this point? If they had converted to larger then my comments don't matter, but if they were still this small then the results make perfect sense. The various larger weapons used by both tanks and tank destroyers had much better penetration - the 57mm would have been only marginally useful in the Bulge fighting and probably couldn't have gotten more than a lucky mobility kill on the German tanks, except maybe the PzKw IVs.

So I think the usefullness would have depended on the front, time frame, etc.

Rick