Microsoft Close Combat manual Inch Gun M5, Armor penetration 122 mm 4.8

102Close Combat

75-mm Antitank Gun (Pak 40)

Caliber 75 mm (2.95 in.) Muzzle velocity 450 to 990 mps

(1,476 to 3,250 fps) Weight 1,425 kg (3,136 lbs)

Barrel length 3.45 meters (11 ft 4 in.) Armor penetration 174 mm (6.88 in.)

at 100 m (110 yds)

The German 75-mm Pak 40 antitank gun, introduced in 1942, was one of several larger-bore antitank guns introduced that year to deal more effectively with increasingly well-armored Allied tanks. It was somewhat more effective than another weapon Germany introduced that year, an updated version of the venerable but still potent “French 75” (75-mm gun, model 1897) mounted on a Pak 38 carriage. Like that ancient gun, the Pak 40 could fire armor- piercing, high-explosive, and hollow-charge rounds at fairly high velocities.

3-inch Gun M5

Caliber 76.2 mm (3 in.)

Weight 2,215 kg (4,875 lbs)

Muzzle velocity 792 mps (2,600 fps)

Armor penetration 122 mm (4.8 in.)

at 100 m (110 yds)

The 3-inch Gun M5, which was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1939, used the same carriage as the new M2 105-mm Howitzer; both new guns were first used in combat in North Africa in 1942. Officially a light field gun, the M5 was often called the “3-inch antitank gun.” It could fire high-explosive, armor- piercing, HEAT, and smoke rounds, and was used in both roles until the end of the war. At that time the U.S. Army discontinued use of the M5 and rebarreled many of them as 105-mm Howitzers.