The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt,
[British forces traditionally denoted smaller ordnance by the weight of its standard projectile, in this case approximately . The approximate weight of the gun barrel and breech, "7 cwt" (cwt = ]hundredweight
The hundredweight (abbreviation: cwt), formerly also known as the centum weight or quintal, is a British imperial and US customary unit of weight or mass. Its value differs between the US and British imperial systems. The two values are distingu ...
), was included in the designation to distinguish this gun from others also firing a 6 lb projectile. or just 6-pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, serving during the Second World War as a primary
anti-tank gun of both the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
and
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
(as the 57 mm Gun M1). It was also used as the main armament for a number of
armoured fighting vehicle
An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured car ...
s.
Although designed before the start of the war, it did not reach service until the
North African Campaign in April 1942. There, it replaced the
2-pounder as an anti-tank gun, allowing the
25-pounder gun-howitzer to revert to its intended artillery role.
Development and production
Development
![Canadian QF 6-pounder AT Gun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Canadian_QF_6-pounder_AT_Gun.jpg)
Limitations of the existing 2-pounders were apparent even as the gun entered service and an effort was made to replace it with a much more capable weapon starting as early as 1938. The
Woolwich Arsenal was entrusted with the development of a new gun with a calibre of 57 mm. Guns of this calibre had been employed by the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
from the late 19th century and manufacturing equipment was available. The gun design was complete by 1940 but the carriage design took until 1941. The production was further delayed by the defeat in the
Battle of France
The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...
. The loss of equipment – most of the heavy equipment of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was left behind in France during
Operation Dynamo
Operation or Operations may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity
* Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory
* ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
– and the prospect of
a German invasion made re-equipping the army with anti-tank weapons an urgent task, so a decision was made to carry on the production of the 2-pounder, avoiding the period of adaptation to production and also of re-training and acclimatisation with the new weapon. It was estimated that 100 6-pounders would displace the production of 600 2-pounders.
This had the effect of delaying production of the 6-pounder until November 1941 and its entry into service until May 1942.
Unlike the 2-pounder, the new gun was mounted on a conventional two-wheeled
split trail
A gun carriage is a frame and mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be maneuvered and fired. These platforms often had wheels so that the artillery pieces could be moved more easily. Gun carriages are also use ...
carriage. The first mass production variant – the Mk II – differed from the pre-production Mk I in having a shorter
L/43 barrel, because of the shortage of suitable lathes. The Mk IV was fitted with an L/50 barrel, with
muzzle brake
A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...
. Optional side shields were issued to give the crew better protection but were apparently rarely used.
The 6-pounder was used where possible to replace the 2-pounder in British tanks, requiring work on the turrets, pending the introduction of new tanks designed for the 6-pounder. The
Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...
Marks III and IV,
Valentine Mark IX and
Crusader Mark III all began to enter service during 1942. The Valentine and Crusader both needed to lose a crew member from the turret. Tanks designed to take the 6-pounder were the troubled
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
, the
Cromwell and the Centaur. When the Cromwell went into combat in 1944, it was armed with the
Ordnance QF 75 mm
The Ordnance QF 75 mm, abbreviated to OQF 75 mm, was a British tank gun of the Second World War. It was obtained by boring out the Ordnance QF 6-pounder ("6 pdr") 57 mm anti-tank gun to 75 mm, to give better performance against infantry ...
gun, which was a redesign of the 6-pounder to take US 75 mm ammunition and more useful against general targets. The 6-pounder was also fitted to the
AEC Armoured Car
AEC Armoured Car is the name of a series of British heavy armoured cars built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) during the Second World War.
The AEC came about following British experience in the Western Desert against Italian armour ...
Mark II.
Although the 6-pounder was kept at least somewhat competitive through the war, the Army started the development of a more powerful weapon in 1942. The aim was to produce a gun with the same general dimensions and weight as the 6-pounder but with improved performance. The first attempt was an 8-pounder of 59 calibre length but this version proved too heavy to be used in the same role as the 6-pounder. A second attempt was made with a shorter 48 calibre barrel but this proved to have only marginally better performance than the 6-pounder and the program was cancelled in January 1943.
The 6-pounder was followed into production by the next generation British anti-tank gun, the
Ordnance QF 17-pounder, which came into use from February 1943. As a smaller and more manoeuvrable gun, the 6-pounder continued to be used by the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
for the rest of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and for about 20 years afterwards. A 57/42.6 mm
squeeze bore
A squeeze bore, alternatively taper-bore, cone barrel or conical barrel, is a weapon where the internal barrel diameter progressively decreases towards the muzzle resulting in a reduced final internal diameter. These weapons are used in conjuncti ...
adaptor was developed for the gun but was never adopted. The gun was produced in Canada and South Africa, where the Combined Ordnance Factories (COFAC) produced 300.
Production
US production
The idea of manufacturing the 6-pounder in the US was expressed by the
US Army Ordnance in February 1941. The US Army still favoured the
37mm Gun M3 and production was planned solely for
lend lease
Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...
. The US version, classified as substitute standard as 57 mm Gun M1, was based on the 6-pounder Mark II, two units of which were received from the UK. Since there was sufficient lathe capacity, the longer barrel could be produced from the start. Production started early in 1942 and continued until 1945. The M1A1 variant used US combat tyres and wheels. The M1A2 introduced the British practice of free traverse, meaning that the gun could be traversed by the crew pushing and pulling on the breech, instead of solely geared traverse, from September 1942. The M1 was made standard issue in the Spring of 1943. A more stable carriage was developed but not introduced. Once the 57 mm entered US service, a modified towing point design was introduced (the M1A3) for US use. Tractors for the M1 included the
Dodge WC-63 1½-Ton 6×6 and the
M2 Half-Track.
Two-thirds of American production (10,000 guns) went to US Army Divisions in Europe. About one-third of production (over 4,200 guns) was delivered to the UK and 400 guns were sent to the Soviet Union through Lend-Lease. When the United States re-armed and re-equipped Free French forces for the Normandy landings, their anti-tank units received American-made M1s. Like the British Army, the US Army also experimented with a squeeze bore adaptor (57/40 mm T10) but the program was abandoned. American shell designs and production lagged behind the introduction of the gun once it was accepted for service and so, at first, only AP shot was available. The HE shell was not available until after the Normandy landings and UK stocks were procured to cover its absence. Its use by regular US Army front-line units was discontinued in the 1950s.
Service history
British service
Anti-tank gun
![Desert6Pdr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Desert6Pdr.jpg)
The 6-pounders (and the US-built M1 of which 4,242 guns were received) were issued to the
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
anti-tank
regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
s of infantry and armoured
divisions in the western theatres (four
batteries with 12 pieces each) and later in the war to the six-gun anti-tank
platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...
s of infantry
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
s. An air-landing battalion had an AA/AT company with two four-gun AT platoons. The
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
theatres had lower priority and different organisation, reflecting the lower tank threat. The gun was also employed by
Commonwealth forces in formations similar to the British. The anti-tank ammunition was a basic
Armour-Piercing
Armour-piercing ammunition (AP) is a type of projectile designed to penetrate either body armour or vehicle armour.
From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armour-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armour carried on many warsh ...
(AP) shot, but by January 1943 an Armour-Piercing, Capped (APC) shot and an Armour-Piercing, Capped, Ballistic Capped (APCBC) shot was supplied. A
High Explosive
An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...
shell was produced for use against unarmoured targets.
The 6-pounder first saw action in May 1942 at the
Battle of Gazala
The Battle of Gazala (near the village of ) was fought during the Western Desert Campaign of the Second World War, west of the port of Tobruk in Libya, from 26 May to 21 June 1942. Axis troops of the ( Erwin Rommel) consisting of German an ...
. It made an immediate impact on the battlefield as it was able to penetrate any enemy tank then in service. In the most celebrated action, the 6-pounder guns of 2nd Battalion,
The Rifle Brigade
The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...
(together with part of 239 Anti-Tank Battery Royal Artillery under command), destroyed more than 15 Axis tanks in the action at
Outpost Snipe
The Defence of Outpost Snipe in Egypt, took place in the Second Battle of El Alamein, part of the Western Desert campaign during the Second World War. On the night of 26/27 October 1942, the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade (part of the 7th M ...
during the
Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein (23 October – 11 November 1942) was a battle of the Second World War that took place near the Egyptian Railway station, railway halt of El Alamein. The First Battle of El Alamein and the Battle of Alam el Halfa ...
. Over the next year, the Germans introduced much heavier tanks into service, notably the
Tiger I
The Tiger I () was a German heavy tank of World War II that operated beginning in 1942 in Africa and in the Soviet Union, usually in independent heavy tank battalions. It gave the German Army its first armoured fighting vehicle that mounted ...
and
Panther
Panther may refer to:
Large cats
*Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis''
**'' Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards.
*** Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in So ...
. The standard 6-pounder shot was ineffective against the front armour at any range but proved effective on the less armoured sides and rear.
![The British Army in the United Kingdom 1939-45 H23980](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/The_British_Army_in_the_United_Kingdom_1939-45_H23980.jpg)
6-pounder gunfire accounted for the first Tigers disabled in North Africa; two Tigers being knocked out by towed 6-pounder AT guns, while the
48th Royal Tank Regiment knocked out the first Tigers by the Western Allies in tank vs. tank action with their
Churchill tank
The Tank, Infantry, Mk IV (A22) Churchill was a British infantry tank used in the Second World War, best known for its heavy armour, large longitudinal chassis with all-around tracks with multiple bogies, its ability to climb steep slopes, a ...
s, destroying two Tiger I (the same unit also knocked out the first Panther tanks by the Western Allies in May 1944 in Italy). The
North Irish Horse
The North Irish Horse was a yeomanry unit of the British Territorial Army raised in the northern counties of Ireland in the aftermath of the Second Boer War. Raised and patronised by the nobility from its inception to the present day, it was o ...
disabled and captured
Tiger 131
Tiger 131 is a German Tiger I heavy tank captured by the British 48th Royal Tank Regiment in Tunisia during World War II. Preserved at The Tank Museum in Bovington in Dorset, England, it is currently the only operational Tiger I in the world.
G ...
after the crew had abandoned it after it received several hits, most seriously a shot which struck the turret ring, making traverse impossible. The situation was somewhat improved by the development of more sophisticated ammunition in the form of the
Armour-Piercing, Composite Rigid
A shell, in a military context, is a projectile whose payload contains an explosive, incendiary, or other chemical filling. Originally it was called a bombshell, but "shell" has come to be unambiguous in a military context. Modern usage so ...
(APCR) shot and the
Armour-Piercing, Discarding Sabot (APDS) shot, which was available from 1944 and made it effective against the frontal armour of Tiger Is and Panthers.
In the Royal Artillery regiments, the 6-pounders were joined by the 17-pounders starting in 1943; in infantry units, the gun remained the sole AT gun in service until 1951, when it was finally declared obsolete and replaced by the 17-pounder in the
British Army of the Rhine
There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility located ...
(BAOR).
Tank gun
The first tank to go into action armed with the 6-pounder gun was the Mark III version of the Churchill tank, in the
Dieppe Raid
Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was an Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment o ...
of August 1942. They were deployed to North Africa; six, as KingForce, were in action at El Alamein in October (destroying five tanks and three AT guns for the loss of one Churchill).
Molins gun
![RAF Museum Cosford - DSC08357](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/RAF_Museum_Cosford_-_DSC08357.JPG)
The Royal Navy used the 6-pounder extensively in
Motor Gun Boat
The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...
s during World War II (especially the
Fairmile D). The gun was mounted on a hydraulic-powered mount and fitted with a power loading system developed by the Molins Machine Company Limited, permitting a six-round burst at one round per second. The guns were all the early short-barrel (43 calibre) type and fired exclusively
HE (high-explosive) ammunition, at much lower muzzle velocities than for
AP (armour-piercing), because of the use of flashless propellant for night operations. The naval designation was QF 6-Pounder Mk IIA; nearly 600 of these weapons were made.
![Molins autoloader and 6-pounder gun WWII IWM A 25159](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Molins_autoloader_and_6-pounder_gun_WWII_IWM_A_25159.jpg)
The Molins autoloader was also deployed on a small number of Royal Air Force
de Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...
s of
Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...
, which were referred to as the "Tsetse" (after the
Tsetse fly
Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glos ...
). Officially the QF 6-pdr Class M Mark I with Auto Loader Mk III, it was based on the long-barrelled (50 calibre) gun. It was fully automatic, with a
cyclic rate
Rate of fire is the frequency at which a specific weapon can fire or launch its projectiles. This can be influenced by several factors, including operator training level, mechanical limitations, ammunition availability, and weapon condition. In m ...
of fire of about 55 rounds per minute with 21 rounds carried. It was intended for use against
U-boat
U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...
s and fired solid shot that could penetrate their hulls through of water from 1,400 m. The weapon was used to sink a U-boat and, on one occasion to shoot down a
Junkers 88 aircraft during an attack on IJN submarine I-29 off Cape Penas. It was replaced in 1943 by the more versatile but less accurate
RP-3
The RP-3 (from Rocket Projectile 3 inch) was a British air to ground rocket projectile introduced during the Second World War. The "3 inch" designation referred to the nominal diameter of the rocket motor tube. The use of a warhead gave rise to ...
3-inch Rocket Projectile.
US service
![57mm Gun M1 - Saint-Malon Bretagne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/57mm_Gun_M1_-_Saint-Malon_Bretagne.jpg)
In spring 1943, following the experience of the
North African Campaign, the Infantry branch of the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
recognised the need to field a heavier antitank gun than the 37 mm M3. The Ordnance QF 6-pounder was introduced into US service as the 57mm M1, following standard US nomenclature.
The introduction was made in the face of objections by the US Army Infantry Board, which believed it to be too heavy. The Ordnance Board, on the other hand, felt that a more powerful weapon should be introduced; the Airborne and Cavalry rejected it.
According to the
Table of Organisation and Equipment (TO&E) from 26 May 1943, a
regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
al antitank
company
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
included nine 57 mm guns and each
battalion
A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
had an antitank
platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may range ...
with three guns, giving a total of 18 guns per regiment.
Dodge WC-62/
WC-63 6×6 1½ ton trucks were issued as
artillery tractor
An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked.
Traction
There are two ...
s in place of the 3/4 ton truck used with its predecessor the 37mm. Because of the unexpected adoption into service, the only ammunition type in production in the US was the AP ammunition.
By mid-1944, the M1 was the standard antitank gun of the US infantry in the
Western Front and outnumbered the M3 in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Preparation for the
D-Day invasion of Normandy highlighted an additional need. The Airborne Command had rejected the 57 mm M1 in the summer of 1943, claiming that it was unfit for airlanding by glider due to its weight and the TO&E of February 1944 still had airborne divisions keeping their 37 mm guns. To increase firepower, the
82nd and the
101st
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division (military), division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault military operation, operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute mul ...
airborne divisions were re-equipped with British-manufactured 6-pounders on the narrow carriage Mk III designed for glider use – 24 in AA battalion, and 9 in each
glider infantry
Glider infantry (also referred to as airlanding infantry esp. in British usage) was a type of airborne infantry in which soldiers and their equipment were inserted into enemy-controlled territory via military glider. Initially developed in the l ...
regiment – for the Normandy airdrops. In the fighting after the Normandy landings, the paratroops used them against German armour near
St Mere Eglise and
Carentan
Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was mer ...
. However, few tanks were encountered and they were mostly used for support, which made the lack of an HE shell more significant.
The British 6-pounder with the MK III carriage was also used by 442 AT Company as part of the glider invasion force assigned at that time to the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, First Airborne Task Force, during
Operation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the landing operation of the Allied invasion of Provence (Southern France) on 15August 1944. Despite initially designed to be executed in conjunction with Operation Overlord, th ...
; the invasion of Southern France.
Limited availability of different ammunition types limited the efficiency of the gun in the infantry support role. Only after the
Normandy Campaign
Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 (D-Day) with the Norm ...
did the HE round reach the battlefield although before then US units were sometimes able to get a limited amount of HE ammunition from the British Army). The
canister shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies. However, canister shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various ...
was not seen in significant amounts until early 1945. Some British stocks of APDS were supplied to the US units, although APCR and APDS rounds were never developed by the US.
![Canadian Forces in the United Kingdom 1939-45 H27915](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Canadian_Forces_in_the_United_Kingdom_1939-45_H27915.jpg)
From July, US anti-tank units encountered the Panther tank, which was vulnerable to the 57 mm only from the sides. Towed anti-tank guns were less effective in the hedgerow terrain, where mobility suffered; but, when the Germans went on the offensive in August, they were effective in defence with infantry.
Subsequently, the guns were officially introduced under the TO&E from December 1944. According to the TO&E, a division was issued 50 pieces: 8 in the divisional artillery, 24 in the AA battalion, and 18 in the glider infantry regiment;
parachute infantry regiments did not have anti-tank guns. The British guns were referred simply as 57 mm guns.
Towards the end of the war, towed anti-tank units were out of favour due to their lack of mobility compared to self-propelled guns and the 57mm was used by infantry battalions. However, with few tanks to contend with, some units that would have been equipped with the 57mm were instead deployed as rifle companies or only with the
Bazooka
Bazooka () is the common name for a Man-portable anti-tank systems, man-portable recoilless Anti-tank warfare, anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the ...
. The M1 went out of service in the US soon after the end of the war.
Korean service
The M1 anti-tank gun was the main anti-tank weapon operated by the Korean military during the early stages of the Korean War. The South Korean military acquired 117 M1s when the U.S. Forces Korea withdrew from Korea in 1948-49, and the military deployed six guns to each infantry regiment's anti-tank battery. Due to the low number of anti-tank guns, the South Korean military expressed concern over the possibility of the possession of tanks by the North Korean military; however, the U.S. military advisers neglected the concern and claimed South Korea's poor road and bridge conditions are not suitable for effective tank operations.
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, the South Korean military actively used M1 anti-tank guns against North Korean tanks and self-propelled guns, but did not have much effect. Armor-piercing (AP) ammunitions did not have enough firepower to penetrate North Korean tanks, and nearly 70 % of the 35,000 shells were anti-personnel high-explosives (HE). The South Korean military tried to overcome the disadvantage by firing at close range or concentrating on weak parts, but it did not have a significant impact on the war situation.
The South Korean military operated the M1 anti-tank gun as an infantry-assisted firearm from 1950 to 1951, and gradually retired it by replacing it with a
M20 Super Bazooka
Bazooka () is the common name for a man-portable recoilless anti-tank rocket launcher weapon, widely deployed by the United States Army, especially during World War II. Also referred to as the "stovepipe", the innovative bazooka was among the ...
and
M20 recoilless rifle
The M20 recoilless rifle is a U.S. 75 mm caliber recoilless rifle T21E12 that was used during the last months of the Second World War and extensively during the Korean War. It could be fired from an M1917A1 .30 caliber machine gun tripod, ...
. In the end, M1s were eliminated during the war without much achievement due to lack of performance.
Other operators
In addition to being used by the US, UK and other Commonwealth forces, the M1 was supplied under the Lend-Lease program to the
Free French Forces
__NOTOC__
The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
(653),
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
(400) and Brazil (57). Guns captured by the Germans were given the designations 5.7 cm PaK 209(e) and 5.7 cm PaK 202(a). The
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...
employed the 6-pounder in the 1950s in
brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
Br ...
-level anti-tank battalions and battalion-level anti-tank platoons (the latter formations were disbanded in 1953). By late 1955, the Israel Defense Forces possessed 157 pieces and 100 more were purchased from the Netherlands in 1956, too late to enter service before the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
. Some of those are described as "57-mm guns, nearly identical to the 6-pounders and firing the same ammunition", which apparently makes them US-built M1 guns. The gun was also used by the Pakistani Army; numerous examples can still be seen as
"gate guards" outside army bases in Pakistan. The
Irish Army
The Irish Army, known simply as the Army ( ga, an tArm), is the land component of the Defence Forces of Ireland.The Defence Forces are made up of the Permanent Defence Forces – the standing branches – and the Reserve Defence Forces. The A ...
acquired six 6-pounder anti-tank guns in the late 1940s. The US 57 mm M1 gun is popular with modern-day cannoneers, as there is a relatively good supply of shell casings and projectiles. The gun is also reportedly still in active military use with some South American countries, and in coastal defence emplacements of outlying island garrisons of the
Republic of China Army
The Republic of China Army (ROCA), previously known as the Chinese Nationalist Army or Nationalist Revolutionary Army and unofficially as the Taiwanese Army, is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of th ...
.
During the
Biafran War
The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Nigerian–Biafran War or the Biafran War, was a civil war fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state which had declared its independence ...
, from 1967 to 1970, both the
Nigerian Federal Army and the
Biafran armed forces
The Biafran Armed Forces (BAF) were the military of the Nigerian secessionist state of Biafra, which existed from 1967 until 1970.
History
At the beginning of the Nigerian Civil War, Biafra had 3,000 soldiers. This number grew as the war pro ...
, including some Biafran vessels, used the 6-pdr gun.
Variants
*Mk 1: limited production version with L/50 barrel.
*Mk 2: first mass-production version. Shortened L/43 barrel was adopted due to the shortage of suitable manufacturing equipment.
*Mk 3: tank version of Mk 2.
*Mk 4: L/50 barrel, single baffle muzzle brake.
*Mk 5: tank version of Mk 4.
*Molins Class M gun: 6-pounder gun fitted with automatic loader built by the Molins company, a manufacturer of cigarette making machines. It was mounted on the Royal Navy
Motor Torpedo Boats and in the
RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
planes, which were referred to as the "
Tsetse
Tsetse ( , or ) (sometimes spelled tzetze; also known as tik-tik flies), are large, biting flies that inhabit much of tropical Africa. Tsetse flies include all the species in the genus ''Glossina'', which are placed in their own family, Glos ...
".
*57 mm Gun M1: US-built version; although based on Mk II, it had the "original" L/50 barrel.
Carriage types, British:
*Mk 1
*Mk 1A: different axle and wheels
*Mk 2: simplified design
*Mk 3: modified for use by airborne troops
Carriage types, US:
*M1
*M1A1: US wheels and tyres
*M1A2 (1942): improved traverse mechanism, allowing free traverse
*M1A3 (1943): modified towing hook; the first version to be adopted by the US Army
*M2 (1944): caster wheel added to the right trail, relocated trail handles, new utility box
*M2A1 (1945): improved elevation gear
Self-propelled mounts
![MWP BTR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/MWP_BTR.JPG)
Tank gun versions of the 6-pounder were used in
Crusader Mark III,
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
,
Centaur Mk I and II,
Cromwell Mk I to III,
Valentine Mk VIII to X and
Churchill Mk III and IV, and also in the Canadian
Ram Mk II and the prototype American
Light Tank T7E2. The
Deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
wheeled and the experimental
Alecto Mk II self-propelled guns also mounted the 6-pounder. Another experimental vehicle armed with the 6-pounder was a 'Firefly' tank destroyer, based on the
Morris Light Reconnaissance Car
Morris Light Reconnaissance Car (LRC) was a British light armoured car for reconnaissance use produced by Morris Motors Limited and used by the British during the Second World War.
The Nuffield Group had been brought in to supplement producti ...
.
[Henry, Chris (2004). ''New Vanguard 98 British Anti-tank Artillery 1939-45'', Osprey Publishing ] The only mass-produced vehicle mounting the 57 mm M1 was the M3 Half-track based
57 mm Gun Motor Carriage T48 (also known by its Soviet designation ''SU-57''). The production of the
T18E2 armored car, known as Boarhound in its limited British service, was stopped after 30 units were built. A project for a tank destroyer armed with the M1—the 57 mm Gun Motor Carriage T49—was cancelled after a single pilot vehicle was built. Similarly, the wheeled 57 mm Gun Motor Carriage T44, based on Ford 4×4 ¾ ton cargo carrier chassis, was cancelled after brief testing.
Ammunition
Ammunition was of the fixed type made up of projectile - with a tracer in the base - a charge in a brass cartridge and a percussion primer. A drill round made of weighted wood was also used. Propellant was cordite or NH, the latter being more compact than cordite as cordite had a piece of packing between the propellant and base of the projectile.
Performance
The zone of dispersion of the gun was 90% in at .
AP in use as a tank gun, penetration was 81 mm (for Mark 3 gun) and 83 mm (Mark 5) at 500 yards and target at 30°.
Users
*
* (in WW2 and in Korea)
*
* - As 57 mm Infantry Gun (Fodfolkskanon)
*
*
*
*
*:
Arab Legion
The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 195 ...
*
*
**
*
*
[*]
*
*
*: Received 117 from the U.S. in 1948–49.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Kingdom of Yemen
The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen ( ar, المملكة المتوكلية اليمنية '), also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or simply as Yemen, or, retrospectively, as North Yemen, was a state that existed between 1918 and 1962 in the nor ...
See also
*
Caliber#Pounds as a measure of cannon bore
Weapons of comparable role, performance and era
*
57 mm anti-tank gun M1943 (ZiS-2)
The ZiS-2 (russian: ЗиС-2) (GRAU index: 52-P-271) is a Soviet Union, Soviet 57 mm anti-tank gun used during World War II. The ZiS-4 is a version of the gun that was meant to be installed in tanks. ''ZiS'' stands for ''Zavod imeni Stalina'' ( ...
: Soviet anti-tank gun
*
5 cm Pak 38 : German anti-tank gun
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Development, Performance, Production of the 6pdr AT GunTO&E antitank company
Photographic album of the restoration of a WWII 6-Pounder Mk V
{{DEFAULTSORT:QF 06-pounder
Tank guns of the United Kingdom
Tank guns of the United States
World War II anti-tank guns
57 mm artillery
Anti-tank guns of the United Kingdom
Anti-tank guns of the United States
Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1941
World War II field artillery
World War II artillery of the United Kingdom
World War II tank guns