Please forgive my naivety, but I still have quite a lot to learn when it comes to understanding WWII armor.

At any rate, it’s my understanding the M4A3 with the 105 fitted was intended to afford better “punching power” for assaulting hardened fortifications.

However, my question is did these 105’s also carry / fire armor piecing rounds for tank to tank combat or were they dependent of tanks / troops for protection against armored threats?

My thanks in advance and happy holiday wishes to all,
Noah

The howitzer tanks were meant to support attacks against all types of targets, not fortified positions. There was no armor-piercing round for the 105mm howitzer, only the M67 HEAT round. The most common round was the plain HE shell.

KL

Kurt's right, no AP round per se for the 105mm howitzer. The M67 HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) round was the round to use against opposing tanks, and it got a lot of use in the Battle of the Bulge. HEAT rounds of all sizes are shaped-charge ammunition: The explosive is shaped into a cone around a copper core, and upon detonation it melts the copper into a pencil-thin molted jet that literally hoses its way through armor plate--and penetration numbers can be huge,l ike well over 300mm. Think Panzerfaust or RPG; same principle. Further developments of this type of ammunition led to various means to thwart it: Explosive Reactive Armor, Chobham laminate armor, and lately the use of metal slat cages.
Greg

These tanks were issued to the HQ of the tank company to provide fire support as they could fire a more useful HE round than the 75/76mm gun armed Sherman's and could fire smoke and WP rounds as well. In many battalions the 105's were instead grouped in an ad-hoc fire support platoon at the battalion level where the support fire they offered could be combined to greater effect.

The aforementioned HEAT round was available but not very good. I don't know how much use it actually saw. Post-war the HEAT round was replaced by a HESH round, but by that time 105mm Sherman's had gone the way of the Do Do.

Thanks for the great info and aswers guys!

Noah

Two problems with it were that it was fired from a rifled barrel and that it was slow with a high, arcing trajectory. Spinning a shaped charge diffuses the jet by centrifugal action and the high trajectory makes range estimation extremely critical - beyond the accuracy possible in WW II.

Data from the ETO shows that it was little used - only about 91,000 fired. By comparison, there were 1.72 million 75mm Supercharge HE rounds fired.

KL