German 'munitions' used against German tanks at Gazala

[Andy H]

Hi

In Niall Barr's recent book 'Yanks and Limeys' he mentions on Pg166 words to the following effect:-

With the US M3 Medium tank a problem emerged with the AP ammunition, that caused the British Tank Mission in Washington to place large orders for a 75mm monobloc solid AT-TK round which were to be produced in UK/USA/Can, instead of waiting for a round still under design and testing by the US Ordnance Dept. The monobloc rounds proved effective against test tanks such as the Valentine but not against captured German tanks. Though a few test rounds of the 'new' AP were sent from the US, there wouldn't be enough for the upcoming battles at Gazala.
At this juncture an Australian officer, Major Northy (serving in the RAOC) hit on the following idea-Using captured German 7.5cm ammo designed for PzKpfw IV, pulling the German round out of its cartridge case, grinding down its rotating band and then fitting it in an American cartridge case, a much better AT-TK round could be manufactured. In all some 17,000 such composite rounds were produced and used successfully during Gazala.

Does anyone have any further information on this marriage of munitions and there specific usage by X units against Y targets?

Regards

Andy H

[Andy H]

Hi

From other posters on another site where I posted the same thread query:-

The German rotating bands were turned down in a lathe to the US ammo specs. The German shells used a base-detonating fuze that was armed by the projectile's rotation, and according to Hunnicutt in Sherman, "Fortunately, the lathe rotation was insufficient to arm the fuze during the machining operation." Fifteen thousand rounds of APCBC were converted, along with 2000 HE and smoke rounds. The cartridge cases and propellant charges came from M72 AP rounds and Mk.I HE shells. The amount of propellant in the cartridges was actually not uniform, so the propellant was mixed together and measured out again for the new shells. Unfortunately, according to Hunnicutt, "No information seems to be available on what use was made of the new ammunition." Six thousand rounds were captured by the Germans at Capuzzo, and these were later recaptured at Tobruk.

and two interesting/informative links
Discussion on 75mm AP-Composite that includes the Hunnicutt passages on the development of the shell:
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse. ... &user=&pw=

Article on Jarrett, the US munitions expert mentioned by Hunnicutt as helping develop the shell:
http://www.smallarmsreview.com/display. ... ticles=269

Regards

Andy H