M10 Tank Destroyer - Combat Use

Combat Use

In its combat debut in Tunisia in 1943 during the North African campaign, the M10 was successful as its M7 3-inch gun could destroy most German tanks then in service. The M10's heavy chassis did not conform to the tank destroyer doctrine of employing very light high-speed vehicles, and starting in mid-1944 it began to be supplemented by the 76mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 "Hellcat". Later in the Battle of Normandy, the M10's gun proved to be ineffective against the frontal armor of the newer German Tiger and Panther tanks unless firing HVAP rounds, but was effective against the most common tanks such as the Panzer IV medium tank and other lighter vehicles and self-propelled guns. Tank Destroyer units had been supplemented with 90mm towed guns in partial anticipation of heavier German tanks, but their lack of mobility made employing them difficult. By the fall of 1944 the improved 90mm Gun Motor Carriage M36 began to arrive in Europe as well. In the Pacific war, US Army M10s were used for infantry support but were unpopular due to their open-topped turrets, which made them more vulnerable than a fully enclosed tank to Japanese close-in infantry attacks.

Approximately 54 M10s were supplied to the USSR though their use by the Red Army service is largely unrecorded. The M10 also equipped units of the Free French Army; one M10 named Sirocco, part of the Régiment Blindé de Fusiliers Marins composed of French sailors, famously disabled a Panther on the Place de la Concorde during the liberation of Paris. British M10s were designated as (Gun) 3 inch Self Propelled Wolverine (3in SP Wolverine) or "M10 3 in SP" and as with all British self-propelled guns were operated by Royal Artillery units. They saw action in Italy and France, many being upgunned with the more effective 17-pounder gun (as the 17pdr SP Achilles) from 1944 onwards.

The M10's open-topped turret theoretically left the crew vulnerable to artillery and mortar fire as well as infantry close assault, especially in urban combat and wooded areas, but this was more not considered a major flaw as American infantry carried significant support firepower when supporting the vehicles in the type of combat that made them most vulnerable. Morevever, the open topped turret gave the vehicle excellent visibility which was valuable to a vehicle that was tasked with finding enemy armored vehicles and other targets. The open top also made escape easier when the vehicle was hit and improved communications with accompanying infantry. By the end of the war its armor was clearly too thin to provide protection from the newer German tanks, anti-tank guns, and infantry anti-tank weaponry. The M10 had a very slow turret rotation speed, as the turret traverse was unpowered and the crew had to hand-crank the turret around. It took approximately two minutes to rotate a full 360 degrees. However, this slow rotation speed may have been again more a theoretical flaw than real as compared to German AFV's, as the M-10 was generally more mobile than its turreted opponents in the most common tactical situations in Europe and had far better traverse than turretless German tank destroyers with virtually no traverse and which were much less mobile. The German Panzer IVJ, produced exclusively in 1944-45 also had manual only turret traverse which was still twice as fast as the M10, with the Tiger I having the same speed as the J's. Panthers and Tiger II's could traverse four times as fast. However the Sherman tank's traverse was the fastest of all, half as much as the Panther, and this was not considered a significant tactical advantage for the Sherman...what was more important was the fact that the US AFV's would generally operate in greater numbers in tactical situations and therefore had more firing angles and a greater rate of fire with accuracy than their German opponents, assuring that even in best case scenarios for the German's in the West, they would lose more AFV's than they could afford. The Western European terrain permitted very little in the way of long distance ranges where the Germans could exploit their high velocity guns and heavy frontal armor. The lack of German AFV numbers is indicated by the fact that U.S. tank destroyers fired many more high-explosive shells than anti-tank ammunition, indicating that they were employed much like the tanks they were supposed to support.

In the final analysis the M10's service, although it was clearly not a superior weapons system in Europe in 1944-45, nonetheless, in the tactical environment in which it fought, proved to be useful, effective, and survivable enough to maintain unit strengths through replacement and repair.

The most decorated American soldier Audie Murphy, earned his Medal of Honor at the Battle of the Colmar Pocket, when he used the heavy machine gun of an abandoned and burning M10 to repel German infantry. He was reportedly very disappointed when an M10 was not available for his reenactment of the event in the post-war film "To Hell and Back" and he had to use a Sherman in its stead.

Ten German Panther tanks were modified to look like M10's in the Ardenne's offensive.