A Question For You Treadheads

[Weird WWII]

Anyone know if the M3 2" Mortar used in the Shermans could fire anything other then smoke?  This is a great characteristic that most gamers might not know about the Sherman and if it could shoot HE that would be even better for a disabled crew or to just weed out those possible ambushes without wasting main gun rounds.

Let me know,
Brian

[Weird WWII]

Nobody?

Brian

[tanktastic43]

Taken from Ospreys-Sherman Medium Tank 1942-45, by Zaloga
Page 14.
"Some Shermans had a small single fire smoke mortar mounted in the turret. Opinion on this device vary; some units did not use them, as they found that when they were fired to provide cover, the Germans tended to spray the smoke cloud with machine gun fire, much to the consternation of infantry accompanying the tank..."

Hope this helps.

tt43.

[CompanyB]

I think it would due negated by the fact that the majority of 75mm shermans already had vast amount of HEAT rounds for the main gun (as was it's purpose)

I'm sure it could fire other ammo, but it would be difficult to put on target.

[aecurtis]

The M24 light tank also was fitted with this contraption, and the basic load consisted of fourteen smoke and fragmentation rounds.  But I cannot imagine how a crew was expected to place a fragmentation round on target! 

Similar to, but not as capable as, the smoke grenade dischargers we started tacking onto the M60 series in the 1970s, these were really only for one situation: that stomach-dropping moment when you realize that you have just driven into the enemy's kill zone.  The intent is to obscure yourself as a target just long enough for your driver to maximize the potential of the tank's reverse gear and scramble for cover.  For that reason, the charges of the rounds for the M3 were reduced, only ranging out to 20-30 yards (meters).  The M3 was on the ordnance list of obsolete major items in 1945, which suggests that its installation on tanks was at best a "Hail Mary" play.

It took long enough to build a concealing screen when launching a full array of twelve grenades on more modern tanks.  I can't see a single 2" smoke round, launched in haste, being awfully effective.

Allen