37mm Anti-tank Gun Platoon

Includes two metal 37mm Anti-tank Guns, eight metal Gun Crew, two plastic four-hole bases and two Unit cards.

The M3 37mm gun is the US Army's first dedicated anti-tank gun.

Its small armour piercing round is not much of a threat to the tough front armour of the German panzers, but it can still be deadly from the side, especially at close range. The Battalion's anti-tank platoon was originally part of the Weapons Company, but it is now attached to the HQ Company.

The Allies have the fascists on the run in North Africa, but the fight is not over yet. The United States is the newest army to enter the war. They boast some of the best tanks in the world, backed up by well-equipped infantry, either marching to battle on foot or riding in half-tracks, and the latest deadly tank destroyers. Their troops are inexperienced, but they have trained hard and are eager to prove themselves. They will need to learn quickly, as they face a cunning and battle-hardened enemy.

During the Spanish Civil War, light anti-tank guns such as the German Pak 36 proved successful in neutralising the threat posed by tanks. Seeing the value of such a weapon, the Ordnance Committee begun the development of the M3 based on these concepts. The resulting weapon was first issued to US Armed Forces in 1940 and the M3 37mm become the first gun in US service dedicated to an anti-tank role.

The M3 first saw action in the Pacific and was successfully deployed against both Japanese armour and infantry during the Guadalcanal campaign, while the M3 was able to provide enough punch to deal with the lightly armoured Japanese tanks, experiences in North Africa were completely different.

Reports of 37mm projectiles simply bouncing off the frontal armour of the later production Panzer III and Panzer IV were common. Attempts were made to increase the armour penetration by using squeeze bore adapters such as the British Littlejohn but none were adopted. While the M3 saw service till the end of the war against the Japanese by the middle of 1943 it had been replaced by the M1 57mm gun in the European theatres.