M36 90mm GMC

As the Americans became aware of the Panther and Tiger, they knew that the M10 3in Gun Motor Carriage was ineffective when engaging these new tanks past 500 metres. In September 1942 they began design of a new tank destroyer armed with the M3 90 mm gun which resulted in the M36 GMC. The first M36 prototype was completed in March 1943, with standardization in June 1944 but it was not until September 1944 that the vehicle first began to appear in the ETO. Around 1,400 M36s were produced during the war but the need for 90 mm armed tank destroyers was so great that between October and December of 1944 a further 187 were converted using the M4A3 hull and designated M36B1 (BA58). They were used in combat alongside standard M36. The M36 reached France in September 1944 and entered combat in significant numbers in October. They saw combat during General Patton's attack on Metz and during the Battle of the Bulge, serving with the 8th Armoured Division during the fighting at St. Vith. It was judged to have been the most successful tank destroyer during the battle, with the ability to penetrate German armour at useful distances. By mid-December only 236 M36's had entered service but their intervention was significant as they were far more effective than the M10 or M18 Hellcat. The M36 was used by the 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion and took part in Operation Dragoon - the invasion of the South of France, fighting alongside the 3rd Infantry Division, and supported that division to the end of the war. By the end of the war the M36 was in use with the 601st, 607th, 610th, 628th, 629th, 630th, 645th, 654th, 656th, 691st (one company), 692nd, 702nd, 703td, 704th (partly), 705th (partly), 771st, 772nd, 773rd (partly), 774th, 776th, 802nd, 803rd, 809th (partly), 813th, 814th, 818th and 899th Tank Destroyer Battalions.