Inmate Central Inmate Central, where civil and family-friendly discourse about off-audio topics (other than religion and politics) is welcome.

---

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Inmate Central ]

---

[ Alert Moderator ]

---

After mid 1942 on maybe, not before.

Posted by Timbo in Oz (A) on February 9, 2017 at 16:38:57

In Reply to: RE: Interesting. Some detail on the Matilda's actual use is a good thing. posted by Mr_Steady on February 9, 2017 at 15:44:33:

Up until end 1941 the 2pdr was the most powerful small a/tk gun or tank gun - in service - for piercing armour.

Even until early 1942.

Better than any of the 37mm's (I'm thinking German and Czech,) and of course far better than the French 25mm, some of which were issued to Australian Infantry in 1941 in Libya.

The 2pdr stayed in service past the time the PzKW IIIs were up-gunned from 37mm to a short 5cm and then some to the L/60 5cm gun. While the PzKw IVs still had the short 75mm.

This happened due to the huge equipment losses in 1940 in France. The 2pdr was in production and the approved and tested 6pdr wasn't, yet. So they went with quantity for a year and a half.

In Nth Africa until end 1942, the only place this mattered, that anti-tank defence now fell quite heavily on the 25pdr Mk1 (18/25pdr) and IIs. Because they could fire a 20lb shot at a reasonably high velocity and their HE shells were quite effective against the early IIIs and IVs. It was a blessing that both 25pdr carriages came with a circular firing platform for firing at moving targets. No other WWII field gun had this rapid traverse feature. IIRC no WWII purpose-built A/Tk guns did either.

(Though 8.8Cm AAA guns, when so used did. But all AA guns of the period had all round traverse.)

Noting that 2pdr equipped tanks destroyed quite a lot of tanks. The decision not to proceed with production of the designed, tested and approved HE round also held the weapon back, when tanks were dealing with enemy A/tk guns.

The consequence was a considerable distortion of the 8th Army's tactical posture and led to the battle-group idea, and the breaking up of most of the Divisions, except ours and NZ's.

Monty stamped on all that, but he could because the 6pdr was available in numbers, and all UK weapons and munitions production was at full speed. And, he soon got 200 Shermans.

6Pdr A/tk-guns and in tanks started to arrive in mid-late 1942. Your 57mm was an exact copy but with the full length barrel. Once UK factories had long enough machines UK guns got the longer barrel, and higher MV.

Back to the Matilda's use in the Pacific war? The 2pdr and 3" Howitzer Matildas remained very effective. Their armour was very good, too. Thicker than a Sherman's.

If you click on Fenderlover's link you can read each page by clicking on it. Recommended.

Warmest

Tim Bailey

Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger

Edits: 02/09/17

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Western Glow Tube Service

---

[ Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]

---

[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]

---