The M10 were, numerically, the most important US tank destroyer of World War II. In its combat debut in the North African campaign, the M10 was successful as its M7 3-inch gun could penetrate most German tanks then in service at long range. The heavy chassis did not conform to the tank destroyer doctrine of employing very light, high-speed vehicles, thus it began to be supplemented by the 76 mm Gun Motor Carriage M18 early in 1944. Later in the Battle of Normandy the M10's gun proved to be ineffective against the frontal armor of the numerous German Panther tanks encountered and by the fall of 1944 the improved 90 mm Gun Motor Carriage M36 was beginning to replace it, though it remained in service until the end of the war. In the Pacific, US Army M10s were used for traditional infantry-support missions and were unpopular due to their open topped turrets. The Japanese tactic of very close-in infantry attacks against US AFVs made the M10 much more vulnerable than a fully-enclosed tank.

Approximately 54 M10s were supplied to the USSR though their usage in Red Army service is largely unrecorded. The M10 also equipped units of the Free French Army; one M10 named "Sirocco", crewed by a regiment composed of French sailors, famously knocked out a German Panther tank on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. British M10s were designated 3 in SP, Wolverine and saw action in Italy and France, including some re-armed with the much more effective 17-pounder guns which gained the designation 17 pdr SP. Achilles.

The M10 had an open-topped turret that left it vulnerable to artillery and mortar fire and infantry assault especially in urban combat and forest areas, where a simple hand grenade could be tossed inside. By the end of the war its armor was too thin to provide protection from the new German tanks and anti-tank guns. The other main disadvantage of the M10 was its very slow turret traverse, the M10 did not have powered traverse and so the crew had to hand-crank the turret to traverse it, taking approximately two minutes to traverse 360 degrees. US tank destroyers fired much more HE than anti-tank ammunition, indicating that they were employed much like the tanks they were supposed to support.

A British variant, designated the "Achilles", was developed to mount the successful 17-pounder anti-tank gun in a modified turret. It was used by the British, Canadian and Polish armies in Italy and northwest Europe.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a British Achilles IIC tank destroyer that was attached to the Polish 1st Anti-tank Regiment, Polish 1st Armoured Division, as it advanced into the Netherlands during Autumn 1944. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Length: 4-inches
Width: 1-1/2-inches

Release Date: September 2018

Historical Account: "Moment of Glory" - General Stanislaw Maczek (March 31st, 1892 - December 11th, 1994) was the most accomplished Polish tank commander of World War II. A veteran of World War I, the Polish-Ukrainian and Polish-Bolshevik Wars, he was the commander of Poland's only major armored formation during the September 1939 campaign, again commanded a Polish armored formation in France in 1940, and was commander of the famous Polish 1st Armored Division, and later of the First Polish Army Corps under Allied Command in 1942-1945.

Towards the end of July 1944, the Polish 1st Armored Division was transferred to Normandy, where it was to prove its worth during the 1944 invasion of Europe. Attached to First Canadian Army, Maczek's men entered combat on August 8th during Operation Totalize. The division twice suffered serious bombings by Allied aircraft, yet achieved a brilliant victory against the Wehrmacht in the battles for Mont Ormel, Hill 262 and the town of Chambois. In this series of offensive and defensive operations, which came to be known as the Battle of Falaise, 14 German Wehrmacht and SS divisions were trapped in the huge Chambois pocket and destroyed. Maczek's division had the crucial role of closing the pocket at the escape route of those German divisions.

After this decisive battle, Maczek's Division continued to spearhead the Allied drive across the battlefields of France, Belgium, Netherlands and finally Germany. The Division's "moment of glory" came when its forces captured the German port of Wilhelmshaven and accepted the surrender of the entire garrison, including some 200 vessels of Hitler's Kriegsmarine.

General Maczek commanded the First Armored Division until the end of European hostilities and that year was promoted to major-general. After the capitulation of Germany he went on to command the Polish I Corps, then became commanding officer of all Polish forces in the United Kingdom until their demobilization in 1947.