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.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a US M10 tank destroyer that was attached to the 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion, then deployed to Italy, during 1944. Sold Out!

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

Release Date: July 2014

Historical Account: "Up the Boot" - The 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion converted in January 1942, from the 104th Infantry Antitank Battalion, 45th Infantry Division, at Camp San Luis Obispo, California. It arrived in Belfast, Ireland, on August 17th, 1942, and at Oran, Algeria, on February 1st, 1943. It trained French troops on M10's in North Africa; only battalion observers went to front. The unit arrived at Naples, Italy, on February 8th, 1944, and moved to the Gustav Line along Garigliano River by March 9th. It entered Rome on June 4th. It carried doughs into Livorno on July 18th. The unit crossed the Arno River in September, then supported an attack on the Gothic Line through October. It broke into the Po River Valley in April 1945, and crossed the Po River on April 27th. Company C was part of a column that linked up with U.S. Seventh Army troops in the Brenner Pass on May 5th.