Footnotes

1. Ordnance, QF, 75–mm Mk.V and Mk.VA. Source: Chamberlain, Peter and Ellis, Chris: British and American Tanks of World War II; Gudgin, Peter: Armoured Firepower and Churchill Tank — Vehicle History and Specification. This gun was a bored out 6–pounder chambered to use available 75mm ammunition from the USA. It may be tempting to assume the performance of the British 75mm gun is the same as the USA 75mm Gun M3 as the two weapons used the same ammunition and had the same calibre; however it is a completely different gun and at the very least the difference in calibre length would mean a difference in muzzle velocity and therefore penetration. None of the armour piercing projectiles had any explosive filler. The USA projectiles for the 75mm gun which were used by the British, such as the M61, had the HE filler removed when in British service. (Partly from On Armour by Claus Bonnesen). [up]

2. Ordnance, QF, 17–pounder Mk.I to Mk.VII. Source: Gudgin, Peter: Armoured Firepower; Hogg, Ian V.: British and American Artillery of World War Two and Hunnicutt, R. P.: Sherman: A History of the American Medium Tank. There are no ballistic differences between the various marks. The first guns were delivered in August 1942, and first saw action in Tunisia in January 1943. Originally provided with an AP projectile, very shortly afterwards with an APC and later an APCBC projectile. I get the impression from Hogg that “very shortly afterwards” means by the end of 1942 for both types of capped projectiles, but this is unclear. Certainly the AP and APC projectiles hardly receive a mention anywhere else, implying that the main ammunition in use during service was the APCBC projectile. From August 1944 APDS projectiles were supplied to the troops. There is considerable variation in the specified weight of the APDS projectile so I have given a range of the values quoted in the references. None of the 17–pounder armour piercing projectiles had any explosive filler. [up]

3. Ordnance, QF, 77–mm. Source: Gudgin, Peter: Armoured Firepower. Despite being the same calibre as the 17–pounder, this was called a 77mm to avoid confusion between the two guns. It was a shortened 17–pounder using different cartridge cases, developed for the A34 Comet Cruiser tank, with less propellant and consequently a lower muzzle velocity than the standard 17–pounder. From August 1944 APDS projectiles were supplied to the troops. There is considerable variation in the specified weight of the APDS projectile so I have given a range of the values quoted in the references. None of the armour piercing projectiles had any explosive filler. [up]