I have a snippet which has a puzzling entry in that it lists 746 Tank Battalion as having four M7 Tanks in the Headquarters Company. There was such a tank but it never entered service. There is of course a M7 Self Propelled 105mm howitzer. Could this be found in a Tank Battalion? The total personnel given would not seem sufficient for this. Could simply be a typo and they were really M5 Light Tanks. Any thoughts would be welcome. Any facts even more so. Mike.
I did find a diagram/table published by the Assault Training Center, which looks to show the standard list of vehicles for a Tank Battalion under the September 1943 T/O&E (I haven't done a comparison of the two). It shows three 105-mm armed M4 tanks in HQ Company, plus one with each Medium Coy, all down for after the second wave. There are references to some US tank units having M7 howitzer motor carriages in lieu of 105-mm armed M4s, but I've not seen anything on that subject myself. Is there any extra info in the document you have on the crew per 'M7' listed? Offhand I'd be tempted to go with it being a typo (though I have seen the M7 SP howitzer referred to as a Tank Destroyer in a Pacific theatre report). Gary
Some references here to the use of the M7 with HQ companies. I suppose the time frame for that entry is relevant. US Field Artillery of World War II
Thank you all. I will play with this information tomorrow. The crew figures are a total for tanks in the headquarters company not for individual vehicles. 105mm M4s would work but there should be only three not four. It depends who wrote the list. A unit would know the correct nomenclature but others might not. Could be that M7s had been replaced by 105mm M4s More later. Mike
I have searched further and conclude that someone has written M7 Tank when referring to M4 105mm tanks. Other units have the same numbers but have used the term M4 105mm. As Gary says Headquarters Company should have three M4 105mm tanks in an assault gun platoon, plus two headquarters M4s and a M4 105mm. It may be that it was being planned to use M7 SP 105mm guns instead of M4 105mm but the crew numbers do not support that. Crew numbers are not right for M5 light tanks either. In the end it makes little difference since 746 Tank Battalion used ordinary M4 tanks until July 1944, filling both the assault gun platoon role and replacing the single M4 105mm at company and battalion headquarters. In July M4 105mm tanks were issued. Some confusion remains, mainly because accounts simply mention 105mm guns without saying specifically that they are M4. This may have led some to assume they were M7. Thanks all. Mike. PS. Not to late to add more facts or opinions.
I believe that I have the answer to the puzzle. The Sept 1943 TO&E for a US Medium Tank Battalion had provision for 6 M4(105). 3 in Batt HQ and one in each of the 3 company HQs. Problem was that when this was written the M4(105) was a paper tank. The Chrysler run Detroit Tank Arsenal (the sole source of 105mm Shermans) did not start producing the M4(105) until Feb 1944 and the M4A3(105) until May 1944. 210 M4(105)s were shipped to the UK and arrived prior to D-Day along with 76mm M4A1s. There was a reluctance amongst commanders to issue these to units due to go to Normandy in the first waves as the crews had not had an opportunity to train on them. To fill the gap therefore many of these units received M7 HMCs (the "Priest" to us here in the UK). Those units scheduled to land later (e.g. the 4th, 7th and French 2nd armoured divisions) began to receive M4(105)s in June 1944 and had time to train on them before deploying to France in July. Units already in France, like the 746th Tank Batt, then began to have their M7s repaced by M4(105)s from mid July 1944. So I would believe the record that they did in fact have M7s. Use of the term "tank" for these HMC vehicles simply being a quick way of recording it, if a bit sloppy. I can't explain the personnel side however. There must have been a surplus of M7 HMC around pre D-Day because around 7 British and Canadian artillery regiments attached to the assault divisions also received them until withdrawn a few months later, when some became Kangaroos. More info here. Chrysler M4(105) and M4A3(105) Shermans
Thanks very much Ewan. Certainly there were sufficient M7s available. Some US towed 105mm battalions were converted to M7s before D day. There is a distinction made between 'Armoured Field Artillery Battalion' with M7s and a 'Field Artillery Battalion' with M7s. The Field Artillery which was to land in the first few hours was to be self propelled on all five beaches, towed artillery being prohibited. There may be another layer of complexity. The history of 746 Tank Battalion says that they went into Normandy with standard 75mm M4s filling the role intended for the M4 105mm. If 746 ever had M7s they seem to have been replaced by June. Given time I will try to compare 746 Battalion with others. Mike
I'd be interested to see what you find. When the subject of M7s being issued to units that were demonstrably not field artillery to fill a role that was not critical, and that in some cases there was an existing piece of equipment already in use, it does make my gut twitch. As you've noted, the 746th Tk Bn states it used 75-mm M4 tanks in lieu of 105-mm M4 tanks, which makes perfect sense, as the 75-mm could fire HE and smoke. I was sure there was a thread over on Axis History Forum regarding M7s being used in lieu of M4 105-mm tanks, but haven't been able to retrieve it using their search function. I'm pretty certain it did not offer any specific units. I have a niggling suspicion that the use of the M7 in Tank Battalions and Armored Infantry Battalions as a substitute for the howitzer armed M4 was limited in scope, and has gotten bigger in the retelling. I would love to be able to test my gut against the facts but have no idea where to find the figures to do so; I imagine I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic to start with. As I recall you can also find the assertion that British Armoured Divisions in 21 Army Group used the 105-mm M7 until these were replaced by the 25-pdr Ram. It was something I had cause to dig into some years ago and could not find anything to support. The three RA and four RCA Field Regts equipped with the M7 for the Normandy assault landings began their conversion in mid 1943 as I understand, so well in advance and not linked to Armd Div usage. Gary
