Stopping the Panzers

[John McGillivray]

Some interesting information from the book.

In late February the 3rd A/T Regiment send their 6pdr batteries to the ranges at Beachy Head to practice with the new APDS ammunition. The war diary reports that the shooting was good. The gunners found that there was no need to lead the target because with an m/v of 4050 F/S the tungsten shot would reach a target at 900 yards in about 1/8 of a second. No German armor could stop it. Also they could hit targets up to 2500 yards range.

The 29 Friefly crews (less the drivers) of 2CAB went to Warcop ranges in Westmprland on early April for a two day gun camp. On 6 April each gunner fired 5 HE rounds. The next day the whole crew took turns firing a total of 49 AP rounds. After every 20 rounds the crews had to stop and take 20 minutes to check every screw and bolt on the gun and do a general overhaul before resuming firing. Unfortunately these weren’t the tanks they would take into action in June. 2CAB only received their Firefly tanks in mid-May so were unable to test fire their 17pdrs.