The M3 self-propelled anti-tank gun, in fact, can also be called a tank destroyer, which in this era is more often translated as "tank killer". Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info (Note: English is tankdestoryer, literally translated as "tank killer", and the modern translation of the tall point is "tank destroyer")

In fact, there is no essential difference between a self-propelled anti-tank gun and a tank destroyer, both are a mobile chassis with an anti-tank gun.

As for some military enthusiasts, they want to forcibly divide them into two categories based on certain characteristics, for example, self-propelled anti-tank guns are mostly light armored vehicles or light tank chassis with anti-tank guns, and tank destroyers are medium or even heavy tank chassis plus tank guns......

At the beginning, the armor of the tank targeted by the "tank killer" was not thick, such as the German No. 2 and No. 3 tanks, so it was basically enough to put a small-caliber anti-tank gun on the car...... Small-caliber anti-tank guns are lightweight, half-track armored vehicles and light tank chassis are enough to carry them, the cost is low and there is also good mobility, why not?

But as the armor of the tank became thicker and thicker, it became clear that small-caliber anti-tank guns could no longer meet the demand...... If you still carry these small cannons to be a "tank killer", then you will only be killed by tanks.

As a result, the caliber of anti-tank guns continued to increase, and the weight increased in stages, and the chassis of half-track armored vehicles and light tanks was no longer enough to bear, so they had to sacrifice mobility for medium and heavy tank chassis.

There is also a forcible distinction between self-propelled anti-tank guns and tank destroyers, which are mostly open, and tank destroyers have armor or even fully enclosed armor...... Please, that's just a matter of connecting the shield of the self-propelled anti-tank gun to the chassis or adding some extra armor depending on the situation, the American M10 and M18 tank destroyers are all open.

In short, no matter what the name of these things is, they are all equipment designed for enemy tanks, and the common thing is that they have a longer range than tanks, and most of them have a wider field of view and space than tanks, so that they can destroy enemy tanks from a distance.

Compared to the "tank killer" modified from the chassis of a medium or heavy tank, the M3 self-propelled anti-tank gun has superior mobility, which makes it more suitable for mobile combat, that is, harassment of enemy tank groups.

That's what Xu Jingzong's 3rd Armored Company did......

THIS COMPANY HAS SEVENTY-EIGHT M3 SELF-PROPELLED ANTI-TANK GUNS, AND MORE THAN A DOZEN OF THEM ARE HALF-TRACKS LOADED WITH 75 MM FIELD GUNS...... THE 75MM FIELD GUN CALIBER IS LARGE, BUT BECAUSE IT IS NOT A CANNON WITH A LONG BARREL, THE TRAJECTORY IS RELATIVELY CURVED, WHICH CAUSES ITS ARMOR-PIERCING ABILITY TO BE POOR AND THE HIT RATE IS NOT HIGH, IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO USE IT TO HIT THE ENEMY'S MOVING TANK ON A MOVING HALF-TRACK ARMORED VEHICLE, AT LEAST WITHIN 900 METERS TO DO IT, SO IT IS NOT VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE M3 ANTI-TANK GUN, AND EVEN BECAUSE OF ITS LARGE SIZE AND LARGE TARGET, IT IS EASY TO BECOME AN ENEMY TARGET.

The 3rd Panzer Company was divided into two teams, each with more than 30 M3 self-propelled anti-tank guns, one on the left and one on the right, to attack the 3rd Panzer Battalion of the German Army, which had come to outflank it......

The advantage of the M3 is that it is fast, so they easily go around the flank of the German 3rd Panzer Battalion, which makes the German 3rd Panzer Battalion have to fight...... TANK 3 HAS 30MM FRONTAL ARMOR BUT ONLY 20MM SIDE ARMOR, SO IF YOU DON'T FIGHT, THE M3 SELF-PROPELLED ANTI-TANK CAN SHOW ITS MIGHT.

The Germans soon sent out more than a dozen tanks each, in the words of Heisenberg, commander of the German 3rd Panzer Battalion, to "drive away the nasty flies."

But Heisenberg soon realized that he was in a very awkward situation...... Compared to these M3 self-propelled anti-tank guns of the enemy, the speed of the tank is too slow, only a third of them.

Heisenberg considered whether it was possible to pursue it with a light tank, i.e. Tank 2, but quickly dismissed the idea, because Tank 2 was simply not armored enough to withstand the attack of anti-tank guns, which would cause them to fall one by one in pursuit.

But tank No. 3 went in pursuit...... The enemy's self-propelled anti-tank guns turned around and ran.

At this time, is it better to chase tank No. 3 or not?

If you don't chase it, these anti-tank guns will appear on the flanks of their own formation and pose a threat to their own tanks, and even two tanks have already been destroyed because of this.

Chase it, 20 kilometers per hour and 60 kilometers per hour...... It was like a fat man panting behind chasing an athlete, and the No. 3 tank group fired a cannonball at the opponent in a frenzy, but neither of them could damage the opponent because of the distance and speed of the enemy.

In fact, there was also damage, a shell blew up a large crater in front of the M3 self-propelled anti-tank gun, and the driver could not avoid it and drove the car into the pit, causing an accident in which one person was killed and three were injured.

This gave Heisenberg a feeling that he had nowhere to go, and sometimes he even wanted to simply let the whole battalion of tanks swarm around and get rid of these "flies" first.

But Heisenberg knew that it was obviously unwise to do so, because that was the enemy's purpose, and the friendly forces in the main battlefield were still waiting for him to flank the enemy and win!

As a result, Heisenberg could only carefully deal with the harassment from the flanks while ordering his troops to move on.

However, the troops did not dare to advance too fast, because as soon as the main forces broke away from the protective flanks of the covering troops, they would be attacked by anti-tank guns that were catching up with them at speed, and they sometimes even detoured to the rear of the formation...... This forced the 3rd Panzer Battalion to make a stop-and-go alternate cover for a difficult advance.

"What's going on?" Commander Heinz Landau's inquiry came from the walkie-talkie: "Colonel, where is you?" Why haven't you arrived at the battlefield yet?! ”

"General!" Heisenberg replied: "We are being harassed by enemy self-propelled anti-tank guns, but it's almost over, give me another ten minutes!" ”

"Ignore them!" Heinz Landau ordered: "Move closer to me at full speed!" Every minute you delay, your tanks are destroyed by the enemy! ”

"Yes!" Heisenberg answered, then gritted his teeth and ordered: "Full speed ahead!" ”

But the price of advancing at full speed, regardless of the safety of the flanks, was that five more tanks were destroyed by anti-tank guns, which distressed Heisenberg.

However, he was comforted by the fact that after crossing a sand dune, he saw the mass of enemy tanks in front of him and the wreckage of the tanks that had been blown up to black smoke, most of course, German tanks.

"Forward!" Heisenberg ordered loudly.

The 3rd Panzer Battalion was facing the rear of the enemy formation, and he couldn't wait to go up and make a big move, Heisenberg seemed to have seen victory beckoning to him, saw the enemy anti-tank guns fall under the tracks of his own tanks, and saw the enemy tanks being destroyed one by one......

"It's time for revenge!" Heisenberg said.