Adding canister shot

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past posts

tanks
Grant
Lee
Stuart
Crusader IIl
Churchill

Guns

75mm
Other rounds fired by the 75 mm tank guns included the T30 canister shot for use against troops in the open at short range. This, which was essentially a giant shotgun shell full of large numbers of steel balls, was used primarily in the Pacific.
37mm
Canister rounds were often used to good effect against Japanese infantry in many battles, such as Bloody Ridge.[citation needed]
qf6 pounder
Limited availability of different ammunition types limited the efficiency of the gun in the infantry support role. Only after the Normandy Campaign did the HE round reach the battlefield, although before then US units were sometimes able to get a limited amount of HE ammunition from the British Army.[10] The canister shot was not seen in significant amounts until early 1945. Some British stocks of APDS were supplied to the US units, although APCR and APDS rounds were never developed by the US.

The KwK 37 used 75×243 mmR caliber.[2][3]

  • K.Gr.rot.Pz. - Armour Piercing Capped,* Kt. Kw. K. - Canister, * Nbgr. Kw. K. - Smoke,* Gr.38 Hl - High Explosive Anti-Tank

Paul Adam
](https://www.quora.com/profile/Paul-Adam-13)
Former Chief Analyst at Cassandra Defence Consulting Ltd (2015–2019)4y

The M2 and M3 75mm guns, used by the Grant/Lee and Sherman tanks respectively, had the T30 canister shot available (mostly used for jungle fighting in the Pacific), and by 1945 the US was producing 57mm canister.

It was most effective in very close quarters, having an effective range of only a hundred yards or so - it was, basically, a large shotgun, firing a number of lead or steel balls at the target. Smaller balls gave denser coverage but lost energy and lethality quickly, larger ones were lethal at longer range but with fewer of them, spreading with range, targets were less likely to be hit (same issues as choosing shot size for a shotgun). It was also quite effective through foliage

Hence, it was primarily used for fighting in jungle terrain in the Pacific; in northwest Europe, ranges were (usually) too long to make canister particularly useful compared to HE shell or machine-gun fire.

Cannister shot declined over time to the introduction of several technologies. self-contained shells/bullets and riffling of the 19th and 20th century. HE is far more accurate and useful from medium to long range. Effectively a giant shotgun at point blank range nothing is more lethal. Armor penetration is low but a ball bearing sized shot can punch through multiple bodies just like a bouncing cannon ball. Canister shots also are far better at knocking down foliage which is why it was used in jungle fighting.

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Battles

Tenaru
Marine machine gun fire and canister rounds from the 37 mm cannons killed most of the Japanese soldiers as they crossed the sandbar. A few of the Japanese soldiers reached the Marine positions, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the defenders, and captured a few of the Marine front-line emplacements. Japanese machine gun and rifle fire from the east side of the creek killed several of the Marine machine-gunners.[35] A company of Marines, held in reserve just behind the front line, attacked and killed most, if not all, of the remaining Japanese soldiers that had breached the front line defenses, ending Ichiki’s first assault about an hour after it had begun.[

Edson Ridge
Not mentioned was pivotal role played by friendly artillery breaking up the Japanese attack and sealing victory. In addition to their machine guns, Marines used 37mm anti-tank guns firing canister shot to devastate the attackers. Despite American artillery and defenses, some Japanese managed to break the perimeter but were unable to exploit their gains. Afterwards, General Kawaguchi was relieved from command because his attack had failed.

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Bare-knuckle Brawl at Guadalcanal

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Guadalcanal
Group after group were flushed out and shot down by the tanks’ canister shells.” When Cates became concerned that the tanks were too exposed, he ordered …

The 1st Marines received word of an impending Japanese assault from Jacob Vouza, a native of the island. Vouza had been captured, tortured, and left for dead by the Japanese, but managed to escape and warn the Marines of the approaching enemy. The Marines dug machine-gun emplacements along the river bank and deployed two 37mm anti-tank guns near the Tenaru’s terminus at the ocean’s edge. Pomroy, who had trained on the 37mm at New River, was assigned as a loader on the weapon closest to the water’s edge. The 37mm crews were issued canister rounds, or grapeshot, that when fired acted like enormous shotgun shells, sending thousands of large metallic balls hurtling through the air at almost point-blank range. Anything in front of the weapon when fired would be shredded. Given precious few of the devastating rounds, he and his gun crew were told to “not fire until we had the gift of an opportunity. Meaning we couldn’t shoot until we saw them in front of us.”

In August 1942, the M2A4s and M3s of the 1st Tank Battalion landed on Guadalcanal and Tulagi becoming the first Marine tank units to see combat in the dense rainforests of the South Pacific islands. Both types had 37-millimeter guns which were reasonably effective against light Japanese tanks, but they could also spew canister rounds that unleashed a shotgun-like storm of 122 steel balls that could shred infantry in the open. These proved unusually effective because of the Japanese tendency to launch terrifying human wave attacks.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-marine-corps-blooded-its-tanks-battle-guadalcanal-and-tarawa-138762

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The M5 isn’t the only tank to be equipped with canister rounds during this time period, and case shot had uses. The T-34 “SH-350” round was a case shot, and Russian 45 and 57mm guns were also capable of firing case shot with rounds specifically made for them. The list goes on; and as a little digression I have to note that there are quite a few types of rounds that rarely get alot of attention, such as star shells for the Germans or Americans being used late-war.

Now, asides from being able to help dislodge infantry in certain situations where HE may not be as effective (e.g: Effective field-works, foxholes, etc), the terror and suppression effect of canister remains as potent as ever. Its lack of high explosive killing power also had niche advantages when tanks were operating in unfavorable conditions.

A prominent example is column defense; firing HE in or around friendly tanks being swarmed is still risky: A direct hit could still cause penetration, spalling or a partial penetration (which could potentially lead to engine fires if from the rear) and cause an egregious case of friendly-fire. Indirect shrapnel bursts could potentially damage the mobility or reduce the effectiveness of the tank in front of you in the column as well. Track damage, optics, radio damage are all strong possibilities, and these would compromise the tank’s further effectiveness.

By contrast, shrapnel poses a very reduced threat of causing a friendly mobility or mission kill on a tank being swarmed, and in addition to coaxial and hull machinegunning could rapidly ensure that close-in infantry would be driven off from threatening positions. It could also be highly useful in urban terrain, preventing the potential collapse or spray of large-debris from urban surroundings, which could be equally damaging as a direct HE hit on friendly armor.

Finally, never discount the ‘shotgun effect’; acquiring a firing solution at such close range could be incredibly difficult. Many things must be considered, the traverse speed of the tank, the ability to depress or elevate the gun, the FOV of the sights, in acquiring a target. Case shot reduces these needs by a wide margin, with the spray of the case ensuring a lethal effect even with gross inaccuracy.

This ball shrapnel round is fired from the 76mm regimental gun (howitzer) M1927; division guns M1902/30, M1936 (F-22), M1939 (USV), M1942 (ZIS-3); tank guns M1927/32, M1938/39 (L-11), M1939 (F-32), M1940 (F-34), M1941 (ZIS-5); and self-propelled gun M1942/43 (SAU-76). All of these weapons except the M1942 and M1942/43 are obsolete in the Soviet Army.

so
case shot
canister shot
shrapnel
god save us from the army

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