British APDS for the US army

[Charles M]

In the WinSPWW2 manual, it states under "SABOT [sic]" that only the British used APDS ammunition in world war two. This is of course incorrect, as the UK supplied 57mm APDS from its 6-pdr stocks for use by the US army. Consequently unit No. 050 in the American OB list should include something along the following lines, as an APDS allocation is given in the game:
"The UK supplied 57mm APDS ammunition to the US army under Reverse Lend-Lease in time for the D-Day landings, and the First US Army fired 6,302 rounds in June-July 1944, and 11,428 rounds by the end of the war. It was rarer in the Fifth US Army in Italy, and was only issued in December 1944, with just 180 rounds fired by the end of the war". The data is from US Army ammunition expenditure reports, quoted by Bob McNamara's letter dated 13th May 1987 to this writer during research work on Advanced Squad Leader board games. The 6-pdr and 17-pdr ammunition shortage in Italy probably explains the low expenditure in part (as does the lack of AFV targets warranting its use) is referred to in passing by Mark Hayward, Sherman Firefly, Barbarossa Books, Tiptree, 2001, p. 34. Note that had the war in Europe lasted longer, Sherman Fireflies converted for US Army use would have seen action and would have been supplied with limited amounts of 17-pdr APDS ammunition.

[Mobhack]

That has been adressed in the past.

The consensus was that as APDS was such a rare item in issue then a scenario designer could assign some if required, or the US player could buy some British allies using "captured" tag so they were US crewed.

The US basically ignored towed ATG - they were well down the pecking order for cool stuff, even thier own HVAP ammo.