Comet 77mm APDS?

[Charles M]

I note that British Unit # 018 for the wartime Comet tank gives an allocation of 15 "Sabot" rounds.

This may be historically inaccurate, though a number of wargame rules also allow an allocation of APDS. When researching the ASL game system we decided to limit the ammunition available to conventional full-calibre rounds because there is no hard evidence that APDS was ever issued. Although one cannot prove a negative, the reasons for doing so are as follows. The information culled from correspondence with the Tank Museum in Bovington:

15th May 1984, "I have nothing to suggest that 77-mm APDS was aailable during the war years", from Lt. Col. K.J. Hill (Rtd).

11th March 1988, copies of the Royal Armoured Corps' half-yearly progress reports for July-December 1944 show that 77mm APDS and APCR were being considered, but no production of either had begun, with "5.0" [5,000] rounds forecast for December, 8,000 for January and 12,000 for February 1945, but "No production" for APCR was intended. The RAC half-yearly report for January-June 1945 states that for APDS "Production continues at about 6.0 [6,000] per month", and "No production" for APCR. The 19th September 1944 official stowage tables, amended on 12th January 1945, list APDS among the ammunition mix, but the only APCBC and HE are listed in the 61-round stowage capacity. From E. Bartholomew.

23rd March 1988, "There is no evidence in the RAC reports that the 77mm [APDS] rounds were used in action". From E. Bartholomew.

19th January 1994, "There are reports that if APDS was fired after APCBC then the accuracy of the former suffered. The 77mm was therefore tested for the same problem, but the trial was never completed. Clearly, from this, 77mm APDS was already available in 1945. That is not to say that it was issued, nor does it say when it first appeared. The initial reports concerned the 6pdr and 17pdr firing APDS, and one might deduce from this that the problem only arose because 6pdr and 17pdr APDS was being used in the field and 77mm was not, however in my view the whole thing is too uncertain either way to be positive, beyond wasying the ammunition for the 77mm must have existed by then... ... I will have to leave you to make whatever you can of that!" From David Fletcher, Librarian,

By the time that Comet was in service, German AFVs were an endangered species, with typical German resistance being usually based on an improvised roadblock manned by Hitlerjugend or Volkssturm and one or two AFVs. In such situations, HE and APCBC could usually deal effectively with the enemy. Offical exhortations not to "waste" 6pdr and 17pdr APDS on targets that APCBC could destroy suggest that even for these weapons APDS was very rare.

I would suggest adding another Comet unit into the game, not supplied with APDS. Players can then choose which version of history they prefer. Personally, given the lack of hard evidence, I would opt for the Comet without APDS.