150 discarding sabot.

[DRG]

cbo said:
<snip>
These are the figures found by Kurt:

Aug 44 - 7% (of 68,506 = 4800 rounds)
Nov 44 - 1% (of 43,024 = 430)
Jan 45 - 3% (of 84,233 = 2500)
Feb 45 - 2% (of 79,849 = 1600)
Mar 45 - 3% (of 75,331 = 2300)
Apr 45 - 3% (of 52,281 = 1600)
May 45 - 2% (of 9,349 = 190)
For all other months the table lists 0%

It is of course worth noticing, that the 13,000 rounds fired is only 3% of the 413,000 57mm rounds fired and that the number of APDS rounds available for each 57mm gun was 6 - for the entire campaign from June 1944 to May 1945 - and that included training.
cbo

Given that info, allowing 3% of the ammo loadout to be APDS would seem fair. That would give 2-3 sabot rounds to each 57mm AT-Gun and would also require a slight adjustment to the service dates of a unit or two.

Don

[cbo]

DRG said:
Given that info, allowing 3% of the ammo loadout to be APDS would seem fair. That would give 2-3 sabot rounds to each 57mm AT-Gun and would also require a slight adjustment to the service dates of a unit or two.

That's another way of doing it, of course. Still, given the very small amount available, it would seem unlikely, that all US 57mm guns had a small amount of APDS all the time.

Worth noticing is that both Charles' source and that SAIC study states that APDS was available for US 57mm guns from june 1944, even though the document unearthed by Kurt Laughlin seems to suggest that none was used. As I recall, there is also a reference to the British supplying US forces in Normandy with APDS buried somewhere in the Green Books, but exactly where eludes me at the moment.

It could be, that only 1st US Army had any, as it was the army that landed in Normandy. The action at Dom Butgenbach which the quote above relates to was fought by units from the 1st US division, a 1st Army unit which had landed in Normandy on June 6th 1944.

cbo