You lead a team of engineers during the WWII, describe....

the Brits fired 2lb AP rounds against AT guns in the desert. But only becuase it was AP rounds or nothing as the they didn't have HE rounds.

There is no logic other than "that or nothing" to fire AP rounds at a soft target.

sounds a bit odd, can you imagine aiming to hit a slightly dug in 37 or 45 mm AT gun from a tank at 500 yards whilst moving? Strikes me as a fairly difficult shot. As for HE not affecting the mechanisim is bunkum. disable the crew and you disable the gun. The crew are very vulnrable to HE and are in affect the easiest target.

FNG

 

If you hit the barrel or the breech the gun is dead, but that is easier said than done. If you just hit the shield, you just made a hole in the shield and killed perhabs one of the gunners. An equally accurate hit with a HE shell and the gun gets airborne, bad drop included. :kill:

 

Sorry, should have been clearer - this was from the memoires of a guy who only was only inaction from D-Day onwards.
It might be that his regiment had served in Africa and that was what they did so that is what he was taught... I'll go and find the bits in that book again...

 

Well, HE was around but not generally issued at that time. Anyway, the blast from a 40mm HE would have to be very close to do any damage, so you might as well fire AP.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum

 

It was that bad? I can´t remember Germans or Americans complaining about that aspect of the 37mm gun. The Germans even considered the 20mm gun useful against soft targets and the Americans used the 37mm for firing HE and canister in the Pacific Theatre.

 

These things are relative....a 75mm HE shell held about six times as much HE, so was vastly more effective.

Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum