Hi guys. I know I SHOULD try to research it properly :( , but as a quick question for WW2 armour buffs who love to advise: Was the 6pdr armed Cromwell used in Normandy and later? All the pics that I have seen seem to be 75mm armed...though often, you cannot really tell. If so...what rgmts? Or did units field that strange mix of AP capability vs HE as they chose...as seems to have happened with Churchills? Thanks in advance. :)
Upon looking into it ...as I SHOULD have done! It seems that no 6pdr armed Cromwells went to France...though this is from a rushed wiki investigation. Open to be shown incorrect, though! ;D
I should start off by saying 'I don't know' but ......
I have just checked in the Osprey Cromewell v JagdPanzer IV book from their duel series and ......
They say that the 6 pdr was in the Cromwell I - III and that the 75mm was put into the Cromwell IV ... BUT, it then goes on to say that 60% of production went to 75 mm armed, 19% to 95mm support armed and the remainder to 6 pdr. So the way it is written, it seems to suggest that the Cromwell IV was not exclusively armed with the 75mm.
However, when it comes to the bit about ammo, they only show 75mm rounds, suggesting the 6pdr was not part of the overall North west France equation and as I scan through the book, I cannot see any other text or photos that relate to the 6pdr.
If anyone has the ASL module 'King and Country', the armour notes there may give some guidance or the Osprey Vanguard book that deals with the Cromwell.
No I-III went to FRance. The only 6pdr armed tanks were Churchill IV's, which could be up to 1/.3 rd of the Churchills there. Remember that the British 75 is a rebored 6pdr, so any tank with the 6pdr could be relatively easily re-gunned. That is what was done to the early Cromwells.
IanS