Late WW2 British tank destroyer
A 17pdr SP Achilles tank destroyer sits on a pedestal at the side of the road near the Canadian – Polish War Museum in Maldegem in Belgium. This M4 Sherman based tank destroyer was upgraded from a 75 mm gun with the English 17 pounder. This British 3 inch – 76,2 mm anti-tank gun was capable of penetrating most of the German armor. The gun was built originally on its own carriage. It was used in a tank hunter role in the United States M4 Sherman called the Sherman Firefly, and it was used in the M4 based chassis as an open topped tank destroyer M10 Wolverine. When the original 76 mm (U.S. M7 – 3 inch gun) was swapped for the British 17 pounder gun the name Wolverine changed it into Achilles. The Brits also used this type of gun in their own tank arsenal on the Cruiser Comet Tank and Cromwell tanks for example.
The tank was manufactured by Fisher Tank Arsenal Grand Blanc in Michigan U.S., after it was shipped to the U.K. it was converted into a Achilles by Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. It has serial number 7286, and was built by Fisher in October, 1943.
The Achilles tank destroyer weighed 29,6 tonnes and was 7,01 meters long – 3,05 meters wide and 2,57 meters high. It was powered by a General motors diesel engine which gave it a top speed of 51 km/h and it had an operational range of 300 km. Its armor thickness varied from 9 to 57,2 mm and it had the 76,2 mm Ordnance QF 17-pounder gun as main armament, secondary armament were the 12,7 mm – .50 calibre Browning M2HB anti-aircraft machine gun and the Bren light machine gun.
Visit
This Achilles tank destroyer sits on a pedestal near, and belongs to, the Canada-Poland War Museum in Adegem Belgium. It is next to a small car park.
