The idea of mobile assault guns during World War Two was to be more mobile than tanks and could be utilized as both direct and indirect artillery fire to support the infantry. As opposed to standard tanks, mobile assault guns mostly fired high explosive shells at comparatively low velocities, targeting fortified positions and buildings. They were not intended to be deployed as tank or tank destroyer substitutes.
American WW2 Mobile Assault Guns
While most WW2 mobile assault guns like the German StuG III Howitzer variant and the Soviet SU-122 lacked a turret and had their gun fully enclosed to reduce the silhouette and simplify it’s manufacturing, the United States never focused on a purpose-built assault gun. Instead it modified it’s existing tanks like the M4 Sherman and the M5 Stuart for the role by just replacing the gun. In the case of the Sherman platform this became the M4(105), for which the turret was modified to fit a 105mm Howitzer gun.
Little Prince
This tank named “Little Prince” is a Sherman M4A3(105) Assault gun. It’s main gun is a 105mm M4 Howitzer (66 rounds). For secondary armament the crew had a .50cal HBM2 machine gun and two .30cal M1919A4 machine guns at their disposal. The 32ton tank is powered by a Continental R974 C4 640hp engine.
