Tank destroyer units were trained to operate aggressively and en masse to destroy enemy armor. ![]() These carried less armor and mounted more powerful guns than the standard M‐4 Sherman tank. Self‐propelled tank destroyers had 3‐inch, 76mm or (late in the war) 90mm guns mounted on tank chassis within fully rotating, open‐topped turrets. The towed weapons were 3‐inch artillery pieces pulled by half‐tracks. Tank destroyer weapons could be either towed or self‐propelled. In November 1941, the War Department ordered the creation of such units, designated “tank destroyer” battalions. McNair, head of army doctrine and training, decided that mobile, powerfully gunned antitank units were the best way to defeat enemy tanks. Army's response to Germany's Blitzkrieg armored victories over Poland and France in the early years of World War II.
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