/72 ww2 us army m10 tank destroyer forces of valor mib 85017 normandy 1944

The M10 was based on the chassis of the M4 Sherman but carrying thinner although more sloped armor in order to comply with the high-speed requirement for the tank. In the wake of Germany's successful 1939–41 campaigns, US armor doctrine had incorporated the idea of fast, lightly armoured vehicles carrying high-velocity anti-tank guns as the best way to deal with the fast-moving spearheads of the German blitzkrieg. It has since become identified almost exclusively with the 17 pounder version. The name 'Achilles' was officially a designation applied to both the 3-inch gun and 17-pounder versions (as Achilles I/II and Achilles Ic/IIc respectively) but was little used during the Second World War at the time, the vehicle was called 17pdr M10, or 17pdr SP M10, or even occasionally, 'Firefly'. A total of 1,100 M10s were converted to Achilles, making it the second most numerous armoured fighting vehicle to carry the 17-pounder gun, behind the Sherman Firefly tank.

The 17pdr SP Achilles (officially 17 pounder, Self-Propelled, Achilles) was a British variant of the American M10 tank destroyer armed with the British Ordnance QF 17-pounder high-velocity 76.2 mm (3-inch) anti-tank gun in place of the M10's considerably less powerful 3-inch (76.2 mm) Gun M7.

/72 ww2 us army m10 tank destroyer forces of valor mib 85017 normandy 1944