QF 3.7 Inch AA Gun - Field and Anti-tank

Field and Anti-tank

Like other British guns the 3.7 had a secondary anti-tank role, this meant that if the gun position came under tank attack it would engage the tanks. However, during the campaign in North Africa the shortage of capable anti-tank guns led to some agitation to use the 3.7 in a primary anti-tank role, i.e. deployed specifically for anti-tank defence.

Guns did have their sighting arrangements improved to enable better anti-tank shooting. However, 3.7" was only used in the anti-tank role in one or two emergencies. The arrival of the 17-pdr anti-tank gun in late 1942 made a primary anti-tank role irrelevant for the 3.7" but if, unusually, they were deployed in a forward area then they could have a secondary anti-tank role.

The 3.7" was inherently unsuitable as an anti-tank gun. It was big and heavy, almost twice the weight of the German 88, making it tactically unsuitable for use in forward areas. Additionally, heavy AA Regiments equipped with the 3.7" gun were relatively few in number in the field army and controlled by Corps or Army HQ, or at even higher level HQs, and command of them was not often devolved to the commanders at Divisional level where the anti-tank role might be required. Prolonged firing at low elevations (not part of the original specification) also strained the mounting and recuperating gear.

The guns were used in the field artillery role quite extensively in the second half of the war in Italy, NW Europe, Burma and the SW Pacific. Batteries were issued with the necessary fire control equipment. Counter-battery or counter-mortar fire was the usual role. However, their HE ammunition seems to have always been fuzed for airburst; this means maximum ranges were limited to 9,200 yards with No 199 fuze and 16,200 yards with No 208.

The 3.7" gun was also used to arm the Tortoise assault tank, where it was designated the Ordnance QF 32 pounder. The Tortoise, which is best described as a self-propelled gun, never saw service.