I seem to recall the original 75mm had a better HE round which was considered very good for general purpose Infantry support which was why there was some reluctance to change.
Eventually, as the armour on German tanks improved, one of the senior American officers in Europe (Patton?)is supposed to have said: "Don't send me any more Shermans with the 75mm�..

As noted towed anti tank guns and tank destroyers played a far bigger ant-iarmour role than tends to be appreciated today..

Pete

Exactly right Pete... it was a infantry support tank with anything anti tank wise a distant after thot. So the M3 75mm was it for its HE round. Early in the war it was enuf gun for the job but after D day not so much.

The 76mm gun was pretty fair with the HIVAP rounds the 17lber was better with just straight ap rounds.

Your generals quote was from Ike.

Doctrine was to let the Tank destroyers handle anti tank work as much as possible.

Last edited by Huntsman; 10/30/14.