move a gun up to the front line on
Kwajalein.
US Army Under the April 1942 organization, each infantry
battalion had an anti-tank
platoon with four 37 mm guns (
1/4 ton trucks, better known as jeeps, were authorized as prime movers) and each
regiment an anti-tank
company with twelve (towed by
3/4 ton trucks). Each of the four divisional artillery battalions possessed six anti-tank guns, the combat engineering battalion had nine pieces (towed by
M2 halftracks); in addition, the division's headquarters company had four (towed by 3/4 ton trucks) and the divisional maintenance company two. In 1941, provisional antitank battalions had been formed from divisional or brigade anti-tank weapons (producing companies armed with 37 mm guns and
75 mm guns), in December 1941, these battalions became permanent and were reorganized as independent
tank destroyer battalions. The towed guns of many battalions were replaced with self-propelled ones as soon as the latter became available. In 1942, the first airborne divisions were formed. According to their October 1942 organizational structure, an airborne division had 44 37 mm anti-tank guns: four in divisional artillery (AA/AT battery of parachute field artillery battalion), 24 in the AA/AT battalion, and eight in each of two
glider infantry regiments;
parachute infantry regiments did not have anti-tank guns. In practice, airborne divisions often had only one glider infantry regiment and therefore 36 guns. 37 mm guns were also issued to the infantry regiments of the only mountain division formed in the U.S.: the
10th Mountain Division. Finally, U.S. armored divisions under the March 1942 organization possessed 68 37 mm anti-tank guns. Of these, 37 belonged to the armored infantry regiment (four in each company and one in regiment HQ); 27 to the armored engineer battalion; three to the divisional train and one to division HQ.
US Marine Corps Under the D-series Tables of Organization (TO) from 1 July 1942, the role of AT weapons in
Marine Corps service was officially entrusted to 20 mm automatic guns, which were in the regimental
weapons company (three platoons) and the battalion weapons company (one platoon). In practice, units used the World War I-era
37 mm M1916 for training. They were equipped with the M3 (four in each platoon) before being sent to the frontline. Additionally, a divisional special weapons battalion was equipped with self-propelled
37 mm GMC M6. Under the E-series TO from 15 April 1943, self-propelled guns in the divisional special weapons battalion were replaced with eighteen 37 mm towed guns in three batteries of six; an infantry regiment had a weapons company with 12, in three platoons of four. The battalion-level AT guns were removed. In total, a division possessed 54 pieces. The F-series TO from 5 May 1944 removed the special weapons battalion from the divisional organization, resulting in a total of 36 guns per division. The subsequent G-series TO reduced regimental weapons companies to two platoons, meaning 24 pieces per division. Although the G-series TO was only adopted on 4 September 1945, in practice in some divisions this change was introduced early in 1945.
Other operators The only major
lend lease recipient of the M3 was the Chinese
National Revolutionary Army (1,669 pieces). The gun was also supplied to Bolivia (4), Canada (3), Chile (198), Colombia (4), Cuba (1), El Salvador (9), France (130), Paraguay (12), United Kingdom (78), Soviet Union (63), Nicaragua (9), and other countries. Some nations still had it in service in the early 1970s. ==Combat service==