| Full Name | 3-inch gun M5 |
| Class | Equipment |
| Movement | 1* |
| Armor Value | 2 |
| Vs Infantry (RNG / FPR) | 5 / 4 |
| Vs Vehicle (RNG / FPR) | 8 / 10 |
| Traits | |
| Period | 1943-1945 |
| Theaters of Service |
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This anti-tank gun combined a 3-inch (76.2 mm) L/45 barrel of the anti-aircraft gun T9 and elements of the 105 mm howitzer M2. The M5 was issued exclusively to U.S. Army tank destroyer battalions starting in 1943. It saw combat in the Italian and Northwest Europe campaigns, and about 2,500 were built. Guns of this same caliber equipped up-gunned M4 Sherman tank variants and the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. The gun fired a variety of armor-piercing rounds, and also a high-explosive round for soft targets. It required a crew of nine to operate.
While the M5 was more effective than earlier, smaller-caliber towed anti-tank guns in U.S. service, its heavy weight and ammunition-related issues hindered its effective employment. Towed tank destroyer battalions also suffered heavy losses during the Battle of the Bulge; this, coupled with the existence of more mobile, better-protected alternatives (such as the M18 self-propelled tank destroyer), led U.S. Army leadership to remove the M5 from front line service in 1945.