M3 37MM Anti Tank Gun

Gift of Mark Foster, 2003.347.001

The M3 37mm anti-tank gun's primary role was to eliminate armor threats, a role the M3 excelled in throughout the Pacific Campaign against the thinly armored Japanese tanks. However, when loaded with anti-personnel canister rounds, the M3 had a devastating effect on massed Japanese infantry attacks. At the Battle of the Tenaru River during the Solomon's Campaign, Marine- crewed M3s played a critical role in annihilating the attackers of the 28th Japanese Infantry Regiment, where nearly 800 men of the 900 man force were killed in a nighttime frontal assault.