M10 GMC (France)

▄M10 GMC

▄M4A3 (105)

ARL-44

▄M10 GMC

▄M4A3 (105)

ARL-44

France

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.7	3.3	3.3

Class:

Tank destroyer

Research:14 000

Purchase:32 000

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This page is about the French tank destroyer M10 GMC (France). For other uses, see M10 (Disambiguation).

Description

The ▄3-inch Gun Motor Carriage M10 (▄M10 GMC) is a Rank II French tank destroyer with a battle rating of 3.7 (AB) and 3.3 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.75 "La Résistance".

The M10 GMC takes much from the M4A2 Sherman which it was derived from. The drivetrain is identical with the drive shaft running from the engine in the rear to the front transmission and sprockets. The hull is sloped to a larger degree. The 3-inch (76 mm) cannon originally mounted on the experimental M6 Heavy Tank lacks the muzzle brake of the 76 mm M1A2 gun used on the later Rank III Sherman's and the M18 Hellcat. The turret is a pentagonal shaped M5 Mount type.

General info

Survivability and armour

The armour of the M10 GMC is essencially decent for the rank, and with proper angling is able to ricochet a lot of shells, however, the armour is not thick enough to resist any of the stronger tank weapons of Rank II and above. The sides and back are quite thin and are not able to resist most weapons stronger than a 12.7 machine gun. The front of the turret can often eat shells as the shell will fragment on the initial armour, and the massive breach of the 76mm cannon will often absorb most if not all of the fragmentation, leaving the crew untouched, allowing for a retreat and repair without crew losses. The turret's top is open and because it that it is quite vanurable to HE shells and planes, being able to survive artillery barrages that fall nearby due to the fact that the crew is protected by the angled sides of the turret.

Armour Type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour
• Cast homogeneous armour (Gun mantlet, Transmission area)
• Structural steel (Counterweight)

Armour	Front (Slope angle)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	38.1 mm (55°) 50.8 mm (7-55°) Transmission area	19.05 mm (38°) Top 25.4 mm Bottom	19.05 mm (28°) Top 25.4 mm (7-52°) Bottom	19.05 mm Front 9.5 mm Rear
Turret	25.4 mm (68-89°) Turret front 57.15 mm (0-47°) Gun mantlet	25.4 mm (24-47°)	25.4 mm (30-47°) Turret rear 50 mm (0-50°) Counterweight	N/A

Notes:

• Suspensions wheels are 20 mm thick, bogies are 10 mm thick, and tracks are 20 mm thick.
• Belly armour is 12.7 mm thick.
• Hull rear sides are protected by attached grousers that gives 20 mm of extra armour.

Mobility

Game Mode	Max Speed (km/h)		Weight (tons)		Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Forward	Reverse	Stock	AoA	Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	53	6	29.9	0.5	582	782	19.46	25.72
Realistic	49	5			363	410	12.14	13.49

The M10 GMC (France) has essentially the same mobility features as the M4 Sherman tank. When spaded, the tank is able to move quite fast in a straight line, going slightly below or even up to its max speed. The turning speed is not that great and the reverse speed does not have much going for it either. The M10 GMC (France) struggles while driving on inclines due to its narrow tracks. In conclusion, the mobility is average and it is able to reach wanted positions reasonably fast.

Armaments

Main armament

The 3-inch (76 mm) cannon is a wonderful and powerful gun. APCBC ammo can penetrate any tank on the battlefield even from long range. Because APCBC has enough penetration, the AP ammo is less useful. It is not a bad idea to carry HE ammo as well to fight lightly armoured and open top tanks like the M16 SPAA. The powerful gun and potent ammunition make the M10 a good sniper vehicle at it's battle rating, especially with its -10° gun depression, giving the M10 the ability to maximize a hull-down position. Unfortunately, even though this tank destroyer does feature a turret, its turret rotation speed is extremely slow (< 4.0°/s) due to its historic configuration of only possessing a hand crank for the turret traverse.

76 mm M7
Capacity			Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance	Stabilizer
54			-10°/+30°	±180°	N/A
Turret rotation speed (°/s)
Mode	Stock	Upgraded	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
Arcade	3.96	5.48	6.52	7.37	7.84
Realistic	2.68	3.15	3.74	4.23	4.50
Reloading rate (seconds)
Stock	Prior + Full crew	Prior + Expert qualif.	Prior + Ace qualif.
8.19	7.25	6.68	6.30

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration in mm @ 0° Angle of Attack
		10m	100m	500m	1000m	1500m	2000m
M62 Shell	APCBC	149	146	133	119	106	95
M42A1 Shell	HE	7	7	7	7	7	7
M79 Shot	AP	134	132	121	109	99	89

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity in m/s	Projectile Mass in kg	Fuse delay in m:	Fuse sensitivity in mm:	Explosive Mass in g (TNT equivalent):	Normalization At 30° from horizontal:	Ricochet:
								0%	50%	100%
M62 Shell	APCBC	792	7	1.2	14	63.7	+4°	48°	63°	71°
M42A1 Shell	HE	800	5.84	0.1	0.5	390	+0°	79°	80°	81°
M79 Shot	AP	792	6.8	N/A	N/A	N/A	-1°	47°	60°	65°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the M10.

Full ammo	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
54	52 (+2)	49 (+5)	37 (+17)	25 (+29)	13 (+41)	1 (+53)	No

Machine guns

12.7 mm M2HB
Pintle mount
Capacity (Belt capacity)				Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
300 (200)				576	-10°/+28°	±60°

Usage in battles

The M10 is a support vehicle. Find a good sniping position and lay behind the team taking out enemy tanks from a distance. Try to stay away from enemy tanks to avoid getting destroyed quickly.

The best way to survive combat situations is to find a hull down location. The M10 has enough gun depression to use many hull down locations, and it has a strong enough turret front and mantlet to consistently cause ricochets. From there, well aimed shots should be able to knock out most enemy tanks at the battle-rating range from long range.

If fighting in a close quarter’s environment, do not try to push forward without support. Stay behind friendly tanks in order to support them without being shot at. If in an urban scenario on maps like Poland or Normandy, utilize the tank's turning speed to rotate the turret to the right angle. But, the best option is still to find a hull down location. For example, in Normandy, the best location is towards the C point, where there are hills and dips that can be used to hide the hull, while giving a good view of the battlefield.

The M10 has a very slow turret rotation speed, but the M10 can traverse faster than it can rotate its turret and use its high speed when at high gear to produce some interesting skids via the physics engine to swerve the M10 and angle its gun at an enemy tank around the corner. It is recommended to understand and get a good feel of the M10's mobility and horsepower on dirt and paved roads before attempting this stunt. The low turret rotation speed means that a M10 player must always be aware of where the enemy tanks are, because they will not be able to turn the turret quickly if the enemy is able to flank the M10. In addition, the M10's side armour is weak, and the ammunition storage is in the hull sides, so if the enemy is able to shoot the M10 at that location, it is very likely to explode the ammo rack and destroy the tank with one shot.

Modules

Tier	Mobility		Protection	Firepower
I	Tracks		Parts	Horizontal Drive
II	Suspension	Brake System	FPE	Adjustment of Fire	M79 shot
III	Filters		Crew Replenishment	Elevation Mechanism
IV	Transmission	Engine	Add-on Armour

First off get all protection modifications: Parts and FPE. After that move on to research modifications from the Firepower tree: Horizontal Drive, Adjustment of Fire, and the Elevation Mechanism. Lastly research the Mobility tree: Tracks, Filters, Engine, Transmission, Suspension, Brake System.

Though the M79 shot stock is an available module in the modifications, it can be at the bottom of prioritization as it currently possess no advantage over the stock M62 shell, having the same shell velocity but with worse penetration at all distances and angles, shallower ricochet angle, higher shell cost

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Main cannon penetration and damage is very good for the rank, can knock out many tanks in one hit. For example the Chi-Nu, Pz.IV F, StuG III or even the Tiger H1 when aiming carefully
• Good gun depression of -10°, perfect for hull-down positions.
• Front armour can resist certain shots: front glacis steeply sloped and the huge, V-shaped gun mantlet can often bounce / absorb shells (eg. 75 mm M3 and 76 mm F-34 / ZIS-5), as well as the large gun breech behind it further protecting the turret crew
• 5 crew members to replace 3 incapacitated crew members, plus one more with Crew Replenishment modification.
• Turreted purpose-built tank destroyer allows for wide field of fire compared to casemate designs.
• Pintle mounted HMG can offer effective anti-aircraft fire.
• Access to modification "Add-on Armour", that actually helps a lot.
• Has relatively no problem when getting uptiered.

Cons:

• Very poor turret traverse speed combined with its rather sluggish hull traverse "locks" it as a long range sniper for most players- close quarters combat is very difficult and great situational awareness is required, as it often cannot get its gun on target in time. It is also vulnerable to flankers like the Sd.kfz.234/2
• Base armour is quite thin, can get easily penetrated by common opponents like the Pz.IV F2 or the US M10
• Open topped, vulnerable to aircraft strafing
• Poor reverse speed can sometimes get the player killed

History

Main article: History of the M10 GMC

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the tank;
• other literature.

France tank destroyers
Lorraine 40t derivatives	CA Lorraine · Lorraine 155 Mle.50
ATGM	MEPHISTO · AMX-10M
Other	AMR.35 ZT3 · Lorraine 37L · SAu 40 · ARL-44 · ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch · AuF1
USA	▄M10 GMC · ▄M36B2