M6 gun motor carriage

The 37 mm gun motor carriage M6, known as the M6 Fargo and under the manufacturer's designation as the Dodge WC55, was an improvised American tank destroyer: a modified Dodge WC52 three-quarter-ton 4x4 truck carrying a 37 mm M3 anti-tank gun in its bed, mounted facing rearward in the manner of a portee. The gun was normally fired to the rear because it could not be fully depressed when pointed forward without blast effects on the crew and windshield, so the vehicle had to back into firing positions, a recognised weakness. It was unarmored apart from a thin gun shield, and its small-caliber gun was largely ineffective against German tanks. The design was standardized in February 1942 and 5,380 were built between April and October 1942 at about 4,265 dollars each. They served with the 601st and 701st Tank Destroyer Battalions in Tunisia and saw limited use in the Pacific. The type was classed limited standard in September 1943 and declared obsolete in January 1945. Many lost their guns and went back to cargo duty as WC52 trucks, and some reached French forces.