Quote:
Originally Posted by CDAT
Are you sure of this? As near as I can find the M2 (and the .50 BMG round) were not fully developed tell after the death of Browning (in 1926), there were some test bed units as early as 1921 (such as the M1921 MG), but all the issues were not worked out yet. Also it was made due to a need of an anti-aircraft gun, but I have never seen it listed as an AT weapon. As near as I can tell depending on the round (only looking at AP) the .50 BMG can penetrate between 19mm (3/4 of an inch) to 34mm (1 1/3 inch) so not really what I would think of as an anti-tank round (yes it can take out WWI and some of the early WWII tanks). So not saying it was not, but I have never seen it listed as such and the dates that I have seen for it have production starting well after WWI and the Russian Civil war.
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It was used during WWII in the anti-armor role but it was more against lightly armored vehicles and not tanks - the AP and API rounds could penetrate the hull plates or fuel tanks on German half tracks and light armored cars and they could penetrate the armor on the light Italian, Japanese and French tanks they faced as well as the rear and side armor of the original Panzer II, III and IV tanks before they started up-armoring them.
But you are right - it was more a weapon of last resort when it came to armor - if you took on a tank there were a lot better weapons to use than the M2 Browning