Nice to se so many that have read`up on the TDs. After being engaged in researching the 6 TD units that were here at ft jackson and making a couple TD reunions, I have the utmost respect for those guys. They were outgunned, out armored and suffered drastic losses by commanders misusing the TDs. Too many commanders looking at the TDs regarded them as tanks and tried to use them as such. But, none of the TDs outside of the M-36B1 which had the M36 turret on the M4 chassis had any machine guns for defense and had insufficiant armor to be used as a tank. The open turret made it easier to get out,...if you survived the initial hit and explosion...but it also left the crews vulnerable to German VT fused artillery which they employed as soon as it was found they were encountering TDs. The TD concept was flawed, as it was based on late 1930's strategy to counter massed armor attacking across fields as in the attack on Poland. TDs were supposed to rush to the attack points from their reserve or stand-by positions to counter the enemy armor threat. This misconception was discussed as early as 1941 as it was seen that German tactics had changed....but our ideas didn't. TDs had both good and disasterous results, depending on where they were and euipment they had. One of the best units, the 608th TD here at Ft Jackson, had the highest target kill scores and readiness results of any TD unit, but some higher ranking idiots determined that towed guns were better than SPs and the 608th was disbanded just after they had received their M-10s and men reassigned to other TD units, which were later changed back to SPs. The fact that it took 10 men to crew a towed gun, which required unhooking from the towing vehicle and set up, as opposed to a five man crew on the M-10 which required no set up time to fire and could immediately move, was not considered. M-3 TD halftracks really took a beating in almost every front and had a very poor reputation, but in Tunisia had a good kill ratio. Most TD men complained about the TD's open turret because there was nowhere to get away from the icy wind and cold and sufferered accordingly. The TD concept and all TD units were disbanded in 1945.